Slain Journalist Laid to Rest

Murdered Journalist Ibrahim Foday

Over one hundred journalists turned out on Tuesday 21^st June 2011 to join hundreds of other mourners at the St Martin’s church in the east of Freetown to bid befitting farewell to their slain colleague Ibrahim Foday of the Exclusive Newspaper. 

Ibrahim, 38, was stabbed to death at Grafton in the outskirts of Freetown on 12 June as he covered a riot involving two communities disputing ownership of a plot of land. He was the second journalist to be buried in three days after Ibrahim El-Tayyib Bah who died of natural causes.

The officiating clergy, the Rev Fr Vincent Davies said the level of “lawlessness” in the country was becoming scarily alarming. He said journalists must keep standing up for the truth and not allow themselves to be dissuaded or cowed by those who took truth-telling to mean enmity. 

He prayed for divine protection for media practitioners and urged the authorities to act to reverse the current trend of violence in the country.

In his tribute, President of SLAJ, Umaru Fofana vowed to do all he could to bring the assailants to justice. He said SLAJ would hire the services of lawyers to work with the police on the matter. 

He said Ibrahim had died in the line of duty, referring to his killing premeditated murder. 

Police have arrested a police officer and the headman of Kossoh Town, one of the disputing communities, in connection with the killing of the journalist. Tunday Williams believed to have stabbed the journalist to death is at large. Stabbed in the right back, Ibrahim sustained a 7 cm-deep and 2 cm-wide wound which left his lungs severed before the knife hit his chest. 

By Olabisi Garrick

Journalist Stabbed to Death...SLAJ Alarmed

The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) has vehemently condemned the killing of journalist Ibrahim Foday formerly of Exclusive Newspaper.  

Ibrahim was stabbed on Sunday June 12, 2011, during a land dispute between the Grafton and Kossoh Town communities in the outskirts of Freetown.

“The exact motive of his killing is yet unclear but it came as he had published stories on the land dispute which apparently did not go down well with especially the Kossoh Town community,” a SLAJ press release disclosed.

SLAJ President, Umaru Fofana, has held a series of meetings with the Kossoh Town headman Victor Haffner and some member of the Grafton community and pleaded with them to help bring the killer(s) to book.

He has also held meetings with the Assistant Inspector General of Police for Freetown East, Mohamed Kamara, the police Local Unit Commander Amos Kargbo and the Government Chief pathologist Dr Owis Koroma.

SLAJ has also been in contact with other senior police officers on the matter and has provided the name of someone suspected to be behind the slaying of the journalist.

“We urge the police to speed up investigations and bring to justice those behind this cowardly and reprehensible killing of the journalist”, says the SLAJ president.

“The fact that people can take the law into their own hands and kill someone else, no matter who the victim is or what could be their motive, is worrisome for our society,” Fofanah said.

An autopsy will be carried out tomorrow at the Connaught Hospital at 12:00 noon and journalists are encouraged to be there, the SLAJ release urged.

“This is the first fatal attack on a journalist in the country since 2005 when Harry Yansanneh was beaten to death. The then Editor of For Di People newspaper died after being beaten by family members of a sitting parliamentarian of the then ruling SLPP party Dr Fatmata Hassan who never faced justice. Following her party’s loss of power in 2007, she switched her allegiance to the present ruling APC party who unconscionably allowed her into their fold. SLAJ also calls on that case to be reopened even if the family of the late Harry no longer seem interested in it. This was a crime against the state and must be pursued by any government that is serious in the fight against impunity”. 

History of APC, SLPP, PMDC Youth Wings

Youth power greatly influenced the outcome of the past presidential and parliamentary elections held in the country during the close of the third quarter of the year 2007. Fifty-nine percent of the total votes cast in the said elections were cast by youths who wanted regime change at all cost.

This writer’s examination of the history of youth participation in politics was inspired by this new youth awareness.

THE SIERRA LEONE PEOPLE'S PARTY (SLPP)

The Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) started its youth wing called the "Action Group" which was formed to ensure that the party did not lose particularly the general elections that were held on 17th March 1967.

Its mission was to enlighten illiterate and semi-illiterate young members of the party about the importance of their involvement in the electoral process at the time if the party was to win the said elections.

Thus Dr. John Kerefa Smart, Salia Jusu Sheriff, Maigore Kallon e.t.c. did not belong to that group, which comprised of mainly less educated youths who were only rank and file followers of party politicians.

It is widely believed that the activities of the SLPP Action Group influenced the formation of the youth wing of the APC party. Also, the SLPP Action Group currently called the National Young Generation, contributed significantly to the success of the SLPP in the 1996 and 2002 elections.

Despite that fact, however, it is pathetic to note that the ‘young generation wing’ was treated as if it is only a mere support group to the party even when they played a significant role in both the elections the party won in 1996 and 2002 respectively.

This attitude to the youthful but vibrant youth wing resulted in the marginalization of the youth wing and its alienation by the SLPP bigger guns.

A school of thought taken cognizance of this prevailing attitude is now of the opinion that it was responsible for the breakup of the party leading to the formation of the Peoples Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) as that party was largely supported by such disgruntled youths.

Yet notwithstanding the degraded manner in which the have been treated by successive party leaderships, the youths loyal to the party remain steadfast in promoting party image and interests.

THE ALL PEOPLE'S CONGRESS (APC) 

Like the SLPP Action Group, when the All People's Congress (APC) party Youth League was formed, it was merely to serve as a support group to the party.

However, as time went on, unlike the SLPP young generation, the APC uplifted the status of the youth league, as it was considered a vital organ of the party.

It could be recalled in the days of Siaka P. Steven when the APC assumed power, the youth league was considered not only as part and parcel of the party, but as a force to reckon with.

As a result an office space was created for the APC Youth Leader at State House. They also had a student desk where the Secretary General of the youth league used to coordinate the activities of the youths in the party.

Moreover, promising young members of the party who were attending various institutions of learning ranging from primary to university levels were provided with scholarship opportunities to study within the country and abroad.

The APC by then adopted the socialist type of politics, their constitution was a bit socialist, and that was why the one party system was adopted, which contributed immensely to enhancing the youth and women’s wing of the party.

Potential youths were sent to the Diaspora for further education. Those who graduated as engineers for example, were absorbed into the Civil Service as area and government engineers’ e.t.c, some subsequently become administrative officers and rose to the ranks to become Permanent Secretaries and Provincial Secretaries. A few examples include Hamid Kamara who was later appointed Administrative Officer and those who choose to devote their lives to politics like Honourable SBB Dumbuya, were given ambassadorial posts. Dumbuya, who remained ever grateful to the APC, is now a Parliamentarian. The former mayor of Freetown, Alfred Akibo was among the many groomed through this party cognizance of youth power. Little wonder the party benefited so much from the youthful vote.

In a nutshell, the APC, unlike the SLPP, gives its youths greater cognizance both in their role in the party as well as in governance.

Even when the leadership of the APC was beset by squabbles and conflict the National Youth League continued to enjoy amicable relationship with party elders which buoyed their enthusiasm to contribute more robustly towards the party’s recent victory at both the parliamentary and presidential elections.

It will interest anyone reading this piece to realize that the League contributed greatly to the success of the party as they held a series of regional meetings and sensitization programs for it membership countrywide.

THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRATIC CHANGE (PMDC)

The People's Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) has only a slight difference in the setup of its own young generation wing to that of the SLPP, since it was formed by former members of the SLPP.

The young generation of the PMDC was formed immediately after the party was established. The party itself is made up mainly of young people, majority of them breakaway former members of the SLPP.

The breakup was allegedly due to the failure of the SLPP to create the enabling environment for youths to realize their full potentials and contribute meaningfully to the development of society, which stigmatized the party as one for the aged.

To make matters worse, those disgruntled young members of the party were sent aback when the National Party Convention failed to return Mr. Charles Francis Margai as presidential candidate of the party, a position which was given instead to his arch rival, former Vice President Solomon Ekuma Berewa. This naturally added insult to injury.

The PMDC youths believed that the current PMDC Leader was the only candidate among all the contestants in the past Presidential and Parliamentary elections for the Presidential flag who understood their situation and the only person that could have put sanity into the system by given young people a greater say in the affairs of the party, thus the breakaway, which led to the formation of the PMDC.

Meanwhile, the National Young Generation of the PMDC through its established regional bodies makes sure that the party becomes popular within the length and breath of the country.

They played a great role in sensitizing colleagues that they were not only to participate as voters or campaigners, but also to they also to seek the party ticket to contest for Parliamentary seats in the just concluded elections.

They also conducted sensitization and public education programmes for youths by visiting communities in remote areas in the provinces and the Western area.

The Chairman of the National Young Generation of the PMDC and Secretary are representing young people in the Planning Committee of the party which is the highest decision making body in the PMDC, and that shows how sound the relationship is between the young and elderly of the party.

However what irked a lot of youth is that the Movement ended up with the oldest presidential ticket with the combine age of the flag bearer Margai and running mate Tejan Jalloh older than that of any other of the political party that contested the elections.

This probably dampened youth enthusiasm for the movement especially in the western area leading to its not so strong showing as many youths transferred their loyalty and support to the APC with a far more youthful ticket that could better understand their needs, interests and aspirations.

By Abdul Fonti

A Simple Solution to Save Lives

As a researcher focused on diarrhoeal diseases, I have made it my life’s work to spread awareness about a little known disease with a devastating impact. It is called rotavirus, and it is the leading cause of severe diarrhoea — one of the most easily preventable public health challenges we face today.

Rotavirus kills more than 500,000 children under five around the world each year — almost 1400 deaths each day—the vast majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. It leads to millions more hospitalizations. In Sierra Leone alone, rotavirus is responsible for more than 3,500 deaths every year. Rotavirus attacks our families and threatens our nation’s future by targeting our most precious resource—our children.

But the true tragedy is that much of this death and suffering could be prevented right now if children in Sierra Leone had the same access to life-saving vaccines as children in industrialized countries, where the disease barely has an impact. In the United States, rotavirus vaccines have been widely available for five years, even though the disease only killed a handful of children a year when they were introduced. Here, where the need is much greater, they are not an option for the vast majority of children.

Vaccines are one of the best long-term investments to prevent disease and give children a healthy start to life — a few shots or drops can protect a child for a lifetime. And they are one of the most cost effective interventions to prevent illness in a country like ours with many competing health priorities. With rotavirus, existing oral vaccines have been shown to provide significant protection against the disease.

The challenge has been that until today rotavirus vaccines have been much too expensive for poor countries, where health resources are scarce. And donors have been hesitant to support the vaccine until costs come down.

But in this past week, there is new cause for optimism.  Children in developing countries will finally get access to the same life-saving rotavirus vaccines that children living in rich countries do.

On June 6, the GAVI Alliance, an international organization that supports the rollout of vaccines to low-income countries, announced it had been offered a significant price reduction for rotavirus vaccines from a pharmaceutical company that will lower the cost to US$2.50 a dose, a third of the previous low price. GAVI already supports introduction of life-saving vaccines in Sierra Leone, and now has plans to rapidly accelerate its financial support for rotavirus vaccines.

At the same time, there are new, more affordable rotavirus vaccines on the horizon that will sustain our efforts to save children’s lives for the long-term. Manufacturers in developing countries such as India are developing vaccines for rotavirus and other diseases that should be just as safe and effective – and even more affordable -- than those that exist today. In fact, when GAVI announced the price cut for the existing rotavirus vaccine, it disclosed that an Indian rotavirus vaccine candidate – which should be available around 2015 – will cost just US$1 per dose.

This is great news for Sierra Leone and anyone in West Africa, where rotavirus is an all-too-commonly accepted part of life. It is estimated that broad access to rotavirus vaccines in low-income countries could save up to 225,000 children annually. In fact, the World Health Organization strongly recommends including the rotavirus vaccine in all immunization programs because of its potential life-saving impact.

But even the most effective vaccines will only have an impact if they are made available to people who need them. As a researcher testing the efficacy of rotavirus vaccines in Ghana, Mali and Kenya, I have seen firsthand their potential to protect children. We now have a critical opportunity to take advantage of this momentum.  

We call on our government leaders to work with GAVI and immediately prioritize rapid access to rotavirus vaccines for every child across the country. Sierra Leone began introducing vaccines against pneumonia, another major childhood killer, in January and can play a similar leadership role against rotavirus. The longer we wait, the more lives are lost—lives of our future leaders.

We also call upon the vaccine industry to continue making vaccines more accessible. Reducing prices of available vaccines and creating opportunities for better, cheaper vaccines will ensure that funds given to GAVI can save even more lives. Governments, donors, and manufacturers all have a critical role to play in this effort.

Finally, I hope the international community will continue to recognize the value of vaccines and that their contributions are essential to support the rollout of these proven life-saving tools. Because today it is rotavirus, but tomorrow it may be new vaccines for malaria, typhoid or dengue fever.

Vaccines alone will not rid the world of rotavirus or solve all of our persistent health problems. We still need to focus on long-term challenges such as improving sanitation and strengthening health systems. But by providing access to rotavirus vaccines now, we will take a great step forward that can save thousands of lives starting today.

Opinion piece by Dr. George Armah

Advise for Youths in Sierra Leone

If ‘great’ is the love we have for thee - Mama Salone - its high time the youths of this country started regarding themselves as the nation’s only instrument of hope in the future by participating productively in the drive to move this nation forward.
 

Youths should not be dependent on the government, but must realize the fact that they owe this nation their loyalty, love and protection. As a former American President once told his countrymen, ‘Ask not what America can do for you, but what you can do for America.’ So Sierra Leoneans must also ask themselves the same question.  They must bear in mind that a disservice to the nation means a disservice to God and posterity will hold them to ransom.

It is no hidden secret that a large percentage of the youth population disgracefully makes living by robbery and other petty crimes. Little wonder that cases of pilfery and mobile phone snatching abound in our city centres.
 

Many of these youths hold the wrong view that they want to work but it’s the government that is reneging on providing employment for them. The question that begs for answer here is what type of employment precisely do these youths seek?
 

Let our youths bear in mind that not everybody can either be educated or employed by the government. I suggest that those not fortunate to be formally educated engage in learning other skills for self employment.
 

A typical case study of youths who have decided to live by their modest trade is seen at Garrison Street where these young men have employed themselves in the art of manicure and pedicure to earn their daily living.
 

Even though the work they are doing will not easily fall into the category of skilled labour, they do earn enough to take care of themselves and their wives and children. “This is what I want other young men to emulate,” Mohamed Kamara who is one of the members in the informal cosmetology trade told this writer who was griped by admiration when he visited their corner at Garrison Street. With an aura of pride, Mohamed also disclosed that they do earn handsomely daily, as he revealed that for a complete pedicure and manicure treatment, it costs a few thousand leones and considering the rate at which women go in for the ‘nail treatment’, these youths are sure to be making fabulous money!

Mohamed again told this writer that the day’s profit is what they use to tip the boys that go in search of customers, pay their rentages and also take care of their livelihood.
 

In spite of the fact that they are faced with challenges in the business, their reputable status can definitely not be compared to those who prefer going about pick pocketing and snatching  people’s mobile phones for these latter ones always risk being sent to jail.
 

Though the government did not provide jobs for them, the reality is that they are making a genuine living out of self employment.
 

Youths of this nation, how long would you allow yourselves to be frustrated by the government for purportedly not meeting your expectations? Is this what has dragged you into indulging in crimes and parasitical way of life?
 

Help this nation by helping yourselves so tomorrow we all will proudly say “this is the land that we love, our Sierra Leone.”
 

If we wish for the blessings and peace of this land to descend on us all, we must keep our pledge of love and loyalty to our country by developing our livelihoods all by ourselves.
Thanks for not only listening but for also heeding to this short advise.

Abdul Fonti