Three Sides to a Story, Robin Fallays version, SLPP's version and the Segbwema Version

Segbwema MP Robin Fallay and His Truth

On Sunday evening after a hard day at work, I was lying in bed listening to Star Radio from Sierra Leone doing a repeat of The Radio program monologue which though heavily slanted in favor of the ruling APC, has at least the decency to let opposing view points be heard, even though the ultimate goal is usually to ridicule these opposition voices after they have left the radio program.

Monologue's David Tam-Baryoh
Biased Impartiality

The modus operandi of David Tam Baryoh of monologue is usually to ensnare opposition activists with the promise of giving them a neutral platform. The activists will come there eager to spill their guts and will do so passionately. After they have done so, the monologue will then have them off the line and  invite APC operatives like Abdulai Bayraytay or the dimwitted  Karamoh Kabba to wrap up, debunking what has earlier been said, while Mr. Baryoh's cynical laughter and condescending way of summarizing the talking points will then sarcastically minimize or effectively belittle what ever the earlier caller would have said. The good thing about monologue though is that it at least allows opposition voices to be heard and critical issues to be discussed. In an era in which most of the journalists are griots for the president, that is no small feat.

People like Sylvia Blyden with her new found love for APC use monologue to preach their gospel of political intolerance and their agenda to sow seeds of discord between the government and the opposition, so that the country will once again descend in conflict, allowing them to resuscitate their one time RUF agenda of taking power in Sierra Leone by all means. Sylvia's current goal is to use her new found love with President ernest bai Koroma, to undermine the credibilty of the Independent Media Commission (IMC) reducing the ibnstitution and its executive to the toothless bull dog role and with the urgency of APC to perpetuate their inept and kleptocratic rule in Sierra Leone, she succeed, at least for now. But let me get to my own Segbwema brother Robin, the son of Teacher Fallay of Pendembu Jaygbla, one of the biggest villages of Segbwema and the ancestral home of both Robin Fallay and Sheku Sheriff, the Segbwema Blogger.

APC's Newest Member of The SLPP Wing
of the Party

I listened in awe on Sunday as Robin Fallay so eloquently laid out his excuses as to why he he had defected to the ruling APC. He stated that SLPP leaders, especially the senior Segbwema politician John Benjamin, to whom Robin Fallay owes his political ascendancy were ungrateful to him and were bitter because he had supported and publicly praised President Koroma  for rebuilding the Taiama Mosque in Segbwema and for helping repair the hospital and community center. Stating that John Benjamin and other Segbwema politicians had not done these things when they had been ministers and that SLPP had apparently done nothing in Segbwema while they had been in power, but he Fallay, in his short time as an opposition MP and a skilled Parliamentary debater, had done much to bring much needed development to the district, despite being undermined at every turn by the the SLPP.

Kenema Lock Up Where Fallay Found Love
For Ernest Koroma

Robin also stated that when he was arrested and dumped in a dirty Kenema cell, the SLPP had initially stood by him during his two initial incarcerations by sending no less a person than the party secretary general Sulaiman Banja Tejan-Sie to act in his defense against APC high level prosecution, but claimed that they had later not been as forceful to defend him, due to his close dalliance with APC. He also claimed that when his mother died, senior SLPP brass did not do much, even though people from Segbwema come together very closely when anybody dies, even where they are not children of politicians.

Maada Bio and John Benjamin This Morning in Segbwema
"Fallay Rejection Segbwema Tour"

Robin then proceeded to enumerate his numerous virtues that had made the people love him and  urge him to join the APC if he was not awarded the party symbol, as he was the one they (the people of Segbwema) wanted. He went on to highly embellish his intellectual prowess, stating his intellectual achievements and even the fact that his daughter in London had taken 10 subjects at the GCE geeting 7 As and 3 Bs, God bless her. He claimed to be a very successful man with houses in London, Freetown and Segbwema.

My Uncle Kelfala Sheriff of Folu,  Jawei Chiefdom  who was unfortunately killed by RUF rebels, used to say that " when you believe your own lie, it becomes the truth"

There is a fundamental misunderstanding that people have about the truth. Most people believe that there can only be one truth and become annoyed when people do not believe what they believe is the truth.

When I was attending Samaria Primary School, 36 Wellington Street in Freetown across from the Razzaks and Pa Osho's printing press, my favorite teacher of all time was my class five teacher Mrs. Ibrahim Cole who was a very good music teacher and taught me the potical story of "The Blind Men and the Elephant, " which starts thus:


"It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind"


The story of the blind men and the elephant is one which every primary school student of my era knows as it was in either our class six or class seven reader. The blind men were essentially told to touch an elephant and described what it felt like. Some said it was a wall, a tree, a fan and so on. In essence, each blind man touched a part and thought that part was the elephant.  They all eventually went home having their own different truths of what the Elephant was really like.

So essentially, two people may have different truths to a singular event based solely on their individual perception. Christians "truly" believe that Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross and Muslims "truly" believe Jesus Christ, may the peace and blessing of God be on him, did not die on the cross. On this matter, Christians have their own truth and Muslims have their own truth and as the two truths are diametrically opposed, they can both not be factual.

The Robin Fallay Recetion Tour Segbwema

I will not accuse my brother Fallay of lying, as his own version of the truth is just a little different from the truth told to me by the majority of the citizens and youths in Segbwema. According to Robin Fallay's version of the truth, he is a very popular MP in Segbwema who has brought development to Njaluahun chiefdom and is hated for praising President Koroma.  The Segbwema version is that Robin is a bogus talkative with a fondness for the bottle who the people were ready to reject and he decided to jump before he was shoved. To jump, before the people of Segbwema kicked him in the rear.

According to Robin's version of the truth, he is currently the most popular politician in Segbwema who was able to bring out the whole town in support of the APC or so he claimed when he went with Balogun Koroma and other APC  big guns on his party switching extravaganza show. According to the Segbwema version,  a lot of people came out to see the jerk Robin make a fool out of himself, comparing himself to Segbwema's favorite John Benjamin.

Segbwema Will Remain Green

According to Robin's version of the truth, the crowds were out in force, praising him and pledging to help him drive the SLPP out of Segbwema. According to the version of the truth coming out of Segbwema today, the whole town is at a standstill, coming out in their thousands, to welcome Maada Bio and John Benjamin as they came town to refute Robin's wild claims of being more popular than Maada Bio who was a commander in Segbwema during the war and John Benjamin who has developed so much political capital in the town that you would need an earthquake to bring him down.

According to Robin's version of the truth, he has loved Ernest Koroma for a long time and seen him as a progressive leader whose messianic qualities qualifies him for a sond term. According to the Segbwema version Robin is an overambitious jerk who wanted to run for SLPP leadership but could not afford the fees and threw his weight behind Andrew Keili, who gracefully conceded losing the flag-bearer position to Maada Bio when he did not win the contest.

Police Keeping Order this Morning in Segbwema

Segbwema's version of the truth is that Robin was on the verge of losing the symbol to a young guy that was part of his 2007 campaign team, the people were fed up with his drinking and loquacity and wanted a more effective MP, not an overambitious rabble rouser.

Tejan Kabbah's Segbwema Bank

The people of Segbwema are grateful to President Koroma for helping finish the Taima Mosque, but given the contribution of the Eastern Region of Sierra Leonean, this cry from APC journalists for gratitutde to the president is becoming somehow annoying. The Eastern Region region supplies the country, coffee, gold, cocoa, timber, rice, and many other natural resources. These resources add millions of dollars to the national coffer and it is therefore prudence to develop the infrastructure in these areas, not a reason to think that a particular people owe gratitude to the president as if they were beggars or somehow inferior. Seeing the strategic importance of Segbwema to the nation. Tejan Kabba built a brand new Bank in the town, contrary to Fallay's claims. As they say, There are three sides to a story and the people of segbwema remain grateful to all our leaders regarless of party who decide to help every area of the country, particularly Segbwema.

Ernest Koroma's Segbwema Mosque