Kenema Hospital Fire-Culled from Standard Times

Fire Disaster Wrecks Kenema Hospital….Matron, Doctor And Others Arrested
Posted by Fayia A Fayia on Feb 21, 2011, 19:29




Kenema Hospital on Fire....Youths trying to put out the fire
The Internal Affairs Minister Hon. Musa Tarawally was on Friday 18th February, 2011 ordered the arrest of Dr.Jemisa, Matron Stevens, Hospital Secretary of the Kenema Government Hospital, Pious Saffa, and Mr. Thomas all senior members of staff of the hospital, following a serious fire disaster that left the Maternity Unit and other divisions of the hospital completely burnt down.

The decision of the minister of internal affairs came when the various hospital authorities had made to the minister and his entourage conflicting statement with regards the inferno.
The Minister and the Chief Fire Force Officer, Mr. Kamanda Gbongay and entourage were left with no option but to order their arrest after listening to pieces of evidence from the various hospital authorities. The Minister and his team discovered that they advanced conflicting pieces of evidence relating to the cause of the fire disaster, which led to the suspicion that the disaster was an organized incident.

Youths including bike riders and the Members of Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces –(RSLAF), it would be recalled did their best on Thursday 17th February 2011to put the fire under control but only succeeded in preventing the fire from transferring to other buildings .

Sand and water were used to put off the fire but their efforts did not prevent the building that housed the offices of the Matron, Medical Superintendent, Store, Labor Room, from burning down completely.
Patients and their relatives were rescued from the burning building by youths and Military Officers but their personal belongings, drugs and other Medical equipments were burnt, but no life lost.

Irate youths in Kenema vented out their grievances at the late arrival of one of SALCOST water bowzer and the fire force team from Bo, thus denying them access to enter the hospital compound Report states that the Hospital Management and other stakeholders were in meeting at the same building when they were chased out by the fire.

Meanwhile observers have linked the fire to electrical problems. It could be recalled that the Maternity Unit was reconstructed and furbished by UNICEF, IRC and other development partners under the Emergency Obstetric Care Program

Gaddafi's Rambling Speech

The King of Kings' speech
Al Jazeera's senior policy analyst says Gaddafi's threats were no different from those of any foreign occupier.
Marwan Bishara Last Modified: 22 Feb 2011 22:19 GMT

Gaddafi has ruled Libya for the past 42 years with an iron fist, but insists he has no official role [EPA]
Muammar Gaddafi is dangerously in denial. Alas, he's been that way for a long time.

Gaddafi has ruled Libya for the past 42 years with iron fist, but insists he has no official role and therefore couldn't resign. Otherwise, he would have done that long ago!

He thinks of himself as Zaim - a guru leader - or the king of kings of Africa as referred to himself repeatedly the last couple of years.

How do you resign from greatness, he wondered! After recounting his heroism, sacrifice and courage over the last few decades.

In reality, he wasted his country's fortunes, misused its sources and violated its people. He misspent hundreds of billions of dollars in revenues from oil.

He commands the state budget along with his family, and yet he insists he has no money, no fortune and no belonging to give away.

Why would he need any of that when he de facto had claim on the whole country.

One is speechless listening to him telling Libyans: Go ahead take back your oil.

Like father like son

Gaddafi senior, like Gaddafi junior before him on Monday, went on rambling endlessly in Tuesday's televised address, with little coherence, many threats and more political blackmail.

Speaking to both domestic audience and Western decision makers, he raised the spectre of civil war, bloodbath and the threat of al-Qaeda takeover in various parts of the country.

He warned he would use all or any means to prevent the breakdown of Libya.

Over the last few days, his regime has killed hundreds and reportedly using his air force to bomb Libyan cities, but insists he hasn't ordered the use of force yet.

But he did threaten to kill all those participating in the ongoing upheaval, in accordance with the Libyan law, as he put it.

Worse, he threatened to burn the land, behaving as if his rule was a foreign occupation.

For many years, Qaddafi, his family and tribe have maintained their rule through the maintenance and deformation of the very tribal order he's been warning against.

He's used political blackmail and financial bribes and unveiled threats of force to stay at the helm of the regime.

In the process, much of the country's wealth was wasted. And so was any chance of development as his dictatorship suppressed pluralism, creativity and freedom of expression.

Meanwhile, unemployment in this "rentier economy" has shot from one-fourth to one-third unemployment year after year.

Gaddafi has turned a country rich in oil to a poor country in more than one way.

Dangerous call to arms

While Gaddafi admitted that the police has refused to confront or shoot at the demonstrations, he called on his loyal and violent "popular committees" to defend his "revolution", either individually or by joining forces with members of their tribes.

Certainly, the most deadly and dangerous force in the coming days will be those popular committees and their association with the private militias of Gaddafi's regime, his sons, cousins and tribe.

It seems that these well-armed and well-financed militias have been carrying out the worst violence against the peaceful demonstrators. Possibly aided by mercenaries from various neighbouring countries.

Unless the Libyan army puts an end to the violations and violence of the militias, the ongoing confrontation might continue to escalate.

Alas, there is little information as to today's relationship between the army and the militias, but one suspects it shouldn't be a good one as the militias have been used primarily to keep the army in check.

That's why Arab and international decision makers must try and deter the escalation of violence by making it clear that those committing the crimes against the Libyan people will have no future in their country, but would eventually be punished for their crimes.

And that the army has a responsibility to protect the people and the unity of the country.

Source: Al Jazeera
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US concerned about Situation in Libya

February 20, 2011
U.S. ‘Gravely Concerned’ Over Violence in Libya
By ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Sunday condemned Libya’s use of lethal force against peaceful demonstrators, pointing to what it said were “multiple credible” reports that “hundreds of people” had been killed and injured in several days of unrest.

In the administration’s strongest statement on the escalating violence in Libya, the State Department said that it was “gravely concerned” about the reports and that the number of deaths was unknown because of a lack of access to many parts of the country by news organizations and human rights groups.

Philip J. Crowley, the State Department spokesman, said that the United States has raised “strong objections about the use of lethal force” with several senior Libyan officials, including Musa Kusa, the foreign minister.

“Libyan officials have stated their commitment to protecting and safeguarding the right of peaceful protest,” Mr. Crowley said in a statement. “We call upon the Libyan government to uphold that commitment and hold accountable any security officer who does not act in accordance with that commitment.”

The impact of the administration’s sharp criticism of Libya’s firing on demonstrators was unclear, and stood in contrast to how President Obama’s strong criticism of the use of force by security forces in Bahrain appeared to have pressured its government to withdraw police officers and troops from the main square of that country’s capital, Manama.

On Friday night, Mr. Obama spoke to King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa of Bahrain, leaning on the government to show restraint, especially against peaceful protesters, and pressing for meaningful reform. The next day, Mr. Obama’s national security adviser, Thomas E. Donilon, telephoned the crown prince, Sheik Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, to underscore Mr. Obama’s message. Mr. Donilon praised the prince’s orders earlier in the day to withdraw security forces.

Administration officials said Sunday that the tough line with Bahrain, home of the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet and the center of American efforts to contain Iran, had been effective. “We’ve been very clear with our partners in Bahrain that they ought to exercise restraint, that there is no place for violence against peaceful protesters there or anywhere else, and we’ve condemned that violence,” Susan E. Rice, the American ambassador to the United Nations, said on “Meet the Press” on NBC.

As it did with Iran and Egypt, the administration has responded in different ways to the embattled governments in Libya and Bahrain. “Each of these countries is different,” Ms. Rice said. “Each of these circumstances will be decided by the people of those countries. We are not pushing people out or dictating that they stay.

“What we’re doing is saying, consistently across the board they are universal human rights that need to be respected.”

Senator Lindsey Graham, an influential Republican from South Carolina, offered support on Sunday for the administration’s dual approaches. “We should have a policy of urging old friends to do better and replacing old enemies,” Mr. Graham said on “Meet the Press.”

“I’d like to see regime change in Libya,” he said. “I’d like to see regime change in Iran. I think we need to be tougher on companies that do business with Iran. But, generally speaking, the administration, I think, has handled Egypt well and is trying to stay ahead of this when it comes to Jordan, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.”

Meanwhile, Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Saudi Arabia on Sunday for a previously scheduled weeklong trip to the Persian Gulf region. His scheduled stops also include Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and, possibly, Bahrain.

Capt. John Kirby, his spokesman, said in a statement that Admiral Mullen would meet with his counterparts in each country and would “make clear his desire to see that peaceful protest be allowed to continue without threats or violence from any quarter and that restraint is shown by all sides in these disputes.”

Middle East security experts say the United States has greater influence over allies like Bahrain than countries with which relations are more strained, including Libya, even though full diplomatic ties were restored in 2009.

In Bahrain’s case, the administration is also balancing the interests of Saudi Arabia, another monarchy, which is connected to Bahrain by a causeway. Senior Saudi officials have expressed displeasure that Mr. Obama has allowed the protests to continue, and even grow, by espousing political and economic reforms in the region.

Throughout the region, Ms. Rice said, “there are conditions that are inherently unstable — a youth bulge, high unemployment, a lack of political openness — and we have pressed publicly and privately for the kind of change that is necessary.”

Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said that in most of those countries, an aging autocratic leadership was confronting the realities of a youthful population eager for social and economic changes and connected by social networks that were not broadly in use even a few years ago.

“They know they are not getting their fair share, that life is not going to be good for them,” Mr. Lugar said Sunday on “State of the Union” on CNN. “As a result, given hunger problems, other economic difficulties, they have come to the fore.”

Mr. Lugar continued, “The question is, will, as in the case of the Libyans, the protesters simply be shot?”

Gaddafi's Son Warn Protestors

Gaddafi's son warns of civil war
Appearing on Libyan state television, Seif al-Islam Gaddafi said his father is in the country and backed by the army.
Last Modified: 21 Feb 2011 01:42 GMT

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is confronting the most serious challenge to his rule in 42 years [Al Jazeera]
A son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has promised a programme of reforms after bloody protests against his father's rule reached the capital, Tripoli.

Seif al-Islam Gaddafi also hit out at those behind the violence. He said protests against his father's rule, which have been concentrated in the east of the country, threatened to sink Libya into civil war and split the country up into several small states.

Live Blog
Appearing on Libyan state television early on Monday morning, Seif al-Islam said his father is in the country and backed by the army. "We will fight to the last minute, until the last bullet."

He said his father was leading the fight, although he added that some military bases, tanks and weapons had been seized.

"We are not Tunisia and Egypt," the younger Gaddafi said, referring to the successful uprisings that toppled longtime regimes in Libya's neighbours

He acknowledged that the army made mistakes during protests because it was not trained to deal with demonstrators but added that the number of dead had been exaggerated, giving a death toll of 84.

Human Rights Watch put the number at 174 through Saturday, and doctors in the eastern city of Benghazi said more than 200 have died since the protests began.

'Desperate speech'

Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior analyst, termed Seif al-Islam's speech as "desperate".

"It sounded like a desperate speech by a desperate the son of a dictator who's trying to use blackmail on the Libyan people by threatening that he could turn the country into a bloodbath.

"That is very dangerous coming from someone who doesn't even hold an official role in Libya - so in so many ways, this could be the beginning of a nightmare scenario for Libya if a despotic leader puts his son on air in order to warn his people of a bloodbath if they don't listen to the orders or the dictates of a dictators."

"It's also fascinating how he threatened the West with chaos in Libya and then threatened Libyans with Western intervention, because as he put it, that would turn Libya into a decentralised country allowing various Islamist groups to take over which the West would not allow," Marwan Bishara said.

The younger Gaddafi offered to put forward reforms within days that he described as a "historic national initiative" and said the regime was willing to remove some restrictions and begin discussions for a constitution. He offered to change a number of laws, including those covering the media and the penal code.

He said the General People's Congress, Libya's equivalent of a parliament, would convene on Monday to discuss a "clear" reform agenda, while the government would also raise wages.

After Seif al-Islam's address, Najla Abdurahman, a Libyan dissident, told Al Jazeera: "He's threatening Libya and trying to play up on their fears. I don't think anyone in Libya who isn't close to the Gaddafi regime would buy anything he said.

"And even if there is any truth to what he said, I don't think it's any better than what the people of Libya have already been living with for the past 40 years. He promised that the country would spiral into civil war for the next 30 to 40 years, that the country's infrastructure would be ruined, hospitals and schools would no longer be functioning - but schools are already terrible, hospitals are already in bad condition.

Protesters 'shot dead'

His address followed reports that security forces had shot dead scores of protesters in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, where residents said a military unit had joined their cause.

There were also reports of clashes between anti-government protesters and Gaddafi supporters around the Green Square.

"We are in Tripoli, there are chants [directed at Gaddafi]: 'Where are you? Where are you? Come out if you're a man," a protester told Al Jazeera on phone.

A resident told the Reuters news agency that he could hear gunshots in the streets and crowds of people.

"We're inside the house and the lights are out. There are gunshots in the street," the resident said by phone. "That's what I hear, gunshots and people. I can't go outside."

An expatriate worker living in the Libyan capital told Reuters: "Some anti-government demonstrators are gathering in the residential complexes. The police are dispersing them. I can also see burning cars."

There were also reports of protesters heading to Gaddafi's compound in the city of Al-Zawia near Tripoli, with the intention of burning the building down.

Tribes 'revolt'

Meanwhile the head of the Al-Zuwayya tribe in eastern Libya has threatened to cut off oil exports unless authorities stop what he called the "oppression of protesters", the Warfala tribe, one of Libya's biggest, has reportedly joined the anti-Gaddafi protests.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Shaikh Faraj al Zuway said: "We will stop oil exports to Western countries within 24 hours" if the violence did not stop. The tribe lives south of Benghazi, which has seen the worst of the deadly violence in recent days.

Akram Al-Warfalli, a leading figure in the Al Warfalla tribe, one of Libya's biggest, told the network: "We tell the brother (Gaddafi), well he's no longer a brother, we tell him to leave the country." The tribe lives south of Tripoli.

Protests have also reportedly broken out in other cities, including Bayda, Derna, Tobruk and Misrata - and anti-Gaddafi graffiti adorns the walls of several cities.

Anti-government protesters in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi have reportedly seized army vehicles and weapons amid worsening turmoil in the African nation.

A local witness said that a section of the troops had joined the protesters on Sunday as chaos swept the streets of the city, worst hit by the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year old rule.

Mohamed, a doctor from Al Jalaa hospital in Benghazi, confirmed to Al Jazeera that members of the military had sided with the protesters.

"We are still receiving serious injuries, I can confirm 13 deaths in our hospital. However, the good news is that people are cheering and celebrating outside after receiving news that the army is siding with the people," he said.

"But there is still a brigade that is against the demonstrators. For the past three days demonstrators have been shot at by this brigade, called Al-Sibyl brigade."

The witness reports came on a day in which local residents told Al Jazeera that at least 200 people had died in days of unrest in Benghazi alone. The New York-based Human Rights Watch on Sunday put the countrywide death toll at 173. The rights group said its figure was "conservative".

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

African Leaders' Letter to Ex Tunisian President.

Africa’s despots write open letter to Ben Ali,
Dear Ben Ali,

We have learnt with profound shock and sadness the news of your forceful departure from Tunisia, apparently at the behest of angry, unemployed youths. We are all quite surprised at the speed with which you were willing to break our Code of Conduct by actually listening to and accepting the will of the people.

Your decision to listen to, rather than shoot, beat, teargas, arrest, torture and murder those unemployed cretins that flood the streets has set a dangerous precedent that, you must be aware, has now spread to Egypt, forced a cabinet reshuffle in Jordan, and sown seeds of discontent in Yemen, Libya and elsewhere.

We were under the impression that Comrade Robert Mugabe has set us all a useful example of how to ignore public opinion and economic collapse to stay in power. You are aware that reforms in countries like Ghana, Malawi, Zambia, and Liberia have left our club with fewer members. The cruel hand of death has robbed us of Comrades Mobutu, Sani Abacha, Gnassingbe Eyadema and El Hadj Omar Bongo, among others.

Similar reforms saw us lose Comrade Moi in Kenya but we believed we could bludgeon our rivals to a draw and remain with a fighting chance to share power. It is this new survival strategy that Comrade Gbagbo is applying in Ivory Coast and one we believed you had at your disposal. If push come to shove, as it did in the streets of Tunisia, we expect that you would call out the boys in the uniform and teach those demonstrators some lessons in physics (the velocity of bullets), biology (the disintegration of bodily parts that come into contact with said bullets), and chemistry (the effect of teargas on unemployed demonstrators).

That you allowed the media to remain active were others have been quick to shut down radio stations and newspapers was a surprise and unfortunate miscalculation, as was your decision to offer concessions, when you ought to have appeared on national television to stare down your rivals, promise new laws to keep them in check and throw a few cents and districts, or biscuits, into the hungry and angry crowd.

With the benefit of hindsight, maybe it is our fault, as members of the club. We assumed, after you cunningly got rid of former president Habib Bourguiba by declaring him senile, and then winning several elections by landslides, that you were actually popular or had built a well-oiled pipeline to supply the taps of patronage.

It is ironic that your successful efforts to help the UN declare 2010 as the International Year of the Youth have returned to haunt you in this manner. Ungrateful, unemployed bastards! As you can imagine, we are all watching Comrade Mubarak try to weather the storm in Egypt and have advised members to announce promotions and pay rises in their armies, just in case. We are urging democratic and electoral reforms only as a last resort.

We hope your beautiful wife Leila has been able to pawn some of the 1,500 kilogrammes of gold she withdrew from the Central Bank to take care of your financial needs and that it will not be taken away from you. You must recall how we looked on helplessly as the Swiss handed back to Nigeria money that Comrade Abacha had diligently saved in their banks, in total disregard of the welfare of his orphaned family.

While in Riyadh, look out for relatives of the late Comrade Idi Amin who might offer some local knowledge and assist you settle into desert life. We doubt it is the first place any of us would choose for exile but please identify some well apportioned plots of land (preferably near oasis) for some of us, just in case this bloody thing you started keeps spreading.

Until we meet,
Your old friends in the African Despot’s Club.

The New African Trend-Lose and hang on.

There is a brand new variant of democracy sweeping the African continent, which basically runs like this; the ruling party holds multi-party elections, after immense pressure from donors and/or western governments. If by any chance the ruling party wins, the results are accepted with much fanfare and there is an elaborate presidential re-inauguration and a resumption of the status quo. Things go back to basically how they were before the elections with some new minor new appointments and a recycling of the old power brokers. The opposition makes feeble attempts at crying foul, the international community basically describes the election as largely free and fair, election results are appealed in courts by the opposition, which litigation they invariably lose and everybody waits for the next four or five years to repeat the same process over again.

In some cases, the ruling party may suspect that even with election rigging, manipulations and intimidations, there are enough opposition votes to make the outcome unpredictable. In this case they may do the following; cancel the election outright before the results are announced and denounce the whole process as being corrupt and influenced by evil factors within the country, the Algeria Style.

In the Zimbabwe style, perfected by paranoid strong man Robert Mugabe, the government delays the announcement of the results and manipulates of the process until a way can be found to announce a narrow victory margin in its favor. In the meantime, opposition strongholds are attacked and the supporters maltreated so severely that they go into hiding until the government announces the results. If there is still considerable resistance, swift talks are held with the opposition to form the sham known as a unity government in which the ruling party enters into a power sharing agreement, keeps the vital ministries of defence, finance, development, mines, and foreign affairs, and cajoles the opposition into accepting ministries such as social welfare, gender affairs, and in some cases education. The opposition leader may be made prime minister, a largely ceremonial post stripped of many powers and ruling party members told not to listen to him, as the largely symbolic role of Morgan Tsvangirai in Zimbabwe shows. The Mugabe variant may also paint the opposition as agents of neocolonialism who want to take the country back to the colonial past.

The Mwai Kibaki variant is similar to the Mugabe Mugabe case, but in this more sinister variant, the element of tribalism is introduced. Members of certain tribes are are eventually convinced, through a deliberate process of misinformation, disinformation, prejudicial statements and appointments, that the destiny of their particular tribes, and the welfare of their tribes, can only be maintained or enhanced if the ruling party is kept in power. In this more effective variant, the voters, who in most cases are mainly illiterate view the election not in terms of opposition parties trying to oust the ruling party in a democratic process, but an attempt by other tribes to dominate and control them. When the ruling party or opposition are able to rally sufficient tribes to their camps, their work becomes easier and the need for spending money on individual campaign is minimized and replaced with efforts to promote tribal divisions, discord and disharmony.

In the Lauren Gbagbo version, the opposition is branded as mostly foreigners who want to control the real indigenes of the country. Laws are promulgated to discourage people of foreign descent from taking part in the politics of the country, though their forbears may have been in the country hundred of years before the country even attained independence. If the last name of candidates can be found in another country, then of course they must truly be from that country. Alassane Wattara and even people like Kenneth Kaunda have suffered from this variant. If this strategy fails and the electoral commission announces the opposition as winners, the government takes the results to the supreme court full of ruling party cronies who find loopholes that will enable them overturn the results and declare the ruling party winner. If the international community cries foul, hunker down and do not give in and wait for calls to form a unity government, and then adopt the Mugabe pattern.

In the Mubarak variant, perfected by the Egypt strong man Hosni Mubarak, arrange regular elections to satisfy western donors and regular arrest and accuse opposition activists of crimes ranging from threatening the security of the state to easpiona and in extreme cases treason. Ensure that by the next electoral cycle most of the main opposition leaders are either mostly in jail, in hiding or self imposed exile. Hold elections every four or five years and win 90% of the votes.

In the more honest Qaddafi version, hold no elections at all, convert every citizen to revolutionary loyalists, line the coffers of foreign pro-democracy activists, clamp down on the media, and close your country to the outside world. At least you are not a hypocrite.

Segbwema My Home Town

My name is Sheku Sheriff and I just love writing about Segbwema, my home town. I was born on the 14th day of December, many years ago in Nixon Memorial Hospital Segbwema, one of the few teaching hospitals in West Africa at the time. I grew up on Lansana Street in Taiama, the area of Segbwema that is settled mainly by the Mende ethnic group. Segbwema is one of the main towns in the Eastern region of Sierra Leone.

Segbwema is a hilly town that is divided roughly in two by the small river Nyeya, which is a tributary of the Maleh river. The town belongs to and is the headquarters of Njaluahun chiefdom, a major chiefdom nestled between the Moa and Maleh rivers. Njaluahun is bounded by the eastern chiefdoms of Nongowa, Jawei and Kpeje. Contrary to popular descriptions of Segbwema as a purely Mende town, Segbwema is one of the most diverse small towns in Sierra Leone and the human geography of the town reflects this diversity

The main indigenous ethnic group in Segbwema as the case in most towns of the Eastern Region, are the Mendes. The Mendes are mainly concentrated in the Taima, Pendembulo, Kabalahun, Manina, Sosso Town, Largo Square and Nyekehun sections of Segbwema. Madingos and Fulas represent the other main ethnic groups and they are mostly located in Konotown, which is arguably the largest section of Segbwema. Temnes are mainly in Sosso Town and Kono town and the indigenous Limba population are located at the four main entrances to Segbwema; Largo Square, Kabalahun, Sosso town and the Segbwma-Daru road. Segbwema also has ethnic Hausa, Konyanka and Krio populations. The reason for the multi ethnic nature of Segbwema stems from the fact that it was a major trading center during the heydays of the railway as it was the last major rail town in the Eastern Province and also because it had the best Health Care center in the Eastern province, the Nixon Memorial Methodist Hospital.

The wonderful thing about Segbwema is the fact that the various ethnic groups have existed in the town for decades without any significant problems. Segbwema, though it is a rural town has a truly metropolitan feel as all the various groups have a strong sense of community and citizenship. Everybody participates without fear in the internal politics of the town and we date and marry without much regard to ethnic or tribal affiliations. One major reason for this close knit multi-ethnicity is that every body in Segbwema speaks Mende and almost all speak Krio. In essence there is no communication problem among the different communities. Segbwema is also unique in that every ethnic group is allowed to serve in the administration of the town, either as chiefs or as tribal authorities. This allows every group to believe that they have a say in the future of the town and authority in affairs of the town. This unique model minimizes conflict and makes the childern in the town grow up to see themselves as one; citizens of Segbwema, rather than viewing themselves as Mende, Temne, Limba, Madingo, or Krio.

As most of the major towns in rural Sierra Leone, Segbwema was heavily destroyed during the civil war. Most of the developments we were proud of; our secondary schools, Wesley and Holy Ghost, our police station and police barracks, the Nixon Memeorial Hospital, the Nixon nursing Schools, the Standard bank and many other landmarks were burnt down by rebels of the RUF and other disgruntled and unpatriotic entities. Those of us Segbwema citizens in the global Diaspora who want to help have formed the Segbwema Development Association (SEDA), which is aimed at investing in the resuscitation of the educational, agricultural and healthcare infrastructure in the town, and are calling on the whole world, especially Sierra Leoneans abroad, to assist in this humanitarian venture.