Segbwema Blog Philosophy

The Segbwema Pen vs The Sword of Injustice

We know that in the world there are eyes that are blind to evil and ears that do not want to hear it. Our aim is to have a world  that can solve problems without guns in hand. A world in which the power of the pen is mightier than the barrel of the gun. Our destiny is to see a world that will never justify wrong, no matter who perpetrates it. A world in which the quest for human development goes hand in hand and is never diametrically opposed to the quest for human dignity. 

In this struggle we will be the lone soldiers of righteousness. That is the philosophy of the Segbwema Blog and the mission towards which this blog will devote its energy.

Honorable Robin Fallay Released on Bail

Fallay Released

Breaking news from Kenema is that a high powered legal team led by SLPP Secretary General Sulaiman Banja Tejan-Sie have finally been able to secure the release of the Njaluahun honorable on bail. Ambassador Foya and other Eastern Region SLPP officials have been working around this clock to right this gross injustice against the young MP. Some degree of calmness seem to be returning to Segbwema where people have been irate due to the disrespectful treatment meted out to the honorable member of parliament.

This is a breaking news item on the Segbwema blog. More details will be made available as news comes in. The honorable is headed for home

Honorable Fallay Continues to Langish in Kenema Jail

Honorable Robin Fallay

In a blatant show of disregard for the people of Kailahun district, the township of Segbwema and the parliament of Sierra Leone, the Kenema police have upon instructions from the All people's Congress [APC] hierarchy decided to again keep the sitting member of Parliament for Kailahun constituency 7, the Rt. Hon. Robin Fallay in indefinite detention, locked up like a common petty criminal in the stinking cells of a Kenema jail.

Thinking about Njaluahun

Reports from Segbwema state that Honorable Fallay, who was arrested in Kenema on March 6th, 2012 is being held in very deplorable conditions. When the opposition Sierra Leone People's Party initially requested his release, Kenema police stated that he was being held to obtain report from him. Later today they claimed to be holding him for protective custody. The alleged 10 underage girls the MP was accused of trying to register have been released on bail.

Even the idea that a sitting member of the highest law making body in the country can be treated like a common criminal  by the executive of the country, shows the utter contempt and disregard the APC party has for the parliament of Sierra Leone. The fact that Sierra Leone parliamentarians allow this wanton disregard of their prestige and authority to occur in silence, manifests how little regard the entire parliamentary body have for each other and their institution as a whole.

The unfortunate fact is that with the exception of a few, and with the exception of the 60s and 70s, the Sierra Leone parliament has always been filled with mostly half baked political demagogues who were oftentimes elected on the basis of violence, nepotism, tribalism or outright vote rigging. This has over the years undermined the credibility and authority of this great body who are supposed to be the most powerful body in the country, but are today populated by bootlickers to the executive who have no idea what their functions are. If Parliamentarians around the world were ranked in order of effectiveness, the current Sierra Leone Parliament would rank only below Somalia, whose Parliamentarians are mostly refugees.

Earlier this morning, a large delegation  from Njaluahun,  chiefdom Kailahun district constituency 07 joined the SLPP eastern region chairman and other eastern region party brass to seek the realease of Hon. Fallay with the help of lawyers Bonopha and L. Bangura.  Their efforts have currently had no impact on APC officials who are bent on showing their authority and humiliating the people of the region.

Fallay having fun

Reports from the region indicate that there is talk that the honorable may be charged tomorrow. A leading SLPP officials with intimiate knowledge of the situation states that "  This is just another of the 99 tactics of the APC to distract the SLPP from the on-going registration in our strongholds. We will not relent. this gangster regime must be thrown out of office through the ballot box come November 17th this year."

Many argue that even if the allegations against the MP were true, his continued detention and humiliation is senseless, as he is a young sitting member of parliament who is beloved by his people and represents no flight risk. His people are ready to stand by him no matter what. This they argue is just a case of trying to use the MP to provoke prominent SLPP members like the current party Chairman John Benjamin and the former finance minister John Karimu who both happen to be from the area. It is also known that the vocal MP who briefly aspired for the party presidential candidacy, has been a thorn in the sides of the ruling APC who have been devising all ways to take him out.

Sulaiman Banja Tejan-Sie on APC's Dirty 2012 Election Tactics

Atrtorney Sulaiman Banja Tejan-Sie, Secretary General of the Sierra Leone People's Party, the former ruling party which peacefully handed power to the current governing All People's Congress, comments on dirty tactics being used by the ruling party to perpetuate itself in power in the face of rising unpopularity of the current President, insurance salesman turned politician Ernest Bai Koroma

I am so glad I waited

Apple iPad Hero, the New Ipad

Today March 7th 2001 is another historic day for bloggers and technophiles, such as the Segbwema blogger, Sheku Sheriff, who have been waiting patiently for the release of the much anticipated iPad 3, dubbed by apple as the The New iPad or by enthusiasts as the Ipad HD. The iPad HD will make blogging fun and a breeze.

Segbwema Blogger

As someone who has been an apple watcher for a long time, I told a few of my friends that I would never by an initial apple product, as it was always an experimental product that was aimed at finding out what people really desired in a product and later coming out with a 3rd or 4th generation product that would meet the expectations of the buying public.

Most people wonder why Apple is such a successful firm. The simple reason is that Apple makes what people want through regular yearly releases of totally reworked products. Where other firm re-wrap old products in new skins with minor enhancements, Apple releases, though frequent,  are usually a marked improvement upon earlier generations and concentrate on those things consumers complain were lacking in the old versions.

iPhone 4S

The New iPad has a screen resolution of  2048 x1536-pixel resolution at 264 pixels per inch (ppi), while the iPad 2 had a screen resolution of  1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi). This gives the New iPad a picture and video display quality that is simply mind blowing to the viewer. In essence the retina display on the iPhone 4, which makes picture and video so crisp and clear on the iPhone 4 has been brought to the New iPad. The amazing technological breakthrough is that Apple has been able to achieve this feat without any loss of power or compromise in battery life. Apple has also managed to keep the price of the New iPad within the old price range of the iPad 2. 

The New iPad is more powerful. Games and apps run smoother and faster with graphics that are simply unparalleled. Those firms who have been playing catch up to the highly successful iPad 2 must be heaving sighs of despair. It is like being continually unable to defeat the fastest hundred meters sprinter in Freetown, Sierra Leone and suddenly facing the prospect of being put on the tracks against Usain Bolt, the fastest sprinter in the whole wide world.

When the first generation iPad came out, I remember the secretary general of Tegloma International Federation, Jeneba Bangura, famously saying that there were no women at Apple for naming the tablet the iPad, a name similar to a popular female product. She had little enthusiasm about the success of the device. I know that Jeneba would not make the same statement today. 

If ever there was a laptop killer, this is simply it and unless Microsoft comes up with some quick answer they are in serious trouble. Specifications about the New iPad can be obtained on Apple's website at www.apple.com

Segbwema Member of Parliament Arrested

Honorable Robin Fallay Constituency  7, Segbwema MP
Detained in Kenema police station and refused bail

News from Sierra Leone being monitored by the Segbwema blog indicates that Honorable Robin Fallay, the Sierra Leone People's Party member of parliament for Kailahun constituency 7, which includes the township of Segbwema, was arrested yesterday at approximately 8.00pm GMT Sierra Leone time and detained at the Kenema police station. The arrest stemmed from allegations of voter registration malpractice.

Hon. Fallay together with the principal of Holy Ghost Secondary school and a teacher are accused of falsifying birth record with the intention of registering underage voters in the constituency. They were remanded in custody and refused bail.

Further reports indicate that earlier today the alleged underage voters, who were also arrested were arraigned in a Kenema magistrate court where they denied the involvement of honorable Fallay in the conduct for which they were accused and were granted bail. The matter was adjourned to April 3rd 2012.

Top SLPP officials went to the Kenema police station to secure the release of the Segbwema MP, led by Ambassador Patrick Foya, but were unable to secure his release and he was to remain in custody till the next day, in appalling jail conditions. The SLPP top brass in Kenema are looking at arranging some legal representation for the MP and co-accused.

John Benjamin SLPP Chairman
Working feverishly to secure MP's release

Reports from Freetown also indicate that the SLPP chairman John O. Benjamin, who also happens to have hailed from Segbwema, and other top officials were working fervently to secure the release of Honorable Fallay.

It is interesting note that in recent weeks credible reports indicating that ruling All people's Congress APC party were engaged in massive underage voter registration in the north of the country which is their political base and ferrying nonresidential people to register them to vote in the southeast have been outrightly dismissed by the government as lies and negative propaganda without any investigation or arrests.

It is also interesting to note that the APC  administration is now finding it increasingly easy to arrest opposition members of parliament and hold them without bail, depriving them of their basic civil right of presumption of innocence before guilt and diminishing their status and the status of their constituents in the eyes of their fellow Sierra Leoneans.

Credible reports indicate there there is much uneasiness in Kenema and Segbwema over the arrest and continued detention of the popular MP, but top SLPP officials in the area are urging their supporters to remain calm and not give the ruling party the excuse of using such incidents to interfere in voters registration in areas that have historically been the base of the opposition.

Updates will continue to be provided as calls come in from the area.

Segbwema Blogger

The Light of Democracy Dimming in Sierra Leone

Just four years ago, the small  nation of Sierra Leone, an exotic and pristine beauty on Western Coast of continental Africa,  became a rare symbol of democracy on the continent. On a continent renowned for dictators and tyrants, this small country that had emerged from a tumultuous period of civil conflict had successfully conducted free and fair elections that had seen the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party gracefully conceding power to the main opposition All People Congress party, an opposition party that had previously ruled the country for 23 years and had managed its decline from a once prosperous country to one of the poorest and most destitute nations on the face of the earth.

Kabbah-Symbol of Democracy

The old All People Congress Party, led by ex-presidents Siaka Probyn Steven and Joseph Saidu Momoh had presided over the systematic decline of Sierra Leone from 1967 to 1992, a period during which the country was virtually brought to its knees through decades of misgovernment. Siaka Stevens who had attained power through democratic means from the ruling SLPP (deja vu) converted the diamond rich country into a one party dictatorship, banning legal opposition parties and presiding over the systematic pillaging of the resources of the country for personal gain. In 1980, in a bid to satisfy his monumental ego, Siaka Steven hosted the Organization of African Unity (OAU) conference in Sierra Leone. The financial cost of hosting this conference was so astronomical that the then Governor of the bank of Sierra Leone, Samuel Bangura, voiced his opposition to its implementation. The governor was murdered at his residence in an infamous act of political intrigue and the conference was given the go ahead.

Joseph Momoh
Most Corrupt President

After the OAU, the economic  fortunes of Sierra  Leone went into an irreversible decline. National output and productivity declined, national debt increased, and the standard of living of citizens decreased with an acceleration of the rate of inflation in the face of stagnant wages. The Leone, a currency that had once held its own weight against the dollar went into free fall. In 1980 one Leone was more valuable than one dollar. By 1992 when the then president Joseph Saidu Momoh was chased butt naked from Freetown by young soldiers asking for their pay, the value of one Leone was practically worthless, unable to buy even a cup of groundnuts.

President Koroma
No hope for the hopeless

So when the New APC, under the leadership of then opposition leader Ernest Bai Koroma, once again took the mantle of leadership for the once decadent APC, some of us welcomed the news with apprehension and misgivings, but were ready to give him chance as we were of the opinion that having been through all the problems of Sierra Leone, he would try to give the people a chance to once again regain some element of their once lost glory. Some people argued that given the misdeeds and excesses of 23 years  of APC misrule characterized by misgovernment, corruption, tribalism and nepotism, Ernest Koroma would try to redeem the name of the party and try to build on the economic stability that he had inherited from President Ahmed Tejan Kabba whose government had managed to stabilize the economy, even though he had faced violent periods of armed insurrection.

When President Ahmed Tejan Kabba handed over power to Ernest Koroma, Sierra Leone's democratic institutions were solid both relative to other countries on the African continent and in absolute terms. Under Kabba, the opposition was given free rein to organize and campaign without fear of intimidation or violence. Once violent military and rebel leaders were given the opportunity to participate in governance, opposition radio stations and newspapers were free to operate and citizens were able to form civil groups with say in how the country's democratic future would be determined.

Though the APC party would want the world to believe that Tejan Kabba was an ineffectual leader under whose leadship there was not much progress, nothing could be further from the truth. In 1996 the NPRC military government handed over power to Tejan Kabbah with the RUF rebels still armed and terrorizing parts of the country. Tejan Kabba through diplomatic and other means broke the back of the Revolutionary United Front and had most its main leaders brought to trial and eventually convicted for crimes against humanity. Kabbah undermined and brought Charges against vicious Liberian Warlord turned president Charles Taylor who is languishing today in the Hague, in legal limbo. Foday Sankoh the mysterious and despised leader of the RUF was caught and prosecuted, he died before he could see justice, but reports from hell say he is not having a good time there at all.

Under Tejan Kabba the special court was established with the support of the international community that eventally indicted Charles Taylor. Tejan Kabbah worked with the United Nations to establish  the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), which was established with the Economic Community for West African States Monitoring Observer Group (ECOMOG)'s military support. UNAMSIL was eventually able to bring security to all parts of the country. The United Nations secretary general's representative to Sierra
Leone Victor Angelo was actively involved in political machinations in the country, but Tejan Kabbah never raised any vocal objection and allowed the UN representative free rein to meddle in the country's political affairs.

In 2007 Tejan Kabbah presided over elections that was generally assumed to be free and fair, even though thousands of ballots from ruling party support bases were thrown out by the National Electoral Commission citing irregularities. The opposition was declared the winners and Tejan Kabba graciously conceded without fuss, fighting or violence.

Forward to 2012, presidential and legislative elections are due to be held in November 2012, a date that is suspicious, as most people around the world will be paying attention to the American presidential contest. Today in Sierra Leone;

Minister Tarawally
Thuggish

VP Sumana Al-Jazeera

•  opposition radio stations are banned, the country's currency has reach the 430000 mark against the dollar, unemployment is at an all time high and hope and prosperity is at an all time low.
•  musicians that used to once challenge Tejan Kabbah through political songs now do so at risk of loss of limb  or life.
•  political violence is rife, the main opposition leader and former leader Brigadier Julius Bio was attacked by ruling party loyalists in his hometown, the second capital city Bo, an incident that was clearly incendiary, given the love for him in the region.
•  infighting among APC members for the vice presidency has seen gangster like shootings by government party agents in the main diamond district of Kono. The interior Minister Musa Tarawally is accused of thuggishly sending people to intimidate supporters of VP Sam Sumana.
• the vice president and some of his henchmen were filmed soliciting bribes in an undercover investigative journalism sting by Al-Jazeera, 
• the united nations representative to Sierra Leone, Michael von der Schulenburg has had his character viciously attacked by pseudo journalistic agents of the government and finally hounded out of the country.
• there are claims that the government is busy ferrying people from Liberia and Guinea and registering them to obscure the results of the November elections.
• there are reports that the UDM party is a creation of the APC to muddy the political waters and sow confusion in November with an agent of Koroma posing as opposition leader.
• the national government is actively involving itself in student government elections at the countries universities to ensure the election of student governments that are pliable and malleable.
• several government ministers have been indicted for corruption.
• tribalism, nepotism, official corruption is at an all time high, with the government paying journalists to write glowing stories to fool the world in a process described as rebranding.
• several government functionaries have been implicated in drug smuggling with plane and container load of cocaine appearing in the country in mysterious circumstances

In summary the democratic institutions put in place by Kabba, the people  of Sierra Leone, UN, and ECOMOG and years of hard worn peace seem to be in jeopardy due to an inept government  seeking to hang on to power by all means in the face of popular dissatisfaction and disaffection. Sierra Leonean fed up with years of endless promises, political gimmicks, and sheer incompetence are demanding change, but the government is seeking to deploy all the arsenal at its disposal to thwart the popular will of the people for personal gain. All eyes are on Sierra Leone and we can only pray that things do not totally fall apart, as the light of democracy seems to be failing in Sierra leone