When a 'Jamba Smoker' heads an organization

Rejoinder

When a ‘Jamba Smoker’ heads an organization

By Theophilus Sahr Gbenda

It goes without saying that a good journalist focuses on issues rather than going personal.

It is said that when a journalist sways from the real issues and start delving into the personal life of another, it only shows that that journalist is arguing on weak grounds.

While I’ll never go personal in all my writings, guys like Abdul Fonti, the runner of the Ariogbo Newspaper, take great pleasure in doing just that. Of course, I’ve worked together with Abdul Fonti so I do know a couple of things about his personal life…but I’ll not dwell on those things.

In my resolve to stick to the issues, let me here respond to Fonti’s assertion that “When a Jamba Smoker heads an organization, it is almost likely that that organization will not be treated seriously”.

The writing is on the wall that Fonti is sick in the head and therefore cannot think rightly enough to distinguish between a personal fight and a media fight that has to do with real issues.

Because Fonti cannot counter my arguments without making himself look foolish, his strategy has been what we call in logic an ad homminem fallacy i.e. launching personal attacks when there is no strong counter argument to put up.

In Fonti’s piece that equals to a trash, he stated that members of the Association of Journalists on Mining and Extractives (AJME) made a mistake to have elected me chairman of the organization.

The fact remains that my colleagues are proud of my leadership role and want me to go on leading them.

Apart from the fact that I happen to be one among the three founders of the organization, I’ve always been considered an asset. I was the first Secretary General of the organization and became chairman following the death of the Late Christian Keili, a co-founder and first chairman. May his soul rest in perfect peace.

Since assuming office as chairman, AJME has produced a number of newsletter publications and made representations at several quarters both locally and internationally.

AJME is as a matter of fact one of the most vibrant affiliates of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ).

SLAJ holds AJME in high esteem and always redirects issues that have to do with the mining and extractive industry to the organization which over the years I’ve transformed into a research-based professional and non-compromising entity.

Without questioning his opinion of me being a marijuana partaker and that no one takes me seriously especially when I write critical stuffs bordering on the common good, let me state emphatically that I am counted amongst the best journalists you can find in the country. My record is clean, which is why I continue to grow tougher and tougher in the profession.

Mention the name Abdul Fonti and then mention that of Theophilus S. Gbenda and you’ll see who’ll first be recognized. My name rings a bell in the ears of all unpatriotic Sierra Leoneans, as evident in the number of accolades I receive each time I put out a thought-provoking piece or appear on television or Tea Break to talk issues which the likes of Fonti will never ever even know how to tackle.

I’ve represented my country in diverse capacities in several countries across Africa and Europe. As a matter of fact, I just returned from Accra, Ghana, to deliver a paper on Sierra Leone’s oil sector and related governance issues, and hope to be in Germany sometime in March to deliver a lecture on land grabbing and its associated socio/economic and cultural impacts.

Two of my executive members at AJME, Mohamed Konneh (Secretary General) and Diana Coker (Organizing Secretary), returned from Ghana some two months ago and two other members have been listed to travel to the same country by mid this year on a special training course.

AJME, being a reputable media entity, commands high respect within the broader civil society body both locally and internationally, and works in close collaboration with major local and international organizations such as the Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD), Campaign for Just Mining (CJM), the National Advocacy Coalition on the Extractives (NACE), GIZ and IBIS, to name a few.

There is no function bordering on social justice particularly in the mining and extractive industry to which AJME is not invited.

By and large, AJME is a success story, thanks to me leadership. We have succeeded in gaining recognition far and wild, both in the private and government circles.

Following a report published by AJME on the country’s oil sector, no less a person than the Chief of Staff, Dr. Kaifala Marah, attached at the Office of the President at State House, summoned the organization to a meeting, during which he showered praises on us for doing what he referred to as a good eye opening job. That particular AJME report is currently being used by the government as a working document.

During the investigations by the Jenkins Johnston Commissioner of Inquiry into the circumstances that led to the killing of two protesters by armed police guards at the Koidu Holdings facility in Koidu, Kono District, I was the only journalist (in my capacity as chairman of AJME), that provided pictorial evidence of the entire incidence, thereby making the work of the commission much easier.

During the said incidence, I had a direct mobile phone conversation with His Excellency the Vice President, Alhaji Samuel Sam Sumana and even had a meeting with him at State House on the same matter. As a matter of fact, I was the only journalist that was brave enough to cover the incident in question amidst sporadic gun fire, and therefore the only one capable of providing a true account of what happened. I was expressly recognized in the Jenkins Johnston Commissioner of Inquiry report presented to His Excellency the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma.

To say therefore that nobody is taking AJME seriously because it is headed by a dreadlocked personality is not only a far fetched and erroneous piece of misinformation, but a claim aimed at attempting to undermine the respectability of the organization.

During a recent function organized by African Minerals Limited (AML), AJME was duly invited to deliver a statement. The AJME representative at the function, Diana Coker, was amongst the personalities on the high table. All this couldn’t have happened without the outstanding leadership I’m providing.

Apart from being chairman of AJME, I’m also the Station Manager Culture Radio FM 104.5. You just need to come to No. 24 Fort Street where the station is located and see the enviable progress and changes I’ve effected since assuming office less than two years ago. We now operate on a brand new transmitter covering up to %75 of the country, with my staff being fully catered for.

With my leadership, Culture Radio now ranks third in terms of our transmitting scope, and it is worthy to note that Culture Radio is the only station that has become a member of EED partners in the country and also a member of the board of the Sierra Leone Network on the Right to Food (SiLNoRF).

Under my leadership, Culture Radio has secured funding from abroad and is now one of the very few media entities running on solar in the country. What else can I say but to state that I, Theophilus Sahr Gbenda, has never been a failure in all the positions I’ve held. Like AJME, Culture Radio is a big success story, thanks to my astute leadership.

Based on the foregoing, it is clear that the only reason why Abdul Fonti is trying to taint my character by delving into my personal life is to bring to the fore an ongoing ploy by his likes to dissuade me from my critical stance against their interests.        

To show how inconsistent Fonti has been in his malicious pieces of trash against my personality, he onetime linked me to the cocaine bust at the Queen Elizabeth 11 Quay and even insinuated that no cocaine consignment enters the country without my knowledge. Just the next day, Fonti came up with yet another trash indicating that I’m being afflicted by hard-up. While making it point blank that I’ve never set eyes on cocaine not to talk about being an ardent partaker of it as he libelously claimed, let me here state that a cocaine baron will never be hard-up or cash constrained. Isn’t that inconsistence…???

Anyway, I remain Theophilus Sahr Gbenda, the firebrand journalist and campaigner, whose fire cannot be quenched by twits like Fonti.

  

Unlike Fonti who corporate money has easily reduced to a praise-singer, the marijuana he claimed I’m partaking of has never made me become foolish. Rather, it has made me become wiser and more patriotic to my nation, as evident in my writings. So what’s the fuss about…???

It goes with saying that Fonti who can waste a whole newspaper page boasting about bearing a babe girl and even publishing on front page the photograph of the innocent girl and that of his and his girlfriend standing in a rather romantic posture, is only succeeding in making himself look funny in the eyes of good people rather than spoiling my hard earned reputation in defence of his selfish interest.

Let me end by stating that this same Fonti happens to be one of the many young journalists I’ve helped groom, as James Bampia Bundu, his staff at Ariogbo Newspaper, would attest. It’s therefore out of sheer ungratefulness that he is doing what he thinks is best in the eyes of his handlers. Posterity will judge him accordingly.

I remain undaunted. Jesus Christ was persecuted for being righteous and even killed. He was called names, dragged in the streets and spat upon. Isn’t that a good source of motivation to stay on…???

IMC condones unprofessional conducts

Special Commentary

IMC condones unprofessional conducts

By Theophilus Sahr Gbenda

The Independent Media Commission (IMC), charged with the responsibility of regulating the media, seems not to be doing its work effectively.

For the purpose of ensuring strict adherence to professional standards, all newspaper registrations are required to be scrutinized by the IMC before license to operate is issued.

Once owners of newspaper pass through all the registration stages, they now go on operating in total disregard for professional ethics. Simply because the IMC lacks what it takes to properly regulate or monitor the newspapers, proprietors and editors have been taking undue advantage of the situation.

A typical example is the Ariogbo Newspaper. In the application sheets of the said newspaper, no mention was made of the position of ‘Executive Editor’. What is contained therein is the position of ‘Editor’.

Take a look at the imprint of the Ariogbo Newspaper, and you’ll see for yourself the misuse of the title ‘Executive Editor’.

What is most disturbing is the fact that the holder of the said position, Abdul Karim Kabia (Fonti), has never been a full-fledged editor of any newspaper anywhere in the world and besides, that position applies only in a setting wherein there is a chain of editors performing different editorial tasks.

Unless the IMC considers such as a breach of trust and therefore an unprofessional and unacceptable conduct, more undeserving titles will continue to show up in newspaper imprints.

One area where the IMC has failed woefully is to ensure that newspapers stick to their signed editorial policies.

Again, a typical example in this regard is the Atomic Newspaper of Mohamed Bangura.

When the said newspaper was before the interviewing panel of the IMC to finalize its registration process, the proprietor made it abundantly clear that the newspaper will be non-political and professional.

Few months down the road after securing a license to operate, the said newspaper became fully political and unprofessional, with the IMC doing nothing about it.

Without the effective monitoring of the operations of newspapers, the relevance of the IMC becomes much undesired, especially given the current wave of media take-over by corporate entities.

With IMC now having a new head in the person of Rod Mac Johnson, it is only hoped that the institution will adopt a new direction if only to regain its much compromised glory.

So far, what we’ve seen the IMC embarking upon is nationwide training sessions on professional ethics. Whether the intention is skewed towards the per diems that normally go with such trips remains to be seen, but what is clear is that the issue of professional standards is not being handled or addressed holistically.

On several occasions, the IMC has been branded as a toothless bulldog that has no meaningful role to play insofar as transforming the media landscape in the country is concerned.

Let me end by stating that to whom much is given, much is expected. IMC has no option but to leave up to expectation.

Lonta!

  

SiLNoRF hosts experience sharing session for land users

SiLNoRF hosts experience sharing for affected land users

By Theophilus Sahr Gbenda

The Sierra Leone Network on the Right to Food (SiLNoRF) has held a one-day interactive and experience sharing session for affected land users from Bombali, Tonkolili, Port Loko and Kono Districts, at the Makeni City Hall.

In his opening remarks, the chairman of the occasion, Abdulia Yola Bangura who happens to be the Northern Region Human Rights Officer of the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone, said the main objective of his organization is to protect the rights of the citizenry of the country.

He referred to land as a source of pride and warned that companies investing in it for agricultural and other purposes do so without infringing on the economic and social rights of the affected owners and users.

Giving an overview of SiLNoRF, the National Coordinator, Mohamed Sorie Conteh, said the organization is part and parcel of the African Network on the Right to Food headquartered in Benin, and has as its main objective the effective realization of the right to food which he said is fundamental.

Mr. Mohamed S. Conteh said SiLNoRF came into being following widespread consultation with various civil society organizations across the country and has recently been officially launched.

The methodologies employed by SiLNoRF, Mr. Conteh said, include advocacy, monitoring and engagement with all relevant stakeholders including policy makers and corporate entities including Addax Bioenergy Limited which is currently operating in the Bombali and Tonkolili Districts.

According to him, SiLNoRF has so far established 14 affected land users associations in the Addax operational districts and expressed optimism that the experience sharing session will create a better understanding among participants of the problems affected their respective communities in terms of land right and the right to food and safe drinking water.

Mr. Conteh also stated that SiLNoRF is building the capacities of various stakeholders including policy makers and at the same time raising awareness on the need to actualize the right to food.

SiLNoRF, Mr. Conteh went on, is not against the operations of multilateral companies investing in land, noting however that the organization will not sit by and watch helplessly while its main objection which is to increase access to food is being overtly endangered.

Mr. Conteh ended by stating that SiLNoRF’s intervention in the sector is to enhance the positive effects of the Addax project for instance and to seek the mitigation of the negative effects to the bearest minimum, adding that for a long time now, preference has been given to issues relating to civil and political rights, thereby neglecting the economic, social and cultural rights of the people.

In his remarks, Derek Higgo, the HSSE Manager of Addax Bioenergy Limited, said “We share the concerns of SiLNoRF and are doing everything possible to mitigate the negative effects of our project”.

Emmanuel Conteh (Pa Massim), the Speaker of Bombali Shebora Chiefdom representing Paramount Chief Bai Shebora Kassagha 11, said “For the Addax project to be considered sustainable the people affected need to see the benefits”, adding that  “The role of the media and civil society is crucial if only to get the company to behave responsibly”.

Chief Emmanuel Conteh thanked SiLNoRF for serving as an eye opener and assured of the fullest support of the chiefdom authorities.

The session which was facilitated by Sheku James from the Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD) and Barrister Walter Neba from Cameroon, ended with the signing of a communiqué calling on the government to treat with caution issues relating to large scale land lease to multilateral companies and to get owners of the lands directly involved in the negotiations.

Meanwhile, SiLNoRF has held its first board meeting in Makeni, during which Raymond Senesie of Defence for Children International (DCI) was unanimously elected board chairman, while Mohamed S. Conteh of the Mankind’s Activities for Development Accreditation Movement (MADAM) was overwhelmingly endorsed as national coordinator of the network and secretary to the board.   

When journalists dance the corporate dance...???

I Hang My Case!!!

When journalists dance the corporate dance…???

(Part Two)

With Theophilus Sahr Gbenda

(Journalist/Fixer/Campaigner)

In part one of this series, I came down hard on certain misguided colleagues who have taken it upon themselves to blindly defend corporate entities operating in the country and in the process undermining the reputation of the media profession and at the same time misinforming members of the public.

Those who the cap fit wasted no time in taking up a fight in outright defence of their allegiance to one of the corporate entities that has come out clearly as being the main manipulator of the local media. African Minerals Limited (AML) is the company on the spotlight in this regard.

Two newspapers widely believed to be covertly established by African Minerals Limited and staffed by colleagues whose specified duty is to protect the company against bad press or criticism and to perpetuate lies about the effects of its operations on the country and its people.

The two papers in question are the African Young Voices (AYV) with Theo Nicol as Editor-In-Chief and the so-called Ariogbo with Abdul Karim Fonti Kabia as Executive Editor. Big titles indeed! But how deserving are they is another question altogether.

The point I am trying to drive home is that AYV and Ariogbo are now official mouthpieces of AML and therefore an attack on the latter is a direct attack on them. Whether they have a point to defend or not is often not the matter, what matters to them is to ensure that their financiers see them at work.

Unlike AYV which tried to respond to my article in a very mature way, Ariogbo took it a little bit personal by hauling insults and demonstrating total ungratefulness to me who has always looked up to him as an upcoming media personality and who of course played a critical part in his grooming. Rather indigenously, Abdul Karim Kabia who dropped his family name and started calling himself Abdul Fonti after days of hiding like a crab in a small corner for fear of being arrested over an alleged libelous article against President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, wants the public to believe that I Theophilus Gbenda of all journalists in the country, worked under him while he was Acting Editor of the Awareness Times.

This is total foolishness because for all I know, I was the first ever Deputy Editor of Awareness Times and I had cause to leave to take up another job. After a while, and by which time his (Abdul Fonti’s) name was undeservingly appearing on the imprint as Acting Editor, I went back to the Awareness Times not as a mainstream employee, but as a contractor responsible directly to the proprietress, General Sylvia Olayinka Blyden.

My specific duty then was to edit all the stories that go through Abdul Fonti as acting editor, for the purpose of professionalization. Each time I went editing his stuffs, I’ll call him to sit by my side and see how good editing is done. Today, he has the audacity to insinuate that he was in fact my boss. I don’t blame him. I blame the Independent Media Commission (IMC) for allowing him to use the title of Executive Editor when he has never ever been a full time editor of any newspaper establishment.    

While I bear no malice for him, it is worthy to note that both AYV and Ariogbo are now distancing themselves from the fact that AML had a hand in their establishment. The million dollar question is, how comes they are both operating from the same address at 49 Siaka Stevens Street. Or is it a mere coincidence?

Where sincerity counts, Theo Nicol will for instance not come back to the public and argue that AYV is not an official appendage of AML. It was this same Theo Nicol who during the registration phase of the AYV and while he was trying to put a team together, invited me to his office to try to convince me to be one of the editors of the said newspaper. When I posed the question to him as to who was behind the paper in terms of sponsorship, he stated categorically that AML and African Petroleum are the ones putting their monies into the business, and that plans are underway to establish a radio station and a television network soon.

While making the point clear that both AML and African Petroleum are owned by the controversial Romanian born Frank Timis, let me also make it clear that Theo Nicol even went further to tell me that “I am looking for the best journalists money can buy”. My response to his unsolicited offer was that, ‘You are talking to the wrong person’.

As for Ariogbo, it is no secret that Anthony Navo Jr. is playing the role of a front man for African Minerals Limited. When I used the word covert, I simply mean that African Minerals is hiding behind its very shadow to establish its own %100 pro-newspapers.  

One fact that cannot be denied is that both papers are established on purpose, and that purpose as mentioned earlier, is to serve the best interest of AML.

The two papers have always banked on fooling the gullible public into believing that AML is God-sent.  That the company has thus far provided more than nine thousand jobs for Sierra Leoneans and has brought back the train.

Theo Nicol ought to know better when it comes to train service. In one of his recent articles, Theo heaped unsubstantiated praises on AML for bringing back the train after a period exceeding 30 years and said rather carelessly that Sierra Leone is in for rapid development as a result.

Theo made it abundantly clear in the said misleading article that while he was a small boy leaving with his parents around Hastings, his father use to take home fresh fruits and other items brought all the way from Portoru by train and that people were leaving places like Kenema and Bo to come down to work in Freetown and return back after work.

Is Theo, my name sake, unaware of the fact that the trains brought in by AML are not going to operate like the ones he made reference to in his article? In fact the whole train thing is nothing to make noise about because they are here not to render the regular train service as in the 1970s, but rather to serve as carriages of precious minerals.

In a bid to enhance acceptability of the reintroduction of the train, it was originally declared by the AML management that the trains will serve both the needs of the locals and the company. They even lied that the trains will be useful in transporting goods and producers from one point to another in a bid to ease the transportation problem encountered mostly by local farmers. This was the strategy used in getting the people to give up their lands for the train line to pass.

The trains have started operating now, and the language has changed completely. It is now official that the trains are for the exclusive use of the company and that anyone who dares pass before a train while in motion will have him or herself to blame. Meaning if you have an encounter with the train and get killed or injured, you’ll have yourself to blame.

Of course AML has provided substantial employment facilities, but the fact remains that they are not doing those employed any favour. You have to work hard and satisfactorily or get sacked without any warning. So what’s the fuss about? For Theo and Abdul Fonti to however suggest that the company has granted over nine thousand jobs is a blatant exaggeration and a sheer misinformation. Besides, the jobs granted to the bulk of Sierra Leoneans are menial in nature. The heavily paid jobs are given to foreigners who they refer to as expatriates. They even have truck drivers, carpenters and masoners that are paid as expatriates because they are coming from abroad. Don’t we have professional truck drivers, carpenters and masoners here? The local workers have no union to speak on their behalf, and have managed to stage a number of protest actions over poor working conditions and delayed payment of salaries. So what’s the empty noise about?

What my colleagues in question are displaying is the fact that their eyes are blind to the bigger picture. All they seem to care about is what goes into their pockets and they care less about the adverse effects of the operations of the company on the persons who are feeling the brunt directly.

Go to the Bumbuna general area and conduct a perception survey on what the indigenes think about the presence of AML in their locality. No doubt, those who will speak against will double, if not triple those who will speak in favour of the company. Does that ring a bell?

What those of us who have outrightly refused to be pocketed by AML are doing is to simply avoid a situation wherein all of us would be seen dancing the corporate dance as if celebrating the open stealing of our mineral wealth. We are looking at the bigger picture. Not that we hate AML. We are simply concerned about the fact that there is yet no significant benefit in sight for the nation, as compared to what the company and its shareholders will be taking away. The AML contract is a complete rip-off to say the least, which is why we’ve been calling for its review. Is that a crime?

When I talk about the take over plan being orchestrated by AML, people think am not being fair to the company. But imagine a 99 years infrastructural lease agreement granted to the company by the Government of Sierra Leone and also take into consideration that AML is now bent on disintegrating the local media and civil society body. AML is well advanced in its plan to establish its own mouthpieces, create its own parallel civil society outfits like the so-called Youth Leadership Council Sierra Leone (YLCSL). Of course the National Youth Coalition (NYC) headed by Al-Sankoh Conteh has sold out rather cheaply to AML.

Let me hang my case by stating that what we are doing is for the benefit of the entire citizenry of the state including the very ones who think we should give the company a break.

When journalists dance the corporate dance...???

I Hang My Case!!!

When journalists dance the corporate dance…???

With Theophilus Sahr Gbenda

(Journalist/Fixer/Campaigner)

Journalism, no doubt, is a noble and interesting profession practiced worldwide. Here in Sierra Leone, the nobility of the profession has come under the spotlight a couple of times.

Better still, the respectability of the profession has been dragged to the mud again and again, and with the advent of corporate entities in the country, the indications are clear that the worst is right on our doorsteps.

Sierra Leone, like most other countries around the world, has perpetually produced two sets of journalists. You either have the good one or the bad one. The good one would be the one who is prepared to sacrifice everything in defense of his/her profession and what he/she believes, while the bad one would be the one who can lie down for anything cheap without thinking that he/she has the reputation of a noble profession to protect.

With poverty smiling right in our faces, we have entered a stage wherein a successful journalist is determined by the number of assets he/she has, or how much he/she is able to make on a daily basis either through ‘coasting’ or some other unethical means.

Because the bad ones are always in the majority, it has come out clearly that corporate entities operating in the country enjoy the leverage of taking advantage of the situation.

In what I would refer to as the gradual taking over of the local media, Sierra Leone is currently witnessing a situation wherein advertisements from the corporate world are considered as gems. Some newspapers cannot even survive without such advertisements.

Take a look at most of the newspapers today, and you’ll see for yourself the outright take-over plan at play.

The consequences of this unfortunate trend abound, but suffice it to state that the divisive aspect of it is the most crucial.

It is no longer a secret that our resource-rich but shamefully poor and degrading country has attracted a wide range of unscrutinized so-called investors who are mostly active in the mining and extractive sector.

These multilateral companies always find pleasure in operating in resource cursed nations such as Sierra Leone, for the sole purpose of exploiting. Apart from the fact that such companies give premium to maximizing profit and limiting obligation, they are also known to be neck deep in sustaining the divide and rule tactic to get away with things.

This is exactly what Sierra Leone has experienced over the years, and by the look of things, the worst is in sight. What this means in essence is that hopes for the better are not only remote, but untenable.

The big game plan which many journalists are yet to see playing is the strategy employed by certain corporate entities to divide the media and the civil society body in the country.

Currently, the Association of Journalists on Mining and Extractives (AJME), which is on record as being one of the most outstanding media outfits in the country, is under undue attack from some unprogressive and self-seeking journalists and some so-called civil society activists operating under the aegis of the National Youth Coalition (NYC) and the little known about Youth Leadership Council Sierra Leone (YLCSL).

The crime AJME committed was to partner with Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD) and the Campaign for Just Mining (CJM) to sound a wake-up call on the government to expedite the review of agreements or contracts signed with mining companies including Koidu Holdings Limited (KHL), London Mining Plc, African Minerals Limited (AML) and Sierra Rutile Company Limited.

It is worthy to note that the ongoing review of the said agreements and contracts was deemed necessary given that their terms are largely skewed against the interest of the country and its people.

AJME has never in its campaign for fair deals in the sector directed its fist at a particular mining company. If anything, no company has been spared, as evident in the number of investigative reports that have been put out over time in the public domain.

The fact that the criticisms against AJME are coming specifically from bedfellows of African Minerals Limited (AML) parading as journalists and youth activists, sends clear signals that the seeming divide and rule policy that is gradually degenerating in an all-out press war is apparently being machinated by AML.

It is for this reason that this piece will focus purely on putting some sense into the coconut of some shortsighted colleagues of ours in the media particularly, who without an iota of knowledge of what is obtaining in the mining and extractive sector, are allowing themselves to be used as paid-up agents.

Knowing its operations to be characterized by controversies, AML, headed by a controversial figure in the person of Frank Timis, a three times drug convict, has set the stage for the complete take-over of the local media.

Apart from filling the pages of most of our once content-based newspapers with strings of commercial advertisements, AML has also felt the need to establish its own pro-newspapers, with plans of setting up a radio station and television network in the shortest possible time.

Already, the company has covertly set up two newspapers. They are the ‘African Young Voices’ (AYV) headed by Theo Nicol, a senior colleague and the so-called ‘Ariogbo Newspaper’, headed by the inexperienced Abdul Fonti Kabia who I personally helped groom as editor. I often call him ‘Borbor Pain’ because of his steadfastness to duty and ability to work under tremendous pressure, while we were both at the Awareness Times.

Rather unfortunately, the Ariogbo newspaper of my former trainee has been on the forefront of launching personal attacks on AJME which I head as chairman, and even demonstrating readiness to go on a press war if AML continues to come under criticism.

Of course I will not reduce myself to the level of Abdul Fonti. I will only advice him to watch his steps because one reason why some of us have kept our cool till date is because of the long term friendship we’ve enjoyed as colleagues. We don’t want to see a situation wherein onetime friends and colleagues would suddenly go on the war path over a mining company that has not come to benefit the country and its people in the real sense of the word.

Let me, however, say to my boy, Abdul Fonti that the war he is trying to provoke will be too much for him and that any further trash from him will provoke nothing short of an all out press war and I dare state categorically here that AML will in this case be the direct object for attack, since it is its money at work.

While being gentle with Abdul Fonti who seems content with being sponsored by a corporate entity to launch undue attack on colleague journalists who have consciously refused to be pocketed as him and most others have, let me here state that the nation comes first and that any colleague who attempts to cast aspersions on our determination to expose the odds in our country’s mining and extractive sector which has been the subject of heartless exploitation for decades, will have doom spelled upon him/her.

In an article captioned ‘AJME, nar press war wuna want ba?’ published in the Ariogbo newspaper of Monday 12^th December 2011, an attempt was made not only to divert the public’s attention from the real issues, but also to discredit AJME.

The level of vagueness exhibited in the said article leaves one with the clear conclusion that it’s a hard job to do trying to paint white something that is black inside out.

In an attempt to paint AML white, Abdul Fonti or whoever was behind the quite misleading article that has since been dismissed as trash, raised the issues of employment and the bringing back of the train as reasons why AML should be adored and allowed to carry out its operations without any checks and balances.

The unknown author who is obviously afraid to associate his name with the said trash, also mentioned that everybody in the country including children coming up are aware of the fact that the coming of AML is a blessing in disguise to the nation and as a result nobody is grumbling over the operations of the company.  

This is hurting to say the least, because what the writer unknowingly tried to expose is his/her ignorance of the real situation on the ground. Go to Bumbuna Town and you’ll see people grumbling day in and day out and even referring to AML as a rogue company.

The only reliable water source that has served the needs of the people in Bumbuna since the 1970s has been polluted in the wake of the construction of the so-called 900 Man Camp by AML on the hill top of the township.

A couple of strike actions have been staged by affected persons within the AML operational area and wages of some categories of workers deemed to be incommensurate to the risks associated with their jobs. People have to bribe to secure jobs, according to some reports.

Most disturbing is the issue regarding the bringing back of the train. The major question is, for whom? Is it serving the needs of the people or the company? Is the re-introduction of the train out of love for our country or to fast track the pillaging of our mineral wealth? 

You can dance the corporate dance, but make sure you don’t touch non-dancers. Lonta!

I hang my case!!!