SLAJ at crossroads…needs effective liberal leadership

The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), of which am a ‘proud’ member, is going to the polls on Saturday 13^th April 2013, to elect a brand new executive.

So much has been said about the outgoing executive led by Umaru Fofana. To many people, particularly practicing journalists, the Umaru administration did exceedingly well in giving SLAJ a facelift.

The association can now boast of befitting national and regional secretariats as well as other facilities. I stress on this because wherever the outgoing executive goes, the first thing it points at as a major achievement is the establishment of quite admirable national and regional secretariats.

The long and short of it however is that the Umaru Fofana administration failed rather woefully in taking SLAJ to the anticipated height. I am talking about the most fragmented executive SLAJ has ever produced.

In case somebody did not hear me well, I am talking about an executive that has dented SLAJ the most undeserving negative public perception ever.

The infighting within the executive led to the original secretary general under the Umaru Fofana administration being chased out of office.

As if that was the beginning of things falling apart, Umaru lost complete control over SLAJ during the run-up to the November 17 general elections.

His able Publicity Secretary, Sayoh Kamara, resigned, all because he wanted to run for a parliamentary seat under the banner of the ruling All People’s Congress (APC). He was denied the symbol.

His Secretary General, Ishmael Koroma, behaved to him in a manner that could be likened to a child stripping his father stark naked in public and making him look like a nonentity.

Ishmael Koroma went openly APC. He resigned his position over a brawl with his boss, Umaru, who himself was unable to clear his name over widespread accusations and speculations that he was a staunch undercover supporter of the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) flag bearer, Julius Maada Bio.

A cabinet list purportedly put together by the SLPP had him (Umaru) as would-be minister of information and communication.

During the campaigning, the Campaign Coordinator of the APC, Balogus Koroma, stated categorically that, “SLAJ under Umaru Fofana has lost its credibility”.

It could be recalled that one of the reasons advanced by the APC as to why the party boycotted the presidential debate organized by the BBC Action Group and other notable organizations including SLAJ, was the involvement of the latter in the organizing.

Throughout the crucially important electioneering period therefore, SLAJ was in total disarray, with Umaru Fofana keeping sealed lips, despite his oratory prowess. What a shame?

One outstanding failure of the Umaru administration was its inability to reunite the association after the back-stabbing contest that saw Philip Neville, then acting president, losing the election that brought him (Umaru) to power.   

 Throughout his tenure in office, key members of the association stayed completely away. 

To many of us, it is good that barely four months after the much compromised November 17 general elections, SLAJ which was held pant down in the process, is going to the polls to elect a new national executive.

So far, my assessment of the contenders for the various elective positions has left me with the impression that the right candidates held their seats back. About 95 per cent of the contenders including all those running for the presidency are far from being good candidates insofar as putting SLAJ back on track is concerned.

This is the difficulty the Umaru Fofana administration left behind, and I am very surprised to hear candidates aspiring for positions in the new executive showering praises on the outgoing administration and even referring to brother Umaru as the best president SLAJ has ever produced.

Of all the candidates so far, the only one that I believe has given a fair assessment of the Umaru administration is Abdul Fonti Kabia, the youngest in the race. He is running for the position of assistant secretary general and while I cannot vouch that he will make us a good assistant secretary general, the fact remains that his uncompromising assessment of the outgoing regime has earned him my respect.

According to Abdul Fonti, Umaru Fofana scored 75 per cent in his first term, and 45 per cent in his second term.

Ask Olabisi E. Olu-GarricK, running for the office of vice president, she’ll give him 100 per cent because she was also part and parcel of the whole mess. Ask Zainab Joaque, running for the office of organizing secretary, she’ll tell you the same because she was also part of it. Ask Stanley Bangura who is running neck and neck with Olabisi for the position of vice president, and he’ll shamelessly tell you that Umaru Fofana is the best thing that has ever happened to SLAJ.

Go on and ask Joseph Turay who is battling it out with Abdul Fonti for the position of assistant secretary general, he’ll tell you he was an errand boy for the Umaru administration. Ask Princess Gibson who wants to be the Public Affairs Secretary the same question, and you’ll be surprised at the undeserving passing mark she’ll accord to the failed Umaru administration. We are talking about a long list of sycophants, all yearning to grab positions in SLAJ for the sole purpose of projecting their own personal agendas.

Let me focus now on the three big names running for the presidency i.e. Williette James, Mustapha Sesay and Kelvin Lewis. Simply put, none of these guys has the solution to the mountain of problems facing SLAJ currently.

Looking at Kelvin Lewis, I can simply say that he is counted amongst the most successful journalists the country has ever produced, but whether that is enough reason for him to have the audacity to vie for the presidency of SLAJ remains something entire different. As far as I am concerned, he is a bad candidate, and should be considered as thus. Like President Koroma, Kelvin will end up running SLAJ as a business, given his business approach to journalism. His desire is to hurt no man as long as his business continues to flourish.

His intention to run for the presidency cannot therefore be detached from the fact that he simply wants to add to his status and of course for the string of opportunities that go with the position including regular oversea trips and closer touch with the powers that be. I foresee a much more compromised SLAJ under him. He currently has a huge debt at the Rokel Commercial Bank, and you know what it means having a debtor as president of an association that is supposed to be the last to be compromised.

For Mustapha Sesay, he actually has what it takes in terms of experience to take SLAJ to another height. Under the present circumstances however, he surely will not make us a good president. One thing militating against him is the fact that he has the tendency of acting alone. He has gone down in history as the first ever secretary general that closed the doors of the national secretariat and kept the keys to himself for a couple of days. He may have done so to assert his importance in the executive, but I fear that his approach was utterly wrong. Maintaining his cool in the midst of internal sabotage and marginalization, would have seen concerned members of the association taking up his fight. A man who has the tendency of fighting a serious battle alone is bound to fail.

As for Madam Williette James, she easily would have made SLAJ a good and effective president, but the fear is that she might end up ‘WIMSALIZING’ the association. We can’t mortgage SLAJ to WIMSAL, a group that seems to have no real focus and objective.

So you see, SLAJ is really in a difficult situation and badly in need of a liberal leadership, which in my view cannot be found in any of the three candidates aspiring for the presidency.

This is bad for any organization that is seeking a turn around. Unfortunately, it is so courtesy of the ‘legacy’ left behind by the Umaru Fofana administration. At 42, SLAJ deserves better.

No malice meant. Just a mere exercising of my right as a concerned citizen of the Republic of Sierra Leone and a ‘proud’ member of SLAJ.

I rest my case!!!  

PMDC makes headway after intense internal dispute

By Theophilus S. Gbenda

The People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC), the original campaigner for positive change, has made an impressive headway in handling the internal dispute that threatened to tear the party finally apart.

It could be noted that the PMDC has been in disarray for the past three years, a situation that has delayed the party’s much awaited national delegates’ conference to elect new officials into office.

The dispute saw the suspension of key executive officers of the party and a number of court cases seeking the resignation of Lawyer Charles Francis Margai, the controversial leader of the party.

The dispute also saw Charles Francis Margai falling apart with PMDC appointed ministers serving in the current government, and even resulted in Mr. Margai running into the bad books of his former political ally, His Excellency President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma.

One PMDC minister, Dr. Dennis Sandy, formerly of the Ministry of Lands Country Planning and the Environment, got sacked as a result of his unflinching support for Margai and his utterances against President Koroma and the APC.

The said dispute attracted widespread publicity both in the local and international media, and also left many observers with the impression that the party has lost grip of it and therefore cannot make any major impact in coming elections.

In a bid to save the neck of the party ahead of the crucially important 2012 general elections, a major breakthrough has been reached by all stakeholders involved in the conflict. The breakthrough will warrant the withdrawal of all court cases against the party and its current leadership.

According to impeccable sources, Charles Francis Margai will remain the leader and presidential candidate of the party for the 2012 elections and that the party will finally hold its national delegates conference on Friday 7^th September 2012 in Freetown to fill in various strategic positions.

It is hoped that the delegates’ conference will last for a day and will endorse all decisions reached by the National Council of the party on the way forward.

According to impeccable sources also, the party plans to hold a press conference Monday 3^rd September 2012 at its Henry Street national headquarters, and it is expected that from henceforth, the party will start speaking with one voice.

Meanwhile, the party is expected to hold a national conference in July next year for the election of officials for all positions including the leadership.

Whether Charles Francis Margai will contest for the leadership in the July 2013 national conference remains to be seen, but what is clear is that the party still needs him for the 2012 general elections.

 

   

 

When Professionals go Unprofessional...???

It is often said that when leadership fails, the people suffer. It is often also said that the more you think you know the more you know you know nothing.

Just few days after heaping much praises on the management of Politico Newspaper for their unprecedented professional standard and the fact that the newspaper stands out as being one of the most ideal mediums ever in the country’s media landscape, I got the shock of my life to suddenly realize that professionalism of whatever sort could be compromised at the twinkle of an eye.

The Wednesday July 20-24 2012 edition of the much cherished Politico Newspaper speaks volume. For the very first time in its history, the newspaper ran into what I’ve always referred to as a corporate ploy to weaken the local media.

Rather unprofessionally and deceitfully, Politico published on its front page the banner headline ‘Diamond export to double’, with the photograph of the CEO of Koidu Holdings Limited (KHL) now OCTEA Diamond Group, Jan Joubert.

The story in question fell short of the accepted standard as rather than standing alone, it continued in pages 8-9 and marked as supplementary, with headline ‘OCTEA Diamond Group takes over Koidu Holdings Limited’.

This is outrightly unprofessional, and the worst side of it is that such unprofessionalism was exhibited by a newspaper that is managed by a group of highly trained and qualified journalists who clearly ought to know better.

While pondering over the need to do a piece so as to send out a clear message to the said journalists that their actions are being closely monitored, I came across Tanu Jalloh along the centre of town and took up the matter with him.

His response was “That was our decision”. Of course it goes without saying that a decision could either be right or wrong. So I put it to him that their decision to pass on an advertorial for a front page banner headline was totally wrong and unacceptable. His response was “Look Theo, all of us at Politico are professionals”.

We couldn’t continue the discussion because we were both caught up in traffic, he was in his small nice jeep and I was on my ever-ready operational XL motorbike.

My assessment of Tanu Jalloh’s responses was that he was taken by surprise because he didn’t expect anyone to pick up their professional anomaly. His responses were therefore a blend of sheer arrogance and defenceless defence.

What in my estimation was a deliberate professional oversight geared towards giving undue prominence to the OCTEA Diamond Group center spread advertorial costing merely Le 1,200,000), I feel very saddened that Tanu Jalloh, an experienced editor and mass media communication graduate, could go down that low as to allowing financial consideration to influence his editorial decision (to the extent of undervaluing the essence and worth of the front page).

If it was indeed an issue of ‘decision’ as claimed by Tanu Jalloh, who also happens to be the communications officer of African Minerals Limited (AML) and lecturer at Fourah Bay College (FBC), then that unfortunate decision must have come from him alone.

I say so because at the time when the edition under contention was being produced, the Acting Editor of Politico, Umaru Fofana, the distinguished President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), was busy at a workshop with staff of Mercury International.

I am attempting to get Umaru out of this mess because I know his stance regarding mining companies and commercial advertisements emanating from them; but Tanu Jalloh can prove me wrong.

It goes without saying that Tanu Jalloh, being pro-corporate, took advantage of the situation by filling up the pages of the newspaper edition in question with strings of commercial advertisements, including one centre spread from OCTEA Diamond Group and one full page from AML. Seven pages out of twelve were occupied by commercial advertisements.

In just one edition, the paper made Le 4,200,000, the biggest ‘commercials catch’ ever in its history. Take a look at the previous editions of Politico and you’ll see for yourself the abrupt shift from exemplary journalism to bread and butter journalism.

Of course I am not suggesting that Politico should not go in for commercial advertisements as all other local newspapers in circulation do, but for them to pass on a commercial headline as front page banner headline is not only a breach of confidence but a blatant undermining of professional standards.

The million dollar question now is ‘where does the problem lie?’ If I am to proffer an answer, I’ll say without blinking an eye that the problem lies with having onboard a professional oriented team somebody with a corporate inclination. How this problem could best be solved remains to be seen, but what I think will save the situation is for the management of Politico to take responsibility for the professional blunder and say never again.    

No malice meant, just thinking aloud and expressing my deepest disappointment. Many others, including foreign nationals, feel let down.

I rest my case!!!  

Senior Military Officer Messes Up

Senior military officers in open sex drama

By Theophilus Sahr Gbenda

A startling video clip currently in circulation shows a male lieutenant colonel and a female lieutenant, both serving in the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF), having sex in an administrative block.

Although the said video clip showing the former 5 Battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Osman Jonah Sesay and one Lieutenant Boi Inah Moses having sex on the floor has been seen by top ranking officials of the RSLAF, no disciplinary action has been instituted against them.

In what many observers have referred to as a reward for dragging the name of the RSLAF into disrepute, both Lieutenant Colonel Osman Jonah Sesay and Lieutenant Boi Inah Moses have been selected to proceed on an AMISOM assignment in Somalia and are currently receiving the requisite training at the Horton Academy operated by IMATT.

The said video clip leaked out when Lieutenant Boi Inah Moses took her laptop computer for repairs. Accordingly, it was during the process of repairing the said laptop that the technician came across a file containing the incredible pornographic clip.

How Mrs. Mabinty Sesay, the legally weeded wife of Lt. Colonel Osman Jonah Sesay laid hands on the clip in question remains a mystery, but what came out clearly was that she challenged her husband on the matter; for which she received a chain of nasty beatings, one of which is said to have left her with a swollen face.

Reportedly, Mrs. Mabinty Sesay first reported the matter to the Military Police (MP) and later to Brigadier Kestoria Kabia who is said to have retorted by asking her to choose between the clip and her husband’s future in the military.

It could be noted that Lieutenant Boi Inah Moses, sometime last year bypassed official channels and reported a matter of sexual harassment to the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone (HRCSL) and the Office of the Ombudsman.

In her report, she claimed of being a perpetual victim of sexual harassment perpetuated against her by a colonel in the force. Though she failed to mention the name of the said colonel in the report, the 3 Infantry Brigade Commander at Murray Town, Colonel Osman Turay alias Asterix, got suspended as a result, pending further investigation into the matter. Also suspended was the complainant Lieutenant Boi Inah Moses, reportedly for bypassing official channels.

Lieutenant Boi Inah Moses was however reinstated after a week and enlisted in the batch of personnel currently undergoing rapid training for the AMISOM deployment in Somalia. Accordingly, Lt. Colonel Osman Jonah Sesay is the contingent commander designate for the said deployment.

In a heated media encounter with the Acting Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of the RSLAF, Brigadier S. O. Williams at the senior officers’ mess, Wilberforce, the question was posed to him as to whether he has set eyes on the clip. His answer was in the negative.

Asked whether he would like to see it as it was readily available, he maintained that viewing the said clip will influence his decision in the matter involving Colonel Asterix whose investigations he said was concluded on 19^th January with a decision due anytime soon.

Though uninterested in viewing the clip based on the reason advanced above, Brigadier S. O. Williams posed the question “How did you get the clip”? The response proffered was that it was best for him to first view the clip as a matter of concern and thereafter ask any question.

Asked why Lieutenant Boi Inah Moses was reinstated long before the completion of the investigations, Brigadier S. O. Williams noted that a mistake was done on the original orders warranting the suspension of the two officers. According to him, it was later realized that suspending the complainant despite the fact that she bypassed official channels to relay her complaint, was an unreasonable decision. Further questioned as to whether the decision to order the suspension of the officers was done in a rush courtesy of the blunder, his response was “Not really”.

Reports monitored indicate that it was the Minister of Defence, Retired Major Paolo Conteh, who actually ordered her immediate reinstatement.

The question on the lips of many observers now is whether based on the outstanding sexual performance displayed by Lieutenant Boi Inah Moses in the spectacular clip, her accusation of sexual harassment was not cooked up to jeopardize the future of a whole colonel that is on record as being one of the most educated and disciplined commanders in the force.

An unchallenged newspaper report sometime last year published a damning story indicating that Lieutenant Boi Inah Moses entered into the force with a fake academic certificate. 

Meanwhile, both the Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Ombudsman have remained silent on the matter, a pointer that they have simply dismissed the sexual harassment claim as fictitious. 

Meanwhile further, it has come out clearly that most of the personnel serving in the hierarchy of the RSLAF have exceeded their retirement age but are refusing to go, thereby suppressing the growth of younger and far more competent officers within the force.

Meanwhile furthermore, there are reports that the selection of personnel for the current AMISOM deployment and other external operations is marred by high level corruption.

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…???