Time to take sierra leone from lying hate mongers

Time to take Sierra Leone back from Lying Hate Mongers By Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden (Officer of Order of the Rokel) Jan 11, 2013, 17:20 Email this article Printer friendly page You May Click Here To Read or Discuss Views About This Article Sorie Fofana & Umaru Fofana areamongst those who thrive on Chaos in Sierra Leone because they know they cannot compete or survive in an Ordered, Civilised& Decent Society where value for the truth is supreme. Latest gimmick is to stir Tribal hate by publishing dangerous lies... Many people have been asking to read the 8th January 2013 GLOBAL TIMES article of Sorie Fofanawhich sparked the proactive stance of the Head of State in granting an exclusive interview to us this week to condemn tribal stoking in the media. We have today published the article verbatim today. Alongside it, is another terrible and similarly unfortunate article which was Umaru Fofana’s lead story on his POLITICO newspaper of 10th January 2013. It appearsthat now the plot to incite the Mendes has boomeranged, opposition media agents like Umaru Fofana wish to turn their attention to inciting the Temnes in the country. A mostunfortunate situation. Sadly, these fellows (Umaru Fofana and Sorie Fofana) are not Mendes neither Temnes but they keep on stoking these tribal sentiments to serve their hidden motives to perpetuate chaos in our country. This shameful and disgusting use of tribal tools to score political points must be condemned. We are going to henceforth name and shamethe true enemies of this country’s peace and unity. Umaru Fofana, President of SLAJ and Sorie Fofana, publisher of Global Times are amongst the enemies of this country’s tranquility and unity

Time to take sierra leone from lying hate mongers

Time to take Sierra Leone back from Lying Hate Mongers By Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden (Officer of Order of the Rokel) Jan 11, 2013, 17:20 Email this article Printer friendly page You May Click Here To Read or Discuss Views About This Article Sorie Fofana & Umaru Fofana areamongst those who thrive on Chaos in Sierra Leone because they know they cannot compete or survive in an Ordered, Civilised& Decent Society where value for the truth is supreme. Latest gimmick is to stir Tribal hate by publishing dangerous lies... Many people have been asking to read the 8th January 2013 GLOBAL TIMES article of Sorie Fofanawhich sparked the proactive stance of the Head of State in granting an exclusive interview to us this week to condemn tribal stoking in the media. We have today published the article verbatim today. Alongside it, is another terrible and similarly unfortunate article which was Umaru Fofana’s lead story on his POLITICO newspaper of 10th January 2013. It appearsthat now the plot to incite the Mendes has boomeranged, opposition media agents like Umaru Fofana wish to turn their attention to inciting the Temnes in the country. A mostunfortunate situation. Sadly, these fellows (Umaru Fofana and Sorie Fofana) are not Mendes neither Temnes but they keep on stoking these tribal sentiments to serve their hidden motives to perpetuate chaos in our country. This shameful and disgusting use of tribal tools to score political points must be condemned. We are going to henceforth name and shamethe true enemies of this country’s peace and unity. Umaru Fofana, President of SLAJ and Sorie Fofana, publisher of Global Times are amongst the enemies of this country’s tranquility and unity

Bostwana Maun hit by shortage of plot

Maun hit by shortage of plots SYLVIAH DISELE Correspondent Tawana Land Board (TLB) has announced it has only 620 available plots against a backlog of applications pegged at 30 600 in 2010. Briefing the media at Maun Lodge recently, sub-land board secretary Naledi Demasaid by March 1, 2012, the land board had indefinitely suspended applications and the allocation of new plots tofind more land and screen applications for eligibility. Dema said the TLB on average receives about 600applications every month forresidential plots. Some applications date as far backas 2000. In that year, the government relocated some residents from Botshabelo and Mabudutsa wards to give way to the expansion of the Maun airport and the construction of the bus and taxi ranks. The relocated residents were settled in Disaneng on plots that were apparently demarcated for new applicants. Although the Maun Revised Plan provides for more than 40 000 people comprising of 13 000 dwellings in the Maunplanning area by 2031, shortage of land is a hurdle.Maun is the second biggest village in Botswana with a population of 60 263 after Molepolole which is home to 66 466. In addition, Maun is the fourth-densely populated area in the country. Its population has increased by almost 17 000 in the past 10 years. Dema revealed that the land board has not been successful at convincing some owners of ploughing fields to surrender their fields to the board. "Some owners either turn us down while others complain about the little compensation paid by the land board," she said. Dema said the land board was disturbed by the emergence of squatter townsin Botshabelo and Boseja. She claimed that some of the squatters were relocated from Botshabelo but sold their plots in Disaneng.The TLB also announced that it was freezing the allocation of boreholes for a year to do a thorough feasibility study. Meanwhile, efforts to get the2011 and 2012 plot applications and allocations proved futile. Maun West MP Tawana Moremi was not available for comment at press time as his phone wasoff air. In 1971, Maun had a population of 9 614 which grew to 13 925 in 1981, an annual growth rate of 4.5 percent. By 1991, it had 26 769 people and in 2001 it was home to 43 776 people. Maun is the largest settlement in the Ngamiland district and is classified as aprimary centre in terms of the National Settlement Policy

In Sierra Leone now Diamond lure children out of school.

SIERRA LEONE: Diamonds lure children out of school KOIDU, 6 December 2012 (IRIN) - Sierra Leone’s diamonds fuelled the 1991-2002 civil war, and are now boosting economic growth, but at the sametime they are keeping thousands of children out of school. At a mine resembling a lunar landscape outsideKoidu town in Kono Region - the diamond mining heartland in northeastern Sierra Leone - thousands of young men dig and shovel gravel in search of the precious stone. “I had to support my family so I dropped out of school. When I could not find a job in my home town I came here,” said 21-year-old Mumuni Diallo, who arrived in the mining fields when he was 17. “I am very tired. I havebeen digging this pit formonths, but so far I have found nothing. Still, in mining, every day is a new possibility,” said Diallo,explaining that he was lured by tales of peoplestriking riches. About 70 percent of Sierra Leone’s youth are unemployed . Twenty-year-old Alhadji Gborie, who left his home town of Lungi near the capital Freetown for the miningfields, blames the government for failing to provide jobs. “There is too much talkfrom the president. Let him come here and work for a day to see how it is,” said Gborie, standing in a thigh-deep, muddy water hole. On 17 November SierraLeoneans re-elected President Ernest Bai Koroma for a second term of office, helped by the fact that the country has seen extensive infrastructure improvement and economic growth in the past five years. Driven by exports of gold, diamonds and ironore, the country’s economy will grow by up to 21.3 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund, but this wealth has yet to filter down to most ordinary SierraLeoneans. “In many families, children are becoming the breadwinners,” Esate Konteh, from a local NGO in Kono Region, told IRIN. “When the civil war ended in 2002, many families had lost one ortwo parents. Some of them had their limbs amputated and could not work or were not eligible for employment.” Children are paid 10,000-20,000 leones (US$3-6) a day and 40,000 leones if they find diamonds. In Kenema, to the east of the capital, and Koidu around 3,000 children are estimated to be working in the mines, but there are no officialfigures and the numbermight be much higher, Konteh said. Youths work either in mines, open pits or riverbeds. Marginalized youth “If you work in the pit you don’t go to school. These youth have been marginalized in society from a very young age. Some of theboys were forced to take up arms during the civil war. When they returned home they were met by burntdown houses. Some of them have lost all their family members… This makes it even harder for them to find work and almost none of them returned to school,” said Denis Lansana of local NGO Network Movement for Justice and Development. Youth training programmes funded by the World Bank and theInternational Red Crosshave only been partially successful, he added. “With no skills and no other possibility to find work, the mine is an easy way to get rich,” said Lansana, adding: “Diamond mining is just more attractive and lucrative than woodwork or farming. The children enrolled inclasses ended up selling their textbooks before returning to the pit.” “Our aim is that no children should work in the pits. However, this is hard to control as wehave no means to follow up on the [government] ban [on children working in mines],” said Sahr Tamba, a director at the Ministry of Mines.

In Sierra Leone now Diamond lure children out of school.

SIERRA LEONE: Diamonds lure children out of school KOIDU, 6 December 2012 (IRIN) - Sierra Leone’s diamonds fuelled the 1991-2002 civil war, and are now boosting economic growth, but at the sametime they are keeping thousands of children out of school. At a mine resembling a lunar landscape outsideKoidu town in Kono Region - the diamond mining heartland in northeastern Sierra Leone - thousands of young men dig and shovel gravel in search of the precious stone. “I had to support my family so I dropped out of school. When I could not find a job in my home town I came here,” said 21-year-old Mumuni Diallo, who arrived in the mining fields when he was 17. “I am very tired. I havebeen digging this pit formonths, but so far I have found nothing. Still, in mining, every day is a new possibility,” said Diallo,explaining that he was lured by tales of peoplestriking riches. About 70 percent of Sierra Leone’s youth are unemployed . Twenty-year-old Alhadji Gborie, who left his home town of Lungi near the capital Freetown for the miningfields, blames the government for failing to provide jobs. “There is too much talkfrom the president. Let him come here and work for a day to see how it is,” said Gborie, standing in a thigh-deep, muddy water hole. On 17 November SierraLeoneans re-elected President Ernest Bai Koroma for a second term of office, helped by the fact that the country has seen extensive infrastructure improvement and economic growth in the past five years. Driven by exports of gold, diamonds and ironore, the country’s economy will grow by up to 21.3 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund, but this wealth has yet to filter down to most ordinary SierraLeoneans. “In many families, children are becoming the breadwinners,” Esate Konteh, from a local NGO in Kono Region, told IRIN. “When the civil war ended in 2002, many families had lost one ortwo parents. Some of them had their limbs amputated and could not work or were not eligible for employment.” Children are paid 10,000-20,000 leones (US$3-6) a day and 40,000 leones if they find diamonds. In Kenema, to the east of the capital, and Koidu around 3,000 children are estimated to be working in the mines, but there are no officialfigures and the numbermight be much higher, Konteh said. Youths work either in mines, open pits or riverbeds. Marginalized youth “If you work in the pit you don’t go to school. These youth have been marginalized in society from a very young age. Some of theboys were forced to take up arms during the civil war. When they returned home they were met by burntdown houses. Some of them have lost all their family members… This makes it even harder for them to find work and almost none of them returned to school,” said Denis Lansana of local NGO Network Movement for Justice and Development. Youth training programmes funded by the World Bank and theInternational Red Crosshave only been partially successful, he added. “With no skills and no other possibility to find work, the mine is an easy way to get rich,” said Lansana, adding: “Diamond mining is just more attractive and lucrative than woodwork or farming. The children enrolled inclasses ended up selling their textbooks before returning to the pit.” “Our aim is that no children should work in the pits. However, this is hard to control as wehave no means to follow up on the [government] ban [on children working in mines],” said Sahr Tamba, a director at the Ministry of Mines.