SLPP Misinformed Professor Kelfala Kallon goes berserk and impudent
I can not help wondering how the so-called, half-baked and primitive misinformed Kelfala Kallon of the SLPP can go berserk and impudent on an article I wrote repudiating his attacks and misinformed propaganda against President Ernest B. Koroma. Indeed, as a true patriot and one who believes in what President Koroma is doing for Sierra Leone, I cannot sit back and listen to a disgruntled and nonentity like Kelfala Kallon to debunk what our able President is doing which the SLPP (Sierra Leone Peoples Problem) has not done in two terms in office.
Kelfala Kallon is one of the frustrated folks in the United States who has outlived his usefulness and is looking for recognition within the SLPP party by writing trash, senseless and unimpressive article against President Ernest B. Koroma. If patriotic Sierra Leoneans sit and allow an idiot like Kelfala Kallon to lambaste and spread false rumors against President Koroma, posterity will never forgive us.
The political situation in Sierra Leone just continues to deteriorate as sensationalized half-truths continue to take the place of intelligent debates. It seems people like Professor Kallon (Misinformed Professor) and SLPP politicians are not willing to talk openly about the issue confronting the country of which most of them are contributing factors. Instead, they hide behind the blanket of their partisan politics talking back and forth and using propaganda and deception to dupe the people of Sierra Leone. After the post-election these SLPP politicians just seem to get out of control and become more negative on the so-called weakness of opponents instead of focusing on the strengths of their own ideas.
Professor Kallon arrogant and senseless insinuations are an indication that he is insensitive and out of touch with realty in Sierra Leone since the APC government came to power. Let the misinformed professor know that Sierra Leone is not a dumping ground for failures who have outlived their usefulness in the U.S.A, nor can the country encourage thieves, dishonest and crooks in the country anymore.
After the war, the SLPP government draws so much sympathy from the international community. Consequently, consideration of massive support to have the economy, and all sectors of life in the country restored was initiated. However, this is not the case considering the reality that prevails in the country. Many of the international organization monitoring development in Sierra Leone came to the conclusion that Sierra Leone under the leadership of President Kabbah is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. There is no freedom of expression for citizens who are not in Kabbah’s political party and for journalists who make constructive criticism of government. Journalists and the family of the late Yansaneh, a journalist murdered in cold blood by member of the SLPP party in parliament awaits the wheels of justice to spin if there was true democracy and respect for human rights in Ex-President Kabbah’s government.
During the tenure of the SLPP, the World Health Organization (WHO), reported that life expectancy in Sierra Leone at birth remains at 41 years. Adult mortality is 579 and 497 per 1,000 for males and females respectively. Infant mortality 283/1,000 live births. Maternal mortality remains exceptionally high. Malaria is the first cause of morbidity in the country, accounting for 35 percent of all out patients visits and the main cause of mortality among children under five. Acute respiratory infections, pneumonia, diarrhea diseases, typhoid fever, H.I.V./AIDS, and tuberculosis are the major causes of morbidity and mortality. (http://ec.europa.eu/echo/files/policies/evaluation/2001/s_leone_health.pdf)
The visionary leadership to tackle these pandemic problems was lacking in the SLPP government. Obviously, corruption in government constraints government’s ability to fight poverty, disease and illiteracy, which negatively affects economic development, damages social values, and undermines democracy and governance.
Sierra Leone cannot afford another failed government through the leadership of the SLPP any attempt to return to the “Kabbahism,” and SLPP legacy of corruption, failure, ineptitude, and injustice will be great disservice to the country and suicidal for people of Sierra Leone who for decades have been deprived of their constitutional and God-given rights to live decently and happily. It is high time the Misinformed Professor desist from the politics of deception and sycophancy, instead he should put Sierra Leone first. If the SLPP couldn’t deliver all the promises while their officials were in office for two terms, what hope does Sierra Leoneans have for another term in office?
Politics in the old society were essential a politics of conflict, the composition among individuals and groups for social domination. It was not a surprise therefore that the poor, the wretched, and the frustrated, got what they could out of the politics of conflict, since they never looked upon them as a force for authentic integration.. All these came to be simple because the SLPP could disguise private greed with public concern.
It is an indictment of the former SLPP government system of failure which the APC government inherited. The abysmal darkness, corruption, unaccountability and human rights abuse which the APC government is trying to address should send a message that the SLPP has many questions to answer to the people of Sierra Leone.
Indeed it is no surprise that Professor Kallon (Misinformed Professor) is among the clique of criminals in the United States that are still blind to realities of the SLPP’s total dismal failure politically, socially and economically. If these cabals of very silly men have one priority-above all-it is to convince ignorant Sierra Leoneans that this whole idea of governance is about political ideology. And therefore, Sierra Leoneans have no choice but choose between the gang (SLPP) that is employing treachery and deceit and APC that stands for peace and prosperity in Sierra Leone
The public admiration at the then SLPP administration of former President Tejan Kabbah was that the SLPP was good at putting SLPP’s interest or agenda first above all political concerns by making sure that all political appointees and senior civil servants represent the interest of the SLPP. Let’s reflect on the past SLPP administration of former President Tejan Kabbah who seemed to have walked away from true Islamic norms by executing innocent people in order to stay in the political power that he is no longer in his control. Now that the political era of Kabbah has expired, what legacy will he be remembered for? The legacy of brutalizing and murdering innocent Sierra Leoneans .Oh yea! What place will God order for him to be contained after he exits this world of fantasy? Allah, the merciful, the compassionate, and the king of Kings will judge Kabbah for inviting Nigerians to bombard Freetown and for prearranging the butchery of all those who were unable to escape because of no means of escaping and authorizing ravenous Nigerian soldiers to barrage poor Sierra Leoneans. This is the time to ask former President Tejan Kabbah and the SLPP about “how he feels nowadays concerning the cold blooded killings of innocent Sierra Leoneans that his administration carried out under his command with intent to quench his political sunstroke?
This state affair prevailed principally because of the dishonesty, intellectual and otherwise, in the public forums. The national interest, the common good, was daily betrayed in the same of ‘principles.’ But for the masses, the test of principles was the condition of their lives; all the rhetoric did not give them the sense of equality that they have now.
Is Professor Kallon, honestly telling Sierra Leoneans that President Ernest B. Koroma is not competent to pursue the overall values or quasi successes of the SLPP, more competently, more practically and less bitter divisive ways? What an indictment of democracy! Evidence from the dismal track record of the SLPP government suggests that if something is worth doing , it can be often be done virtuously, honestly, honorably and competently. In contrast, can the Misinformed Professor (Kelfala Kallon) name instances where the SLPP had demonstrated leadership qualities devoid of party and ethnic affiliation? Never was this illustrated better than the past imbroglio in Sierra Leone.
President Koroma’s appropriate and decisive move to provide the capital city of Freetown and its environs with electricity supply within ninety days of assuming power was unimaginable to most Sierra Leoneans who had been in abysmal darkness for years. Now Sierra Leoneans enjoy electricity round the clock. What is also impressive about President Koroma is his principle of zero tolerance to corruption, equal opportunity for all Sierra Leoneans and promoting a positive attitude among the population. When he said that there are no sacred cows in his cabinet, the doubting Thomases could not believe until we can see the termination and prosecutions many of his ministers and government officials which was not in the SLPP government for two decades it assumed power.
He is also working hard to prioritize the fight against corruption by passing the new Anti-Corruption Act which grants full prosecutorial powers to the commission. There is no more political interference into the way the commission conducts itself and people have started treating it very seriously. And President Koroma has surely taken the lead in the fight against corruption by being the first African President to declare his assets to the commission. After his declaration of assets, most of his government officials followed suit. Some have thought that the declaration process was a farce but the independence of the commission proved otherwise. Therefore, the President would like to explain to the people his achievements by 2012 and convince them why he would them to vote him in again if he’s interested in running again. And now that 20 months are gone since he took over, it’s high time he prepare before his first time ends.
Misinformed Professor (Dr. Kallon) if you are a true patriot of Sierra Leone devoid of ethnic and partisan interest, then you should be cognizant of the irresponsibility, unaccountability and marginalization of the masses that have defined the SLPP’s government 12 years of misrule and polarization of the Sierra Leonean society. Injustices with impunity, oppressive rule, political and economic ineptitude have been the hallmarks of the last 11 years and no amount of propaganda can hide this stark political reality. All these clearly indicate that claims by people like you and the SLPP are capable of solving the problems of Sierra Leone is a farce, a dangerous illusion and road map to greater disaster.
Written by Joseph S. Sherman, Washington, DC
Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!
© 2010, https:. All rights reserved.
Fatorma Gabba
/
Joseph S. Sherman is not your actual name at birth; you know this for sure. What else doyou want to be told? President Ernest Bai Koroma (who is our leader for now & not for EVER) could not applaud you should you worship him as your “god of immortality”. He himself delieves in constructive and authentic critisism as exhibited in his political career.For a Sierra Leonean born resident of the United States titled Professor in an acccredited high profile University does not come easy.The word “Misinformed” in repudaiting his writings is not only unfortunate but troubling.But coming from you shouldn’t be a surprise ; knowing the type of personality you are from your writngs.
3rd December 2010This only confirms your small-mindedness to say the least. When you become a professor, please let us know.Only then will you be able to honestly appreciate & accept how lucky we Sierra Leoneans are to have such a prominent academic gaint like Prof. Kelfala Kallon in our mist.
SokoBana
/
“I am inviting the so-called professor to an intellectual debate”, Mr Joseph Sherman the debate is already on; prove to us the general public that the professor is an ‘illiterate’ and that you, is the well-educated intellectual. Your writings (both) through RATIONAL and PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHTS and above all with FACTS,and no foul language will decide. As the Good Book says “by their actions we shall know them”, so by your writings (both) we shall know who is who.
26th November 2010Mr Babson Kolleh, what Daniel Bangura meant is intense/ardent and or fiery intellectual onslaught. That’s it. LONTA
Joseph Sherman
/
You are a coward and a Zombie and I stand by what I write. Honestly, I invite your illiterate professor to an intellectual debate whether in the open or writing. Lontha.
25th November 2010babson Kolleh
/
Who is SOKOBANA? Can you please give us your true name. These are the fake and lies you propagate around the world about an able and diligent President. A small country like Sierra leone doesn’t need all the dangerous propganda you fabricating around the world. What do you Guys really want. All the bullshit you keep writing will not hinder the continue progress of President Koroma. The name Ernest Bai Koroma means a true born leader not a traitor for leadership. Pa.Sokobana You need to be initiated first in the society that bears that name. Why are you hiding your identity with a sacred society title occasionally given to gallant poro men. If you don’t becareful the onslaught Daniel Bangura has threatened Sherman will befall on you. My next advice to you Guys is, Refrain from this game of destroying our lovely country’s image to the outside world. You are letting yourselves to look like objects of ridicule. Sierra leone belongs to us all not just one party or tribe. Let us wait for the polling days, it will speak for itself. Mind you there is democracy in our country, Just be patience.
25th November 2010SokoBana
/
Joseph S. Sherman, please compare and contrast. One from an INTELLECTUAL and one from a buffoon- / Oltal like you. Your whole piece of junk is cartoonish and lackadaisical. We the people, the public enjoy reading challenging articles like the one the Professor wrote as reproduced below.
“A friend recently asked me if I had seen Joseph Sherman’s Cocorioko broadside attack on me in regard to my article that appeared in The New People Online (titled “Are Sierra Leoneans Better-Off Today than they were Three Years Ago?). I had not. He suggested that I read it because it needed a response. I read it this weekend and initially concluded that it really did not need a response from me because the holes in Mr. Sherman’s bumbling babbles were so large that each of them could swallow Wusum Stadium without any difficulty. However, one of my weaknesses is that I do not suffer fools lightly. Specifically, I do not allow people to get away with the sort of sloppy pseudo-intellectualism that Mr. Sherman demonstrated so clearly in the non sequiturs that he paraded as arguments.
For his piece to be taken seriously by even those who are commonsense-challenged, Mr. Sherman needed to demonstrate the falsity of my arguments with evidence, not hot air. For instance, he could have tried to rebut my claim that, in spite of the President’s alleged no-sacred-cows pledge to relatives before he took his oath of office, his siblings have given new meaning to political entrepreneurship by the speed at which they catapulted themselves from the ranks of ordinary Sierra Leoneans to experts at getting State House contracts, tax rebates, Indian Rice giveaways, among other things—all of which are things that most decent APC folks would readily agree are borne out of the use of state power for private benefits, which is corruption. Mr. Sherman could have also provided evidence to show the inveracity of my claim that, under Koroma’s watch, APC thugs have attacked (and continue to attack) SLPP supporters, properties, officials, and staff in every region with impunity and that all of the perpetrators of those acts of vandalism, violence, and “assault” (as Justice Thompson’s Commission characterized the daylight rape of SLPP women) have gone unpunished. Mr. Sherman could have similarly used evidence and logic to reject my assertion that access to positions in the upper echelons of President Koroma’s government is inversely related to the distance between one’s birthplace and Makeni. Finally, he could have challenged my claim that the APC loves to target successful minority groups and blame them for their (the APC’s) failures.
Mr. Sherman did not do any of the above. Instead, he accused me of being “misinformed” without providing a shred of evidence about how, and about what, I am misinformed. He then went on to insult his readers’ intelligence with the same old lies that they fed to gullible youths (who had no real memory of the APC’s first coming) during the 2007 campaign about the SLPP having attained nothing during its “11 years in office”. And like a good APC foot soldier, he also recited (faithfully, I might add) the corollary to this lie, which is that every bad thing that has happened since the APC took office either only appears so due to SLPP propaganda or is caused by the global economic crisis.
And given the way these APC folks blame everything that has happened under President Koroma’s watch on “Global”, one would think that the global economic crisis is the most serious catastrophe to ever strike Sierra Leone. Of course, for it to affect Sierra Leone the way the APC claims it has, one has to also conclude that Sierra Leone is such a major cog in the global economic system that even the availability and prices of palm-oil, plassas and garri are influenced by it. But even if these were true (and they are not), this incessant whining about “Global” is enough to convince us that this APC government is so totally incompetent that they cannot use any of the policy options that others have used successfully to ameliorate the impact of the crisis on their people. Another conclusion would be that if the APC had been in power during the most ferociously gruesome period of the war, they would have equally sat on their hands and blamed everything on the war. We know this to be true because we remember another APC president (J.S. Momoh) telling a delegation from Kailahun to use cutlasses and slings to fight the RUF when the war first broke out.
This APC predisposition to blame everyone else but themselves for their poor stewardship of the country reminds me of a Ghanaian friend who put his son into a fundamentalist Christian school hoping that the boy would get only academic instruction from there—without the religious indoctrination. Well, one day, the boy bit his baby brother—apparently out of sibling rivalry. When his parents asked why he bit the baby, the little boy responded “I didn’t do it: He did,” while pointing his finger at some imaginary person. When asked “who?” the boy responded “the devil.” Apparently, in less than a month after enrolling at the school, the boy had been taught very well to disavow all personal responsibility for his actions and blame it on the fundamentalists’ favorite enemy—the devil. If we replace “the devil” with “the SLPP” or “Global” in the little boy’s response, we reduce the APC’s perennial explanation for everything that has befallen Sierra Leone since September 17, 2007 to the babble of a five-year old.
What is most galling about this pathetic whining about “Global” is the APC propaganda machine’s belief that the people of Sierra Leone are so stupid that they would buy their lie ad infinitum. Perhaps, like Hitler’s erstwhile indefatigable propagandist, Joseph Goebbell, they truly believe that if they repeat a lie incessantly, it would morph into the truth.
I am amazed that Mr. Sherman would characterize my question about whether Sierra Leoneans are better off today than they were three years ago as “a ploy to hide the SLPP social, political and economic failures of governance (sic)”, and as “a dangerous illusion and road map to creating misinformation and discrediting President Ernest Koroma’s administration.” Obviously, Mr. Sherman has chosen to forget the fact that it was President Koroma who described the economy he inherited from the SLPP, the fastest-growing economy in the West African sub-region at the time, as “nothing to write home about.” One of his “kohkohnomists” (not a “misinformed professor”) then explained that although robust economic growth had occurred under the SLPP, it had not impacted the life of the average Sierra Leonean. And for economic policy to be anything “to write home about,” he pointed out, it must impact the peoples’ lives positively. This, he concluded, was what President Koroma meant by the economy being “nothing to write home about.” Now, if not to curry the favor of his handlers, why would Mr. Sherman claim that my use of the same criterion to evaluate President Koroma’s record is a ploy to tarnish what can be only most charitably described as a disaster?
Besides the fact that I used the same criterion to evaluate President Koroma’s record that he himself had used to evaluate his predecessor’s, economic theory teaches us that people are primarily self-interested beings. Hence, they evaluate everything in terms of how it affects their personal circumstances. Given this, how do the APC expect Sierra Leoneans to evaluate their stewardship if asking whether their lives are better under APC rule or not amounts to a ploy to discredit the government? Didn’t President Koroma and the APC promise the people of Sierra Leone a better life?
Mr. Sherman suggests that President’s Koroma’s record should be evaluated using the “actual economy” [he] inherited from the former government” as a reference point. I agree. Hence, below is that record. According to the World Bank’s African Development Indicators dataset, Sierra Leone’s per-capita real GDP (the nation’s aggregate output per person after removing the effects of inflation) grew at an anemic average annual rate of 0.57 percent between 1980 and 1985 (last 5 years of the Stevens presidency)—when the country was at peace. During the pre-war Momoh years (1986-1990), it fell by about 2.74 percent per year. Although it continued to fall during the war years (1991-2001), its annual rate of decline of 2.02 percent per year was smaller than what had obtained during the Momoh pre-war years. Finally, under peace-time SLPP rule (2002-2006), real GDP grew at an average annual rate of 7.7 percent. Based on this evidence, it is easy to see that the SLPP administration of President Kabbah has a much better economic record than any government in Sierra Leone since 1980. More specifically, we can conclude from this record that President Koroma inherited a very robustly growing economy. Moreover, we can conclude that had the SLPP retained power, its economic record would have been better than what has obtained under President Koroma’s stewardship—even if its economic performance had been halved because of “Global”.
The SLPP did not only usher in rapid economic growth, it also registered Sierra Leone’s largest gain in human development. According to the 2010 Human Development Report (www.hdr.undp.org/en/trends/), Sierra Leone’s HDI grew by 6.55 percent (from 0.229 to 0.244) between 1980 and 1985. During the pre-war Momoh years (1985-90), it fell by 5.74 percent (from 0.244 to 0.230), and Sierra Leone sank to the bottom of the world in terms of human development. The downward trend continued between 1990 and 1995, as the HDI fell by 1.74 (from 0.230 to 0.226) which is understandable given the fact that the country was in the midst of a brutal civil war. The nation’s fortunes turned after 1995. In spite of the fact that APC surrogates mounted a senseless coup and dragged the country down for 8 months, in spite of the J6 invasion of Freetwon and the Westside boys, the nation’s HDI grew by 4.42 percent between 1995 and 2000—from 0.226 to 0.236. And between 2000 and 2005, the nation’s HDI improved by 23.73 percent.
The above evidence shows that, although the country was not out of the woods at the time the SLPP left power, the SLPP government of President Kabbah had maintained a steady improvement in the pace of economic rehabilitation and human development in the country. Therefore, without even mentioning the additional fact that the SLPP regime of bequeathed a debt-free economy, with a plethora of funded projects and revenue to President Koroma, this evidence alone is sufficient to conclude that, compared to other first-time African presidents, President Koroma inherited an politically stable country that had a robustly growing economy and a steadily improving quality of life for its citizens. This is a phenomenal achievement in a country that was wracked by the bloodiest civil war in recent memory. Therefore, that the APC government of President Koroma has not built on the SLPP’s achievements cannot be blamed on the SLPP. Perhaps if President Koroma and his coterie of chums had not chosen to fritter the resources they inherited on sleazy deals such as Income Electric, Wanza, and other populist corruption-induced deals, as well as tax rebates and State House contracts to his siblings, the quality of life of the average Sierra Leonean would be much improved today—even with Global.
24th November 2010Joseph Sherman
/
I am inviting the so-called professor to an intelectual debate.
24th November 2010daniel bangura
/
Mr. Sherman you have attacked the mother of all writing,this was your curse in disguise,attacking Proffessor Kallon?no way,you will definetely pay that price.
24th November 2010just sit back relax and wait the fiercest onslaught of your living memory.