Editor’s About
Abu Bakarr Sulaiman Tarawally is a name very familiar with readers of Sierra Express Media (SEM). If you are regular reader also of the local tabloid newspapers in Sierra Leone, you would recall his by-line on columns like ‘The Spotlight’ in The Atomic and The Examiner newspapers respectively. He was the second founding Editor of SEM, who succeeded Abdul Samaad Kamara, under the then led management of Alhassan Deen Kamara (Orlamgba), now of The New Citizen Newspaper. (Photo: Acting Editor of Sierra Express Media, Abu Bakarr S Tarawally)
Abu Bakarr left SEM in 2008 to establish The Examiner Newspaper for and on behalf of his friend, Abdul Razak Bah. He decided to make a shock exit from the newspaper media practice to execute a project on water policy with ISVARA Foundation in 2010, a middle-eastern based nongovernmental organization consortium that works in line with Economic Justice Resisting Neo-colonialism (EJRN) in pro-poor countries. EJRN concerns itself with the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) conditionality – on loans attracting repressive clauses on expatriates’ recruitment policies that have job banks for their consultants… – the full details are a story for another day.
Abu Bakarr states, “I went on a media recess for obvious reasons, but it played a while and I decided to engross my nostalgia away from the field of writing by creating a sound-bite gossip column with the pseudonym of Mr. Idiot. This was born in mind after noticing that the illiterate masses of the country are having a different perspective on issues of governance. I looked at it from the free thought and speech right perspective of voicing voices of the voiceless. In this light I decided to print their fictional views to give an insight to those in governance to understand how the masses perceive their nature of rule in line with realities on the ground. With my coinage of satire in such an art genre, the column became a thriller –suddenly I decided to drop my pen once again. This was at a time I went to undertake my movie project which was half mast last year, 2011. “
Abu Bakarr continued, this year came, and I thought President Koroma did make promises in his coming to power bid in 2007. I decided to do a reflection into his five years tenure – his success and failures, the good the better and best, the bad, the ugly the stench (worse or so). In this regard I hatched the column: ‘Koroma’s Diary’.”
He concluded, “Well, if I’m was footballer, I would have said I came on loan to a short contract spell in the capacity of an Acting Editor for Sierra Express Media once again. – being in the Thierry Henry position (when it’s Arsenal it’s a special case…). Adeyemi Paul, CEO and proprietor of SEM is one of the few friends I would not think to part with for obvious reasons – but that is also reserved for another article. The long and short of it all is that, take whatever diet I have for you at the moment with whet of an appetite because I’m gonna leave you with pretty tears soon again – I hear you crying: please don’t leave us again! Ha ha, ha!
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