What a disappointment
I have always read Pa John Baimba Sesay’s column with an open mind combined with some admiration for his style; I have often thought, “I wish some others would emulate him.” But I was really disappointed to note that in certain parts of his rejoinder to my response to Idrisa Conteh the atomic pen’s recent article, “where APC makes a difference.” He has behaved no differently from those who write with a clear intention to offend. Former President Ahmad Tejan-Kabbah has carried his name which has been recognized for over 30 years with the letter “h” at end of the spelling of Kabbah. There is no harm if Pa John Baimba Sesay prefers to spell the name without the letter h; it is his right just as my late father’s first name was spelt by some people with the letter h at the end of Momo. My late father had been taught to sign his name without an h. Why on earth did Pa John Baimba Sesay have to add an h to the spelling of Kabbah and pointedly puts the h in bracket every time he wrote the name? What message did he want to convey? No Pa John Baimba, with respect, you should be well above that kind of journalism.
The second reason for my disappointment is his reference to Tejan-Kabbah not fulfilling an election pledge to build a bridge across the mouth of the Sierra Leone river to Lungi, a pledge made in 1996. Assuming that it was a firm pledge and not an intention to look into the feasibility, would anyone in all sincerety, especially considering what we went through and the aftermath, have expected any government to make the construction of such a bridge a priority over the country’s other indispensable and urgent needs? Has Pa John Baimba forgotten so soon the degree of destruction that took place during the war, when sometimes nearly whole villages were burnt down, when there was total destruction of infrastructure all over the country, when the displaced were crowded into make-shift camps? With all what we have to do even today and with very limited resources, would it be a procedure of wisdom to spend that meagre amount on a project that is estimated to cost over half a billion Leones? If Pa John Baimba were really interested in the subject rather than an attempt to ridicule Tejan-Kabbah and his government, he would realize that that not withstanding the government had in deed carried out studies for an alternative to the bridge as perceived and which would not be as costly. Is it necessary to remind the erudite columnist that even as of now, SIXTY PERCENT OF OUR BUDGET IS DONOR PROVIDED?
Of course the APC has made a difference in some areas like informing the people sometimes with exaggerated claims of what this government is doing. It has been good at marketing itself. I have said before that the APC owes its present successes to the person of President Ernest Bai Koroma and he is confirming that by certain of his decisions and actions. But why has John Pa Baimba been silent on other recent aspects of APC rule? Why has he made no mention of all the problems that have arisen in the ongoing Paramount chieftaincy elections? The government still has three years to run and it is said that “Between cup and mouth there is many a slip.” In conclusion let me repeat my general admiration for Pa John Baimba Sesay’s style of journalism; he should not tarnish it by going the path of some others of his profession.
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