Let no one write my epitaph!
I did not have time to send special Easter greetings to my numerous and patient editors and continuously growing, forbearing readers. I hope everyone had as happy Easter celebrations like I had. I am not being funny but dead serious. Of course I am well aware that the effects of the APC recession coupled with its economic stagflation are still with us. But in Bo over the Easter period we had an elixir for those negative impacts. The Old Bo Boys Association OBBA had gathered in Bo for the school’s speech day and prize-giving ceremony. To those who may be unaware, OBBA week is a must on the social calendar of the city. Present on speech day was the Minister of Education Dr. Minkalu Bah who lived up to my expectation by devoting a good part of his statement to President Koroma’s creed, Attitudinal Behaviour. Alie Kamara of “Territorial integrity†fame was there as was Joe Amara-Bangali; at the other end of the political spectrum were Julius Maada Bio and your humble servant, Puawui. No one mentioned party politics throughout the five days. All the same Prince Harding the SLPP General, who was the guest speaker, took his time to disabuse the minds of those blind adherents who see everything green as symbol of the SLPP. The OBBA crest carries two green palm trees; the official symbol of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party, SLPP is the green palm tree. But as Prince Harding elaborated the palm tree was included in the crest of Bo school at its foundation way back in 1906. The reason was simple and logical. The school drew boys from every part of Sierra Leone except from the colony. The resilient palm tree grows in every part of Sierra Leone, from Kent in the west to Koindu in the east and from Mongor Bendugu in the north to Sulima in the south. The SLPP was formed on April 27, 1951. I hope the picture is clear.
Now to my theme, let no man write my epitaph. I used to love watching “Cowboy and Indian†or “western†films. This was more so in the years immediately following the opening of my hospital in Kenema. I would sometimes go to the hospital at 7.30 in the morning and never got off till almost seven in the evening. I don’t know for others but for me there is the peculiarity of western films. The Indians or the villain never win and the cowboys never lose. Knowing how the story always ended, I would go to the Capitol cinema and just watch the action without racking my brain on the plot of the story because I would always know how the story would end. In short I went to the cinema to relax! One particular film title that I have always remembered is “Let no one write my epitaph.†I don’t remember now whether Garry Cooper or John Wayne was the leading cowboy. Just before my departure for Bo last Wednesday the Peep newspaper carried one of its familiar jibes at me, under the heading “ten retired doctors who would not be employed by the ministry of health.†The acting editor Christopher Coker for the hundredth time put my age at 104. I wish I was 104 and in my present physical, mental and intellectual state of health. His senior editor Olu Gordon is no different and once took a most crude and disgusting swipe at Professor Eldred Jones blindness. The last time I heard about Olu he was reported to be very seriously ill and about to give up the ghost. The irony is that with his age and his disability Professor Eldred Jones is physically active. As for me, I marched round the streets of Bo last Sunday with the old and present Bo School boys. All life is controlled by God no one can be sure how his or hers would end OR WHEN, ask my friends at the Exclusive! Let no one write my epitaph…
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