“Strasser Disowns Coup? – Strange Story!

I read the Thursday edition of the New Citizen of June 10, 2010 with incredible amazement. It was the paper’s lead story, titled: STRASSER DISOWNS COUP.

The New Citizen, one of the local tabloids I have always had great interest in reading, did not impress me but instead I felt very disgusted after reading through what I will refer to as the scrap of a mental concoction simply aimed at throwing more confusion into APC execution dilemma.

The paper was actually quoting or rather reporting from another tabloid, the We Yone Press which when one traces the link between the paper and the New Citizen, one can conclude why New Citizen had to repeat what a political party newspaper had written, albeit less professionally about NPRC coup of 1992.

I did not read the We Yone version of the story, but after reading the New Citizen, I wondered why the New Citizen was cashing in on a propaganda stunt by putting out such a strange lie.

Those who have been following the NPRC execution story will not be surprised to read this kind of stuff in the New Citizen: that Valentine Strasser never took part in the coup of 1992 that toppled the APC government but the handiwork of military officers from the “south-east” of the country; and that Strasser was not involved in the killing of Bambay Kamara and twenty-eight others.

Following the strange revelation in the New Citizen, many questions remained unanswered: firstly, why is the New Citizen coming out with this story only now?

It is strange, but the New Citizen has a mission to accomplish – to remove Strasser out of the way and rope in some senior SLPP members with respect to the execution of former Inspector General of Police Bambay Kamara and others.

Because for what many Sierra Leoneans know Strasser never denied his involvement in the coup of 1992 when he appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 2003. Why is the paper doing it now, denying Strasser’s involvement from a third party rather than hearing it from the horse’s mouth? Even more ridiculous is the story that Strasser was forced to take up the NPRC leadership because he was from the minority tribe, the Creole.

But more disturbing is the claim by the New Citizen that both Maada Bio and John Benjamin, senior members of the opposition SLPP, actually took part in not just staging and executing the coup but actively played part in the summary execution of Bambay and others.

This is strange! The New Citizen would have waited for the inquest, whenever it is constituted, to prove the veracity of the latter’s involvement in the execution.

One may therefore pause to ask: by such allegation in the New Citizen, has the paper not prejudiced the inquest? Surely, the New Citizen has confirmed fears the general public had over the outcome of the inquest – that it will end up as a witch hunt?

If that was not the case, why pick on Maada Bio and John Benjamin while trying to exonerate Valentine Strasser ahead of any enquiry? Is it because Strasser is now harmless and mentally incapacitated? 

What if Bio and John Ben decide not to appear before any inquest, as they have already been named as perpetrators by a very potent news organ of the ruling government?

Is it a case of throwing spanners or pure mischief making?

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