Hello again...

Right. I needed that long break to catch my breath. Now where were we?

They say a Diamond never looses its luster (Happy 49th Sierra Leone)

They say a diamond never looses its luster

Mine did and was the more brilliant after regaining its former radiance

What then shall I call my precious stone

How then should I name her

Mined from the depths of colonial exploration

From the transatlantic slave trade to brain drain

Cleansed on the rivers of tears shed by the victims of

sla, ruf, people’s army and  kamajor abuse

Cut on the backs of students and trade unions

Faceted from its many peoples

The mountain krios and the swampland mendes

the many Temnes and the resilient Limbas

The Industrious Fula and the roving mandingos

The Lokos, Konos, Korankos

Sherbros, Susus, Yalunkas and Vais

Polished by the hands of child soldiers and their elders

From January 6 to June 6

May 25 to May 8

Spot shined with the blood of heroes and villains

Foday Sankoh and Maskita

Hinga Norman and Johnny Paul

Madam Yoko and sengbeh pieh

Breaking the monotony of the process by singing

Bai bureh was a warrior

he fought against the british,

the british made him  surrender,

he halla koto mamu

All the time keeping hopes bright for a dazzling brilliance

With a national shout for Jesus

Emanating from heroes and villains alike

Watch the decrease in dazzling brilliance

Corrupted by shades of woo teh teh green and osai-owai red

But she shone bright once more

With the strong elbow grease augmented by

ogaman, green beret, special forces and executive outcomes

Becoming all the more stronger for it

Stronger even more than the vinegar dissolved pearl concocted by Cleopatra

A tiny speck blemish free

Strong enough to bear our burdens,

As unique as rubbery Reed

Whose pliable hands encircle us in its warm embrace

As powerful as a mother's kiss wiping away pain effortlessly

A woman's best friend? No doubt

But much more than that, my crush

Always appreciated

like the cries of 

"kol wata de,

kol wata de

kol wan, kol wan"

in the middle of June

forever the strongest

yet with colors supple

softer than the double mounds

of loma and bintumani

More beautiful than the vitality gained by a virgin cherubim,

 Back arched,

Toe curled,

Eyes star filled

From the kiss of the rising sun

Its color fiery alive

As If the sun

fell in love with the stars

Took them on a romantic walk in the Milky Way

 Dressed in solar plumes

I extol her beauty

Until my mind is crystal

And my quill runs dry

And for that I will still call her my diamond

Because like the Greeks intended when naming a diamond

She overpowered all obstacles

And tamed all negative aspirations

To stand now bright,

Showing forth her good.

Long Live our Sierra Leone and happy Independence Anniversary to all her children.

Clean Up the World {Sierra Leone, 1995/1996}...Mr Mason

Sierra Leone is our home and together we must strive
for a better cleaner brighter home tomorrow
and sierra leone will be our home when together we all strive
for a better cleaner brighter home tomorrow

yes we can make it when we care enough for the living
when we dip our hands
in the street and the lanes
make it clear

Live a better way
when we learn to change this while situation
just look around you
there's work enough to be done
when we start to clean just you and me.

And our god will give a smile on this great change we have made,
the moon and stars and the sun will guide us all the way
and everyone great or small in this little land of ours
will have to grow and live in a better day

yes we can make it if we care enough for the littering
when we clean our homes
and we clean our schools
make it right

live in a better day
and make sierra leone a healthy nation
just look around you
there's a lot enough to be done
when we start to clean just you and me.

Why I am Black...

I can say with a Great degree of certainty, when I became black.
The steps to been a member of the black family although never planned have been the most significant that I have ever taken.


Drawn by an intellectual appeal, enticed by a translation of intentions to actions, lured by the promise of the acquisition of better oratory skills and seduced by the charisma of members of the black family, my joining that body is one of the easiest and most logical decisions I have ever made.


So Pardon me…don’t let my actions surprise you for I am, have always been and will always be black, hence my proclivity to seek first the political kingdom. That has always been part of the black political creed.


You see, I can make as persuasive an argument to been born black as I can to been black as a matter of choice. Those who do not know about us have labeled us with certain tribal and socio economic demographics. I am proof of their ignorance. My convoluted history of been both a “krio boy” and a “mende borboh” proves that I and the black family transcends any label that we have been tagged with.


When some were yelling that membership is primarily cultic, my firsthand experience taught membership was an introduction to a family of mentors and great inspirations, a family that always seeks justice while aspiring to greater heights in education. When the uninformed yelled that belonging was unnecessary, the necessity for political participation was inculcated in me by the family, teaching me above all else that political participation should not be limited only to elections. When the voice of the opposition arose, the family taught me that opposition voices are just the frustrations of the minority with the success of the majority and the minority should not be begrudged that access.


Today I am confident enough in my black ideology to identify myself as above all been a black man, because among the primary tenets of the black ideology is a recognition and protection of the dignity and value of human life and relationships.


You see I will always be that double threat. Born black in the valleys of kailahun town in the previous millennium and then reborn again black without the intermission of death, on Mount Aureol in this new millennium.


Long Live the black family and all those who bear its interests at heart.

If only Reason would become your policy...

Those who love the United States should be quaking in their boots right now. Why? We are living on the ruins of every great nation from our history and that history tells us that the fall of each and every one of those mighty and seemingly indestructible nations came from within. Some smart people before me determined that “the bigger you are the harder you fall”. The tea party movement with its penchant for a revolutionary cry and the violence that plagues the present political landscape have turned our time into one that is most favorable for uprisings and violent upheavals. No matter how you frame any of the present day arguments, the basic tenets of every segment of the American States is that of love for the nation that transforms itself into how it cares for its peoples. This violent rhetoric has strayed far from that and can in no way be considered the voice of reason. Reasonably, “The Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act” should by no rationale have given place to the kinds of uproar that is deafening the political landscape. This just brings joy to those out there who seek to harm what started off as a nation that had always sought to move on the next democratic step to seek the welfare of its people. It brings joy to them because what is been delivered out there and what they ultimately see is a nation deeply divided against itself, a nation not even willing to listen to a voice of reason...and we all know what happens to a house divided against itself...

On a broader scale, it also raises a further reaching question of how the American State can reach out and try to influence the modern day issues of the Israel/Palestine conflict, the Iran Nuclear capability, the genocide in Sudan, the economic concessions of the European Union member states and the continued growth and expansion of the Chinese economic might when it cannot decide amongst its own people whether or not to improve the public health policy that most if not all agree is exploitative if not wholly inefficient?

What Life Has Taught Me (About Political Leadership)

We are approaching the era of the extinction of the immediate post colonial leadership in Africa. The period between the sixties (the era of escalating independence) and now has been characterized by more examples of bad leadership.

We have come to associate the majority of those post-colonial leaders with words like dictators, politricians and the likes, and their governments have been recognized more with words like, corruption, embezzlement, misuse of office and widespread propaganda.

These attributes are all cultivated as evidenced by their predominant absence in traditional governments before its corruption by those who thought they possessed better governmental systems. Moreover, the majority of these leaders had acquired their education from western nations. In those days it was the norm rather the exception that Western sponsored African Leaders would have spent some stage of their educational journey in states like United Sates, England, Russia and Germany. 

Happily, those days are gone, but what is the hope for the African Leadership? An extensive number of individuals hoping to dabble in their country's political environment are swimming the tide of globalization. Garnering experiences from self acclaimed established and exemplary democracies. But what are the lessons that are been learnt? That a presidential election can be determined by the brother of one of the candidates, that the president can have extra marital affairs as long as the wife is allowed to carry out her own clandestine relationships, that the office of the president can be degraded and disrespected and constantly mocked, that rhetoric comes before the needs of the people they're representing, that party affiliation trumps all policy goals, that propaganda is one of the best tools in the arsenal of the opposition, that re-designation of terms in an unfavorable light is an art that scares the uninformed from supporting policies that may end up been for their own good, that having at least one news outlet in your pocket is a must so as to dump your propaganda unto your base, that  a country's interest comes before all others, that intervention into other nations affairs is one way to insure the person in power always leans towards addressing your country's national interest, that as long as you don't massacre people, you can get away with imprisoning a large section of a demographic group without been considered tribalistic, that you can be corrupt as long as you have juniors who can take the fall when you are found out, that you can get away with a gulf in income and wealth distribution between the classes as long as you don't allow some people to starve to death, that there are more ways than one to establish a system of presidential succession by kin. That money can buy your freedom from the law and at the same time take care of any problems you may encounter. That justice depends on who you know. That you can kill your political opponents before they are strong enough to challenge you as long as you can provide enough obfuscation about the circumstances surrounding that assassination.


Yeah Yeah Yeah, i hear you saying that all systems are corrupt and the whole system should not be judged by those individual failures... Can you say double standards... Colonial powers did not afford Africans that excuse when they made it a policy to systematically destroy the intrinsic traditional leadership structures in the name of knowing what was best for "those people". Why then should the same excuse be afforded them.

Growing up i always used to hear that we the children are tomorrow's future. Tomorrow is now here and the same voices that were wailing against the injustice of the leadership in Africa are the same ones their now exercising the same prerogatives that they knew then were wrong. The thirst for power at whatever cost, (another admirable attribute cultivated by our Western Educated leaders) has blinded their eyes to the plight of their people. It is a malaise, that will only continue to be exacerbated if we fail to go back to the leadership we were born into. The traditional leadership characterized by a chief who cares for his subjects, guided by elders whose wisdom in all leadership matters is one of the many attributes the young aspire to attain.

Moral Bankruptcy of the Fourth Estate

The media business must be the easiest job in the world. Find a popular figure, prop him/her up as a shining example of humanity, follow their every move and bless them with column inches. At the first allegation of indiscretion, crucify the person, not on moral grounds (because lets face it, the media is as morally corrupt as any criminal enterprise out there), but on the basis of the individual been an example for the young. Not satisfied with the initial embarrassment, the media then provides huge financial incentives for other media hungry whores to come out of the woodwork and make further allegations and before long even the use of the word "allegedly" becomes redundant as these people's reputations are then assassinated never with the hope of been revived because after the destruction of an icon the press moves on to repeat the cycle of building up someone just for that person to be torn to shreds in the near future by the same press. At this rate no one will fault popular figures for their distrust and distaste of the media.