ThinkTank

By Umaru Fofana

Victoria Yilliah had just returned from church when I arrived at her residence in Koindu, Kailahun District in eastern Sierra Leone. Beautifully dressed and wearing a nice perfume she hugged her son – her second but only child. She sang for him, caressed him, before readying him for food. Clearly she loves him. Obviously every mother loves her child, you may say. But this is a special relationship. “This child is my essence in the world today” she told me.

By Umaru Fofana

For some people, and for different reasons, one of the highlights of the three-day-long Bintumani III conference on peace and national cohesion was the attendance of Alpha Kanu. He was presidential affairs minister, mines and mineral resources minister, information minister and presidential adviser in the Ernest Bai Koroma administration.

By Umaru Fofana

17 September 2007. Ernest Bai Koroma had just been declared president-elect of Sierra Leone. As you can imagine, the headquarters of his All People’s Congress party was teeming with people. Supporters had ringed round it. My colleague Kelvin Lewis and I went to see him. It was for an interview.

By Umaru Fofana

These days it is not uncommon to hear people expressing fear that there could be a serious threat to the peace and stability of Sierra Leone. They cite the seamless disagreements between the ruling SLPP and the main opposition APC as the basis for such fear – which is more of paranoia methinks. I will talk about that in a moment.

By Umaru Fofana

“Comeuppance” is one of my favourite words in the English language. When pronounced by some non-native speakers of the language it sounds a bit like “come upon us”. That may not be the etymology of it – coming up before a judge or a court for judgement is more like it – but it basically boils down to your actions catching up with you.

By Umaru Fofana

After spending probably billions of dollars – never mind the human cost – in prosecuting the war in Sierra Leone, Nigeria moved to recoup some of its money here in a legitimate and strategic manner.

Like any strategic country would do – you wonder what the West are up to in the Middle East – the west African giant embarked on trade and investment. To achieve this, it appointed a retired banker as its High Commissioner to Freetown.

By Umaru Fofana

For some reason only two political parties have governed Sierra Leone since independence in 1961 – excepting the army which seized power in the 1960s and in the 1990s. Unlike most other countries in West Africa, the country is still bogged down with the party that led it to independence and its offshoot: the Sierra Leone People’s Party and the All People’s Congress respectively.