:: Africa in the Irish media: A tale of double standards
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By Edorodion Osa I HAVE lived in Ireland long enough to know that there are great Irish people who are welcoming to people of all backgrounds and colours and who would go the extra mile to make sure immigrants do not feel alienated from the Irish society. When I relocated to this country with my wife some years ago, we were fortunate to have a very pleasant Irish couple and their two children as our hosts. They owned the house we rented. At weekends, they would travel the 80 kilometre round trip journey from their home to see us and find out how we were settling into the idyllic and picturesque Gaelic-speaking town. When we had our first child, this couple lavished us with gifts and attention and took particular interest in the child. As our boy grew up, their children would come round at the weekend to play with him. The bond between the two families was so great that our children would alternate between our home and theirs at weekends. In the College of Further Education and the University, I also had great Irish lecturers who ensured that I got the best out of my studies. My lecturer in the College of Further Education told me how the Irish suffered discriminations in England when they migrated there in droves in the 1950s and 60s in search of work and better life and how they should not allow the same situation to replicate itself here now that Ireland is a prosperous nation with a growing immigrant population. 
Perhaps it is because of people like my landlord, his wife and children, and my lecturers that Ireland pride itself as a ‘land of a thousand welcomes.' But some sections of the Irish media are bent on destroying the good work of these great people who are striving to ensure that Ireland is really welcoming to people from all backgrounds. They label the non - white Irish population as "non nationals" (whatever that means) and non - white children including the non - white Irish child citizens as "international children." By so doing, these sections of the Irish media reduce Irishness to whiteness, in other words, if you are not white, you are not Irish. They fan the embers of racism by drawing a line between ‘Us' and ‘Them' which plays into the hands of rabid racists such as the taxi drivers' union in Cork, which has denied African immigrant taxi drivers membership because of their skin colour. And with the global credit crunch having a deepening effect on the social and economic lives of the people, their exclusionary rhetoric finds fertile grounds in some local populations who resent the presence of immigrants in their communities. But what beats my imagination is that while they view the non - white immigrant as extra communitarian, they are quick to jump at the slightest opportunity to celebrate and/or trace the Irish ancestry of prominent people of African descent. When Nelson Mandela was awarded the Freedom of the City of Dublin in 1988 while still in incarceration in Robben Island, they celebrated his contributions to global human rights, and when the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Laws Degree in 2003, these same media described him as a passionate crusader for global peace and justice. The sleepy Co Offaly town of Moneygall became the focus of these media when Barack Obama was elected President of the United States late last year. They swarmed on the town to report on the research carried out by Church of Ireland priest Stephen Neill which linked Obama's great - great - great grandfather to the Kearneys of Moneygall, and they were quick to let the world know that at last Obama has an Irish root. They even reported that the musical group, "The Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys," penned a song titled ‘There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama' in celebration of the discovery. Now, the impending visit of arguably the greatest boxer of all time, Mohammed Ali, to Ireland is generating media frenzy. They are determined to find his Irish link. Their attention is now focused on the Co Clare town of Ennis where they believe ‘The Greatest' has links to the Gradys. I suspect they will not rest until they are able to establish his links, no matter how remote they are. But while they are determined to trace the Irish ancestry of this great American sportsman of African descent and while they are waxing lyrical about the Irish connection of the first American President of African descent, they are busy branding the ordinary Kenyan living in Ireland "non national," "illegal immigrant," and "asylum seeker" who should be sent back "home." They do not want to know whether this Kenyan "asylum seeker" comes from the Rift Valley where the hominids, the forefathers of Obama's Irish great - great - great grandfather lived for about 900,000 years. To them, he is an "undesirable asylum seeker" that must be sent "home." It seems obvious to me that these sections of the Irish media revel in tracing the Irish genealogy of prominent people of African descent, and in that case, I will advise them to consult Canon Stephen Neill on how to carry out diligent ancestral research. When they finish with that, they should also contact J. M Ledgard, the East Africa Correspondent of The Economist for some lectures on the origin of Obama's Irish great - great - great grandfather, and by the time they graduate from these classes, they will no longer bother about tracing the Irish ancestry of Mohammed Ali because in the words of Ledgard, "We are all African... They will also realise that in the words of Ajay Royyuru of IBM, "All the differences we see in each other...are all so minor"; that the ordinary Kenyan who is labelled "asylum seeker" is no less Irish than the white Irish and the prominent people of African descent that they so desperately want to associate with Ireland. Mr Edorodion osa is a freelance journalist. He's based in Ireland.
Britain's Loss of Civil Discipline 
By Ron Fraser
What happened to genteel Britain?
Something has gone deeply wrong with British society. In just 40 years it has devolved from a culture based on manners, honor and respect between people to a state of teen warfare on its streets.
"Police in England and Wales received almost 4 million reports of rowdy behavior last year, as the situation on Britain's streets spirals out of control," the Daily Express reports (July 14). In revealing the figures, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said, "Anti-social behavior is blighting communities up and down the country. Despite all the government's tough talk and rhetoric, the harsh reality is that most acts of anti-social behavior go unpunished. Small wonder, then, that things have been getting worse."
In fact, the ill-disciplined yob culture of British youth has become so bad that immigrants are returning their children back to their old ex-colonial homelands to receive the discipline that British society no longer practices.
How the wheel turns.
The British brought a civilized system of disciplined education, health services, and the rule of law within an orderly administration of government to many largely uncivilized quarters of the globe that simply lacked such discipline prior to colonization. Then, in the middle of the last century, the British packed up and left.
In too many of their old colonies, health services immediately declined, law and order became corrupted, responsible administration of government yielded, in many cases, to dictators and tyrants. But, in most instances, one great blessing of British rule remained: its civilized system of disciplined education.
Having visited many of the nations that gained independence from former British colonial rule, I have always been amazed at the orderly conduct of schoolchildren and the extremely high level of commitment of teachers in these countries.
The first thing that stands out is the uniform. Often patterned after the school uniforms of British public schools-many featuring the tartans of Scotland-these uniforms serve as a great leveler to children. Gone is the competition to wear the latest high-flying brands of young fashion, a competition we see too often at Western schools, in particular in America. Whatever the social or economic status of the parents, the children are all dressed in standard school uniform, creating a community cohesion and definite school spirit among pupils and students. It creates a school community that demonstrates a pride in achievement for one's school. It's a great preparation for solid citizenship in adulthood.
But there's another, even greater blessing that British education gave to its colonial children during the time of the empire's greatness: discipline! The kind of imposed community discipline in the formative years of childhood and youth that, in turn, contributes to an individual self-discipline which works to create an orderly citizenry within a nation. That discipline, in more recent times, has been largely legislated out of society within Britain and its old dominions.
So it is that in this 21st century, with Britain having long trashed the virtues upon which it built the greatest empire in man's history, that the grandchildren of many of the colonized offspring of the empire-their parents having migrated to Britain-are returning to Africa and parts beyond to receive a type of education which, though a product of British imperialism, is increasingly becoming unavailable within the mother country.
When this trend became evident a couple of years ago, the Sunday Times reported, "Scores of British schoolchildren are being sent away to take their GCSEs [General Certificate of Secondary Education] in Ghana, exchanging truancy and gang culture for traditional teaching and strong discipline, including the cane. ... For the parents it is a chance to save their children from the thuggery that has seen 21 teenagers shot or stabbed to death in London alone this year" (Nov. 4, 2007).
The Times gave the example of the Faith Montessori boarding school in Accra, Ghana's capital. "According to Oswald Amoo-Gottfried, the school's founder and director, the key to the success of pupils ... is the kind of discipline that has long since fallen out of fashion in Britain. ‘I believe in caning,' he declared. ‘I tell the parents: If you don't want your child punished, then your child doesn't belong here. ... Children must be taught. You don't sit down and discuss directions with a child-you tell them where to go.'"
The result is hardly surprising, given the constancy of the underlying principle (Proverbs 22:6) that the school's director espouses: "His school is quiet, the atmosphere studious. ... They remain silent until asked a question" (ibid.).
I can clearly remember the identical situation prevailing in my elementary school years within a British Commonwealth country six decades ago. It was hardly like the situation that prevails within our politically correct, ill-disciplined, dumbed-down institutions of learning for the young within the First World nations of the West today.
In those days we were well-disciplined within the school system, and I am so thankful for it! Without both the community and individual discipline experienced within my own formative years at a school modeled on the old British system, I shudder to think where I, the son of a widow, largely raised without fatherly discipline in the home, would be today. In those days, the majority of our elementary and high school teachers were males. More importantly, they were very masculine males! They treated the young men as that, young men! And they treated the young women as just that, young feminine women! There was no confusion of gender in those days.
The libertine, hedonistic, gender-bending ways of society over the past 40 years have since spawned great dislocation within the family unit and confusion in general within society. The greatest lack in so many of our homes is that of a good, strong, masculine, kindly father role model-a kindly, loving, yet authoritative disciplinarian. That's what these children of African parents have found lacking within the very country that, in colonial times, established such a system in the nations of their ethnic origin.
To its great shame, the quality of education that the British nation established within its vast Commonwealth is no longer widely available within its own home nation! And it's not only people from the African continent who have discovered this after migrating to Britain. Citing Amoo-Gottfried, the Times reported, "He puts the troubles of the British pupils down to a lack of good role models-a reason many West Indian families cite for sending their children to school back home" (ibid.).
From Africa to the Caribbean, increasingly the children of immigrant parents who left their own countries to seek the good life in Britain are returning home to receive the education created within, but now rejected by, their British mentors. As one former student of Archbishop Porter girls' school in Takoradi, Ghana, who subsequently graduated from university, observed, "Education is so important in Ghana-people take it as their only means of escaping poverty. With education you can do anything, no matter how poor you are" (ibid.).
The paradox is that the British peoples, having been bloated with the false wealth that easy credit brought to their domestic economies before the crash of 2008, seemingly so "rich, and increased with goods" (Revelation 3:17), remain largely ignorant of the reality that in fact they are "poor, and blind, and naked" when it comes to the virtues of the well-disciplined system of education that produced their great leaders of the past. That was the system that civilized the uncivilized, that brought discipline to the undisciplined within the nations that formed the once vast British Commonwealth and Empire. That system taught basic honesty in business dealings, civility in human relations, a sense of honor and respect for the heritage of the nation-basic virtues which have since been removed from the public education systems within the Anglo-Saxon nations of today.
So the wheel turns full circle.
Even those who fled their homelands to embrace the blessings of living in Britain now reject the simpering, politically correct ways of its current education system, a system gutted of those virtues that once made it great, as its rebellious people increasingly embrace the indiscipline of the uncivilized.
(Source: www.thetrumpet.com/print.php?q=6358.4818.0.0)
Living Mirror Shines Light on President Jammeh's Evil Reign By Abel Ugba The cold-blooded murder of Mr Deyda Hydara on December 16, 2004 has, more than any other incident, highlighted the gross violation of media and human rights in The Gambia. The country's paranoid and deluded ruler, Mr Yahya Jammeh, has never hidden his disdain of journalists, especially ones like Mr Hydara who frown at his mismanagement of national resources and autocratic disposition. Soon after he shot his way onto the national stage following the 1994 military coup, Mr Jammeh branded journalists the ‘illegitimate sons of Africa'. Even after he reincarnated as a civilian president, his tirades and brutality against journalists have been unrelenting. However, much of his antics remained hidden from the international community until the death of Mr Hydara, who was shot in the night by unidentified gunmen as he drove from his office to his house. 
A Living Mirror: The Life of Deyda Hydara, a 216-page book, describes the private and professional life of the murdered journalist. Authored by Aloa Ahmed Alota and Demba Ali Jawo, two journalists who knew and worked with Mr Hydara, the series of event described in the book rely mostly on eye-witness accounts, a review of Hydara's writings and interviews with his family members, friends and professional colleagues. It provides unique insights into his personal and professional developments, the type that can be provided only by those who knew him intimately. The book portrays Mr Hydara as a highly-driven, uncompromising goal getter who would not be deterred even by death threats. This disposition is most vividly portrayed in an article in The Point, a newspaper he co-founded and edited till his gruesome murder, where he wrote: "...Government and supporters must also know that some of us have...offered our lives in our social responsibility role. Maybe we are crazy but some of us would be proud to be gunned down or simply be killed for doing just that." On another occasion, he pointedly predicted his assassination in a conversation with his wife: "He put his left arm over his head and poked his ribs with his right middle finger. ‘They will shoot me here'. He then touched his lower abdomen and his left temple, and repeated what he had just said." (Page 99). 
Mr Hydara's eerie prediction did not mean that he craved martyrdom. He had so much to live for. Top of the list were a happy home and an upwardly mobile career. At a time when the majority of his colleagues shunned entrepreneurship and opted for the security of employment with state-run media, he embarked on the publication of The Point. By the time of his death the newspaper had become one of the most popular and successful independent press in The Gambia. Anyone who was as intimately acquainted with the sadism and psychopathic tendencies of the Jammeh's government as Hydara was would have come to the same prediction as he did. The evidence, mostly in the form of brutal physical assaults on journalists and political opponents, had been accumulating since the petite Jammeh came to power in 1994. One of the limitations of this book is that very little direct reference is made to the consistent violation of human and media rights that preceded the murder of Mr Hydara, and made the tragedy predictable. For this reason, those who read this book should also get a copy of The Gambia: Violations of Press Freedom by the Government of Yahya Jammeh 1994 - 2006, co-published by the Media Foundation of West Africa. The litany of media-directed abuses and persecutions documented in this slim but graphically-illustrated 36-page volume shows that the silencing of Mr Hydara's voice or, for that matter, any critical voice, was only a matter of time. It won't come as a surprise if more journalists are murdered in The Gambia now or in the near future because Mr Jammeh's autocratic and megalomaniac reign has created the right environment. While the despot struts the world stage and soaks in the ignominy that comes with his fraternity with like-minded dictators, the vast majority of the inhabitants of The Gambia live in fear and penury. More journalists are fleeing The Gambia than any country in the West Africa region. Those who stay are repeatedly thrown into detention without trial while foreign journalists are deported at will. 
Two features of this book that are especially commendable are the detailed representation of the specific media freedom struggles that Mr Hydara devoted much of his activism to and the reproduction of many articles written by the slain journalist. These articles give the reader a good insight into the intelligent, dogged and resolute journalist that Mr Hydara was. They make clear the irreplaceable loss that his untimely death has meant for the world of journalism. Students of media history and press freedom activists will find these details useful. Most importantly, they will be lasting testimony to the brutality and ignorance of Mr Yahya Jammeh long after he, his despotic reign and supporters have been swept into oblivion.
Nigerians are happiest people and the most stupid
By Dr. Olusola Osineye
THE festival of life (FOL) is London's equivalent of Holy Ghost night - the monthly gathering of Christians in Nigeria, irrespective of denominations, at the redeemed Christian church camp to offer prayers and praises to God. Although the FOL is held twice a year at the Excel centre in East London, it is already turning into a ritual similar to the one at home. The turnout is always massive and the passion generated at the event is just typical of any gathering of devoted Nigerian Christians. 
Politicians, clergymen from the Church of England, and other non-governmental organizations have started to associate very closely with this event. This somehow underscores the socio-political significance of the gathering. The former mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, once used the occasion to campaign during an election period and was given a tacit endorsement by the Nigerian churches but still lost anyway. Yes, he lost, partly because the Nigerian population in London is hardly significant to guarantee him any success at the polls. Besides that, the British electorate are not as dumb as those in Nigeria. That statement is actually my own hypothesis. According to official statistics released in US, Nigerians are rated amongst the most highly educated foreigners. It is likely to be the same in the United Kingdom. But we are easily one of the most stupid also. We might be one of the most educated but the level of ignorance on display by even the educated lot is so amazing that I don't think anything can salvage the country from her destined self-destruction. The horrible smell of our collective stupidity has reached high heavens and I think God can no longer stand the stench and that probably explains the type of leadership in every sphere of our lives. I know I have a lot of explanations to give for this generalization. Wait! I don't think I need to go far before getting evidence to back up my hypothesis on our collective stupidity. For example, if less than one million rogues are able to suppress the will and aspirations of over one hundred and forty-nine million people, what better explanation can one give for such a scenario? Well, I trust Nigerians they will give loads of reasons. But, I don't really care about the reasons. I am only stating a fact.
For a start, my intention is not to discuss why the few stupid rogues are able to overwhelm the huge majority and push them into a state of unbelievable docility. Other people can talk about that. I am more concerned about the stupid one hundred and forty-nine million who believed that it is God's will for the majority to live in abject poverty in the midst of plenty. There was even a poll conducted not too long ago that gave justification to our stupidity, which gave further credence to my hypothesis. The poll claimed that we are the happiest people on earth. Jesus Christ! There is nothing more sinister than such ridicule. How could any group of people stay happy when they are in pitch darkness for twenty out of twenty-four hours in a day? Infant and maternal mortality rate is continuously one of the highest in the world. And of course life expectancy is about forty-five years for male. This means that if you are forty five, male and reading this article, you are one of the lucky few who are still alive because most of your mates who could not leave the country are already dead, and you are likely to be dead before the end of the week either through a ghastly motor accident on those death-traps called roads, or through ingestion of fake drugs or one equally stupid and mad police man would simply blow your brains out and nothing will happen. Anyway, never mind; just be happy, you are just another stupid Nigerian. 
As I mentioned briefly earlier, one of the most compelling evidence of our level of stupidity can be seen in our attitude to religion. It is always God's will. If Ya'Ardua suddenly drops dead tomorrow, as he likely would eventually anyway, (renal failure is a terminal ailment, and only transplant and not his stupid faith in some miracle can save him) and a few morons decided that Good-luck Jonathan is not from the North and therefore cannot become the next president, it would simply be God's will. We would all write articles and scream on the pages of newspaper about the unconstitutionality of the decision but nothing would happen. We are clowns in Nigeria and the whole world is laughing at us. We all know that clowns act stupidly to make children laugh. So you can see that my hypothesis will eventually take shape. Therefore, I daresay that religion will remain one of the greatest impediments to our greatness in Nigeria. Alternatively, if the influence of religion is effectively utilized it can actually be a useful tool for development. Take a look at the North where Islam is the dominant religion. The wretched religious clerics in that part of the country can easily mobilize more than five million street urchins to wreck havoc on all Igbo traders because an unidentified person used a torn page from the Quran to wipe his bum after defecating. Has anyone ever wondered why it was always the Igbos? Meanwhile, they have never ever organised a peaceful rally to express their displeasure at the lack of development in the area. The North is probably only second to the Stone Age in terms of human capital development. Even those in that age used their brains to fabricate sophisticated tools for hunting purposes. And then the joke of the century is when Forbes magazine suddenly came up with the story that the only billionaire from Nigeria is actually from that part of the country. Well, he is not the government so what is he supposed to do? I beg to differ. This guy has one of the most potent clouts in any government in Nigeria. He can advocate and strive to see that something is done. Bill Gates has used billions of dollars of his money to fight malaria. There is no malaria in America but it kills millions of children in Africa every year. Christianity is the fastest growing industry in the southern part of the country. The pastors are growing fat while the congregation are burdened by the harsh economic conditions. All the rogues in government are elders in one church or the other. The churches are like second homes to looters of the treasury. They are chairmen or chairpersons of one church building committee or the other. The pastors are always saying special prayers for them and have no scruples about taking their stolen money. The churches now buy private jets for their chief executive officers (oh sorry, pastor) and are shameless enough to claim that it is for evangelism. Meanwhile, half the congregation of those churches live on less than $1,000 in a year while most of the youth are jobless. Yes, the pastors are not the ones to provide jobs; but how many times have they criticised the government for not creating those jobs? How many times have they told them that they cannot continue to loot the treasuries and then come around to the house of God to make some bogus claims of God's blessings in their lives? During the last American election, religious leaders were very vocal in their criticism of one government policy or the other. They do not keep quiet and say it is God's will. Barack Obama's pastor, Reverend Wright, was so vocal about his criticism of America's racial divide that he became a big threat to his election prospect. That is the job of a pastor- saying the truth as it is, and not only collecting tithes and junketing about in private jets in the name of evangelism. Pastor Tunde Bakare is the only pastor that I respect in Nigeria. He told Obasanjo to his face that he is evil. That is a real man of God. I worship with RCCG but not impressed that all manner of past and present rogue governors and ministers tend to associate with the overseer. They are always present at the Holy Ghost nights. They have probably repented and God has forgiven them and they are free to enjoy the loot till they die. A thief is a thief. I don't care if God has forgiven them. What manner of forgiveness is that anyway? How about the thousands that died on the roads that he refused to tar? How about the thousands of kids that died because there was no free Medicare? The Yorubas of South-West are the most pathetic. They are quick to boast of their education and sophistication. Meanwhile, Adedibu and Obasanjo were the best they could come up with as national leaders. I am actually fed up discussing and writing articles about our thieving leaders. They will never change anyway, at least not through our lengthy articles or criticism. If you believed that Ya'Ardua and his PDP cohorts will not rig 2011 election, then you are even more stupid than an average Nigerian. Your own stupidity is extra-terrestrial. If you believed that the electoral reform would lead anywhere, I despise your sense of reasoning. If anyone believes that Nigeria will wobble and fumble (a la Fanny Amun!) into greatness, then I leave you alone to perish as a nonentity who only came to this world to look at Eko Bridge. (Or London bridge) The Igbos and the Ijaws are probably the ones that have been most rebellious, the least religious and hence the least stupid. Maybe that is where the hopes of Nigeria lie. They would never accept that something is the will of God simply because somebody said so. They are difficult to subjugate and that is one of the reasons there was a civil war in the first place.
Ojukwu remains a true hero. Why would some group of murderers continue to kill your people over some flimsy excuses? If I was an Igbo, I would be a low-life not to fight under those circumstances. He fought for what he believed in and the Igbo people followed him because they are not stupid like my people, the Yorubas. Although they lost the war and millions of lives were lost, but I know that they live to fight another day as long as some people continue to deter the progress of others. The Ijaws have taken over the struggle and though there have been some criminality in the struggle, that is not unexpected, but by and large they have shown that people's destiny is in their own hands and God's will has nothing to do with it. Yar'Adua and the looters of the treasury, both at the federal and state level, have started to panic as MEND cripples the oil industry. MEND, a ragtag bunch of militias have exposed the weakness of the Nigerian government. They quickly and with lightening speed offered them amnesty. They knew if there is no more oil, there wouldn't be any Nigeria. They planned to kill twenty million Ijaws to satisfy the lust and cravings of those vampires in Abuja. Nigeria cannot continue to be the butt of jokes in the world. We cannot continue to believe that everything is the will of God. It is not God's will to lack the basic things of life, and certainly not his will that our children should still be dying from malaria because there are no good hospitals. Untimely death from accident on death traps called road is not the will of God. All these things are the creations of the rogues amongst us and we have aided and abetted their actions because we have kept silent and didn't act. Our lack of action is construed as acceptability; we are therefore very stupid collectively.
Sierra Leone: Water Crisis threatens the nation's capital 
By Roland Bankole Marke Water is a necessary resource for the survival of living organism, especially humankind. In most of Africa, mainly in Sierra Leone today, water is perennially scarce. Its insatiable demand has outstripped a stagnated or disrupted supply. In a dusty and thirsty capital city Freetown, with scourging heat and temperatures reaching the extremes, this could trigger dehydration and other health challenges. However, exposure to moderate sunshine is a source of vitamin D: It lowers cholesterol, lowers blood pressure, regulates the immune system and stimulates the production of insulin. I discern solace knowing that this tiny nation of 6 million people about the size of Maine does not belong to a drought stricken perimeter. Instability, precipitated by this recovering nation's decade long civil war, compounded with related economic setbacks helped to motivate the exodus of folk in search of a better life. Cultural milieu as psyche attracted migration to Freetown, where rural nomadic dwellers anticipate embracing their quintessential dream life. Reality unlike fallacy would render folk homeless, starving, and despondent, in a city, where cut-throat competition, resilience to survive, and dynamics of a ruthless capitalism system prevail. In a functional democracy government has no mandate to impede free movement of citizens from one region of the country to another. People are attracted to live where the most favorable conditions of living most likely exist. The ripple effects would implode on the scarce resources the migrants naturally consume, including water, food, housing, and job opportunities. Invariably the status quo is ill equipped to handle this monumental upsurge in demand for goods and services, especially clean and safe drinking water. A city that was initially projected to serve about 300,000 - 500,000 residents, bears the Herculean burden of catering for about 1.2 million people, according to 1994 estimates. This rapid migration explosion is a self-induced hurricane that local communities and government would have to wrestle with. The nation's infrastructure has become obsolete, worn out, if not nearing breaking point. Government still crawls to measure up with technology operating at fiber optic pace in a modern economy. The necessity for capital investment is as paramount as it is desperate and urgent. A complete overhaul of the nation's structural water supply system needs top priority. Whenever electricity is stabilized, water pumps could be installed in vulnerable locations, so that pressurized water could reach consumers living at high gradient or mountainous regions. Living in New York that is famous for high rising apartments and skyscrapers, residents there seldom experience water shortage or taps drying up in the tall buildings: Only during routine maintenance, prior to issuing notice to consumers of a disruption in service. Back home, the service providers seemingly are apathetic to the needs of the consumers, lacking the will and ability to maintain infrastructure, until the service finally breaks down. Essential service hubs as Connaught Hospital, Princess Christian Hospital and local food markets in the heart of Freetown, often experience acute water shortage. The taps dry up: glaring fact that the nation's water crisis has reached a dangerous threshold. Outbreak of communicable diseases including cholera, swine flu or epidemic could spell nightmarish catastrophe. Germs, virus or bacteria flourish in an environment where they could adapt and thrive. Frequent washing of hands hinders pathogens responsible for infectious diseases from multiplying. Unavailability of water renders the scenario precarious and untenable. For most part of the year, Freetown residents face serious water shortage. Folk roam around with large plastic containers roaming for water like in a marooned Island. Those employed go to work with containers trying to fetch water. People who can afford it have installed water tanks, and for a bargain they could get regular water supply from fire trucks operated by employees of the nation's Fire Force Brigade. It is not uncommon for duels between employees of Guma Water Company and Fire Force workers to spark up fracas or infrequent death may result. But who gives authority to the employees to unlatch fire hydrants, tapping the scarce water supply: possibly to sell to the highest bidder, illegally? Who is looking out for the poor folk, including the most vulnerable population: women and children who could least afford to pay the asking price? To help ease the burden on the suffering masses, digging water wells are taking place in various communities around the country with support from some elected leaders. From Wilberforce on the west, onto Kissy Road in the east, wells are popping up all around Freetown, mostly in densely populated areas. About 400 meters from the town of Grafton is a water plant factory - Grafton Spring Water that sells the finest and most refreshing bottled water in the nation. There is very little drinking water for the local community, many of whom have no access to the spring water. Their wells have broken or dried up. Children have become sick, while government has decided capping off the number of wells in the poor community that could otherwise be utilized. A unique and telling case study is ‘Mojabi Cave Well' at New England Ville built about 50 years ago, that now services some 6000 people. This community had water crisis long before I lived there in the 80s, but the authorities have eternally been looking on the other side. Youths in this area have mobilized themselves into forming the ‘Water of Life' organization that explores to find urgent solutions to the local needs. They collect donations from residents and well wishers to fund the refurbishing of the well that had become a death trap: trying to work out lasting solutions to the ageless water problem. April 18, 2009, 17 year-old Aminata Kamara, a student of Wallace Johnson Memorial School went to the only well in the area to fetch water for domestic use. She was thirsty for water as she was for education, as she prepares to take her examination the same day. While she was collecting water, a huge boulder rolled down and crushed her, killing her. Two other students were also injured, but were rescued from the gruesome accident. On the hilltop, trees were being cut down to erect new buildings or for use as fire wood. Soil erosion or landslide could have caused the stone to fall down after heavy rain storm. The victims who were rushed to the hospital survived. The tragedy precipitated a convulsion of grief in the community. Folk wept bitterly, blaming the elected leaders for not being sensitive to their pressing needs. Amid the emotional upheaval, Member of Parliament for West 2 Constituency Julius Cuffie came to the scene to express condolences to the families affected. "Cuffie, go away, go away" the people yelled at him. Cuffie did not take it too well. He got furious for being disrespected in public. Hopefully, this tragedy would be an opportunity to erect a safe, clean drinking water well at New England Ville: and probably pioneer a tree planting campaign in memory of Aminata Kamara, as a fitting memorial immortalizing her legacy. Amid the heartache and growing challenges there is a glimmer of optimism. Water experts have advised that the Orogu River at Hastings Village is the answer to the water supply crisis in Freetown. Atkins consulting firm of UK, assisted by other local partners including Oxfam and a local engineering firm 3BMD studied the water and sanitation problems in Freetown, to help craft a long term solution. Leading consultant of Atkins, Richard Shepard, stressed that with the current population explosion prevalent in the city, compounded with the stride for development, the Orugu Dam is the only lasting solution to the water crisis in the city. The current Guma supply to the city was 83 million liters a day, equivalent to 16 million gallons a day. The Orugu project in the initial stage would provide the city with 75 million liters of water per day equivalent to an additional 12 million gallons a day. The studies said that the Orugu scheme came in three stages as the first phase could provide the city with at least 28 million gallons per day and the second and third stages tripling that number. Douglas Hunt, another Atkins consultant, appealed to the government to halt all developmental activities within the catchments perimeter. On the sanitation problem, Jonathan Parkinson and others solicited government to reintroduce rigid laws on health and sanitation. An official of Guma, pinpointed that the current Guma facility could no longer cope with the alarming population explosion in Freetown.
The minister of Lands, Country Planning and the Environment, Dr. Dennis Sandy, while addressing a session of Parliament recently said, "I'm willing and ready to expose with evidence to substantiate my point that some parliamentarians in the Western Area are indeed involved in illegal land transactions." While a foreign critic interjected that corruption is not a native of any land: it finds easier homes in some.
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and first African woman to win the prestigious accolade - Kenyan born Wangai Maathai, in a fierce and urgent speech in London said recently there is a change taking place. We can hardly keep up with the requests [for help]. The tree is just a symbol for what happens to the environment. The act of planting one is a symbol of revitalizing the community. Tree planting is only the entry point into the wider debate about the environment. Everyone should plant a tree, she says. "Nature is still being taken for granted. Yet when it is destroyed, life itself goes. Politicians [everywhere] are putting immediate needs ahead of the long term. We must challenge the decision makers. We must appeal not just to their heads, but to their hearts. I can only see things getting worse if we do nothing she emphasized. Sierra Leone and the rest of the world need to heed Maathai's passionate appeal. Roland Bankole Marke © 2009
Roland Bankole Marke is the author of Teardrops Keep Falling, Silver Rain and Blizzard and Harvest of Hate (Fuel for the Soul). His website is www.rolandmarke.com; phone; 904-645-5738
Poland's African candidate for the European parliament 
Fate and a fervent Roman Catholic mother led Patrick Kibangou to move to Poland from Congo-Brazzaville 29 years ago.
He became a Polish citizen and now is running for a seat in the European Parliament where he could become one of its few black deputies.
Kibangou lives in Jelcz-Laskowice, a town on the outskirts of Wroclaw in southwest Poland. His partner, a gynaecologist who is a naturalised Polish citizen of Nigerian origin, has her office in the den of their home.
"Most often we speak Polish amongst ourselves. When we're cross with each other we speak English, sometimes French," he chuckled.
Kibangou says he wants to give Poland more access to markets in Africa.
"What has motivated me is that I can help Poland find markets, its the promotion of Polish companies, Polish products and Polish culture in developing countries," he told AFP.
Helping Africa also counts, as the arrival of companies from the European Union's newer members, generally means lower prices and "alternatives for Africans.
"When there will be competition, there will be less blackmail" by Western groups installed in Africa, said Kibangou, who is running for Poland's Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), a communist party revamped as social democrats.
The 51-year-old engineer is focused on the kind of road infrastructures Poland built in Libya or Iraq prior to 1989 when it was still part of the communist bloc.
"Poles are good in everything", he said. Poland is a country "with intellectuals, people who have made world history, scientists like Marie Curie-Sklodowska and I think Poles are just as capable as the French and English to be in Africa."
Kibangou told of his departure from Congo-Brazzaville to Poland in 1980 and his decision to stay.
After finishing high school in Congo, he wanted to study in France or Germany, but in a dream he heard a voice "you will go to Poland.
"My mother who is a real believer, Catholic, fervently Catholic, told me 'It's the country of the Pope, you must go there'," he recalled with a smile, referring to the late Pope John Paul II.
After applications to study in Western Europe were rejected, he decided to go East to earn degrees at the technical university and economics academy in Wroclaw, southwest Poland.
Towards the end of the 1990s he was thinking seriously about going back to Congo, but after war erupted there he found himself without a passport and applied for Polish citizenship.
"I set a record -- in less than four months I had my citizenship and then I told myself I was Polish and there you go," he said.
There are few Africans in Poland, but Kibangou says it is not a racist country.
"No, Poles are not racist," he said. "There are marginal cases but that doesn't count. You also find it in France or England."
(www.eubusiness.com; AFP)
Past Stories It’s time to give back to Africa, says Mr Mutwarasibo 
By Edorodion Osa In the heart of Dublin City, a short distance from Temple Bar – Dublin’s answer to London’s swanky Covent Garden – is St Andrews Street, where the office of the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) is situated. Mr Fidèle Mutwarasibo is the Council’s Research and Integration Officer. Originally from Rwanda, Mr Mutwarasibo moved to Ireland about 12 years ago. Although he has made Ireland a new home and encourages other immigrants to integrate into the Irish society, he says it’s time for African immigrants to give back to the African continent. Mr Mutwarasibo is completing a doctorate at the University College Dublin. He hopes to transfer the skills acquired through his job and research back to his native homeland of Rwanda, Africa and the wider world through the establishment of a Virtual University: “The world has become a small place. Knowledge gained in one area can easily be shared with people across geographical boundaries without leaving the office. "I am also looking at working with other NGOs in the transfer of ‘social remittances’ to the Southern Africa Development Community (SADEC) region. This will be in the area of assisting highly skilled African Diaspora and others to establish businesses in the region. |
