By Elias L. Bangura (KaCDeF Public Information Officer) - +23278326422/elbangura@gmail.com

 Sometimes you wonder why people who ought to know better behave in an unseemly manner – and whether it is for the protection of their people or it is just for their interests. Hmm.

  The current Tourism Minister, Peter B. Conteh, and Momoh Konte both come from Koinadugu District – but I only know one of them, Peter. I have met him twice. The first was in my capacity as President of the Parliamentary Press Gallery when he was approved as minister by the Appointments Committee. Our second meeting was in Kabala when I accompanied the Mines Committee to Koinadugu to settle mining disputes. On both occasions, our meeting was brief and it didn’t go beyond formalities, as he was in a hurry to leave. I had judged him on both occasions as I do now, as a man in a hurry to get things done.

  That’s fine, by me; and looking back at him since his return from Italy with his willingness to serve has got my admiration, including our people at Koinadugu, and that of this present Government, that made him Chairman of the Koinadugu District Council before, and now as Minister of Tourism. I own he has been remarkable albeit sometimes controversial, unnecessarily controversial. That’s not my issue now.

  What is my issue now has to do with what has throttled our nation – something I have nicknamed Public Enemy Number One: Ebola. It has kept the nation from sleeping, including the world too. I need not recount its horrors to you because it is still front page news in all mediums, where others more qualified than myself have already done so.

  Now the good Lord has been merciful to Koinadugu district up to this time, in being the only district in Sierra Leone without a reported Ebola case. Even so, we the indigenes ought to show utmost vigilance, and it’s a happy business when those with the competence come forward with their own resources to augment such vigilance.

  But – it has been reported – that this has galled some people and has made them come up with speed to interrupt the fine flow of affairs. Such a one happens to be Peter B. Conteh, our Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, although he has vehemently denied it.

  This week, the New Vision Newspaper in its 12 August 2014 edition reported that “Chief Executive Officer of Transtech International, Momoh Konte, has resigned from the Koinadugu District Ebola Task Force established in June to prevent the entry of the deadly Ebola virus in the district. Mr. Konte’s decision to resign came in the wake of political interference in the whole process. Reports from Koinadugu say over two hundred people have stormed the border town of Fadugu yesterday to enter the district when news broke out that Mr. Konte has quitted the Task Force.”

  You wonder why he has to resign.  The New Vision continues, “At a time when Momoh Konte was busy assisting our people, investing millions of leones and galvanizing the people to prevent the entry of the disease in the district, our politicians in our district were nowhere to be seen,” a youth, Mohamed Mansaray, said.”

  Even the present District Chairman has joined in accusing the Tourism Minister too, according to New Vision Newspaper: “Meanwhile the Chairman of the Koinadugu District Council Sheku Kamara yesterday accused the Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs Peter Bayuku Conteh of inciting the people against him and the Council. The Chairman also accused the minister of wanting to hijack the successes made by the Task Force in the district with tremendous support from Momoh Konte.”

  All this makes disturbing reading – doesn’t it – because you would have expected that if the Minister were to come in at all – it will be in the way of complementation instead of hijacking a program put together by stakeholders of the district, of which he invariably forms a part although he doesn’t know it. The motive of that move is clear to me – he is seeking his own glory instead of that of his people. I don’t see it in any other light. 

  Koinadugu District is one vast land that is very remote from the affairs of Sierra Leone – oh forget about it being the largest district, and other things you might want to mention – it is nothing but a tale of misery and destitution. The things that make up a modern society are absent, have been absent therein since Lord knows when. The district matters but little to the national psyche, all because it is not blessed with protesters, say, like Kenema or Bo districts, that should bring its concerns to the table, whether in Parliament or at Cabinet. 

  It is the truth that Koinadugu has always been in the bottom rungs of the development blueprint of any Government in this country – we don’t know why, and the evidence is there for all to see when you compare it with other districts. We don’t complain, but we will complain when those who come from there starts the sad business of infighting and being suspicious of anyone who comes forward to do the majority any good.

  I know we need each other in Koinadugu because those with the capacity to help the majority poor are so few in number, as such whoever comes forward to help must be commended instead of being discouraged, as Momoh Konte is and is now threatening resignation from the Ebola Task Force because he is a businessman who can’t afford being at variance with politicians regardless of whether the said politician is from his district or not.

  And let’s not forget, Ebola is still raging, not to mention the porosity of Koinadugu which has the most neighbours that includes Guinea. We can’t afford even a single case of Ebola because of obvious reasons, and the internal vigilance as exhibited by its indigenes is commendable although the back patting should wait until the rascal virus is out of West Africa.

  Interestingly, though, even the Tourism Minister cannot deny the ingenuity and oneness of our people in their willingness to believe the message about Ebola and heeding the Ministry of Health’s abstention messages with their precautionary measures which they are obeying to the letter.

  The basis of my belief is that even the minister himself has donated USD500 to the activities of the Task Force – but then you wonder why he wants to disrupt things, is it because of zeal or just plain dictatorship that things must go by his own directives? I don’t know whether he learnt dictatorship in Italy because the highland terrain and wild weather of Koinadugu teaches only one thing: hard work and standing by the next man.

  In fact, isn’t that what life also teaches, that we all need standing by? The Minister of Tourism, Peter B. Conteh, need to relearn that lesson, and extend a brotherly hand to Momoh Konte – someone with good intentions, just like himself, and help move Koinadugu forward.

  And for Momoh Konte, you ought to know because the United States where you have sojourned teaches that one should seize the day – whether to help the next man or to help yourself. You ought not to chicken out in doing well because of one individual, even if he is Osama Bin Laden or Muammar Gaddafi.

  Oh, sorry, for all this bother; people call me the Schoolboy from Kabala, uhum.

KaCDeF Launched to Complement Government in Kasonko Chiefdom  - By Elias Bangura & Abu Bakarr Kamara

Kasonko Chiefdom Development Foundation (KaCDeF) has been launched over the weekend on 26 April 2014 at Fadugu Town in Koinadugu district, with the aim of complementing  government’s effort in the area of development.  Kasunko Chiefdom is a part of Constituency 47 and is composed of eight administrative units - Kasunko, Kakelay,  Kagbokobo, Kayaka,  Tamiso I, Tamiso II  Mandingo section, and Fullah section – and it is also composed of 14 major towns and 78 villages with an estimate of over  3,978 farm families of which 90 percent are vulnerable farm families due to the eleven years rebel war. (2003S/L Governance/FAO estimate).

Considering this slow pace of development, the five amalgamated former chiefdoms that make up Kasunko Chiefdom, have come together to form an association to accelerate community development into this chiefdom, because they assume governments, before and now, has wholly forgotten about them.

The association was launched by the Kabala District Officer, Thomas Lansana Kamara, who travelled down to Fadugu for the launch. He expressed a positive impression about the move of the whole chiefdom in coming together as he noted that KaCDeF’s membership cuts across including those currently resident in the chiefdom and those in Freetown and other places.

 “KaCDeF, I have noticed and seen, is everyone’s business,” he said before the launch at the Fadugu Court Barry. “This is an association where everyone in this chiefdom should belong – and contributions towards its activities should come from everyone and should be in cash or kind, according to your ability.”   He said the whole thing about development is about setting your mind to it, and once that is done you can achieve anything you want to achieve. But two things are necessary, he said, which are trust and accountability.

 “And another thing, make sure whoever donates towards the progress of KaCDeF should be acknowledged and appreciated. Before I launch the association, my advice is that everyone above 18 years should belong. Make KaCDeF a point of sacrifice, and I am humbly pledging Le 100,000 to it. Long live the people of Kasunko and long live Sierra Leone.”

Earlier, in giving an overview of the association, President of KaCDeF, Pastor Robert Malaika Koroma, said Kasunko as a whole has a lot of catching up in terms of development, compared to other parts of the country.

 “Since independence, Kasunko Chiefdom has never been recognized officially to be brought on board in the area of development, hence our forming KaCDeF, to address some of the perennial problems that have plagued us over the years.”   He said the chiefdom has eight administrative sections – this has been taken into account and has been captured in the KaCDeF constitution and a five-year strategic plan, all geared towards delivering the much needed development that Kasunko has been yearning for since independence.

 “Since KaCDeF has been registered as a Community Based Organization, we think it should be strong financially. Most importantly, we want to be able to engage Government on development, including NGOs, and non-religious entities towards the development of Kasunko.”  The needs of Kasunko range from roads, healthcare centres, agricultural facilitation, schools and recreational centres.

Delivering his vision, the President noted conveyed that  “KaCDeF plans to go on commercial ventures, open a guest house here in Fadugu, build stores for our traders, provide power saws, a radio station, gravity water pipe outlets, open a website, and stand up for the welfare of members. Best of all, KaCDeF has given to you and me an opportunity to meet and know each other. I know KaCDeF will grow from strength to strength, because we are all well-meaning and sincere.”   And in that vein, he added, KaCDeF has decided to donate some wheelbarrows, shovels, pick axes, and sledge hammers towards the self-help road projects being undertaken at Tamiso 1 & Tamiso II Sections; plus a full scholarship to the first two passes at NPSE for the next three years of junior secondary; including also the first two passes at BECE, they will receive a full four year scholarship of senior secondary schooling.

 KaCDeF’s Education Committee Chairman who made the donation, Rev Samuel Sama Kamara, said education is key – and it is because of the lack of it that has made Kasunko to be worse off today: this should no more be the case but parents should make a determined effort to send their children to school.  Since education is crucial, concerted efforts are underway to have all the community schools in the chiefdom to be assisted by Government because the different communities are unable to maintain these schools.

Paramount Chief Baio Serry III of Fadugu said his heart is full of joy about everything; that indeed KaCDeF has done very well.  “They have thrown the ball to us to come on board towards the development of our chiefdom, “he said. “Many others went away from here and have become ashamed of us, but not these: now let us show them support and cooperation. I am begging every child of Kasunko not to let them down.”

Member of Parliament of Constituency 47 (comprising Kasunko and Bafodia), Hon Mohamed Lamin Mansaray, said Kasunko used to be a Class A chiefdom but today it is a Class C chiefdom; as such it is everyone’s business to restore it to its former status.  He appealed to KaCDeF to work towards Kasunko’s development because presently it is being besieged with timber logging which is going on in every part of the chiefdom with little benefit to the people. The effect of deforestation, he said, is very grave and it is why the Ministry of Agriculture has written a letter to the effect for people to desist from reckless logging.   “We want to make Kasunko a new Kasunko,” said Hon Mansaray. “We are ready and so let no one stand in our way.”   As a gesture towards the move taken by KaCDeF, he made a donation of exams materials to over 300 pupils writing the NPSE exams in Kasunko chiefdom.

Chairman of the program,  Wurie Bantama, said he is proud of everyone, especially KaCDeF for having made Kasunko a priority – as such, everyone should have an open mind and discuss freely the issues affecting the whole chiefdom.  The issues are many – and KaCDeF has as its specific objectives towards assisting in the co-ordination of developmental projects operating in the chiefdom; stimulate and promote the establishment /strengthening of community based development groups /organizations in all sections of the chiefdom;  facilitate the rehabilitation and reconstruction of roads in the chiefdom; coordinate all development activities in the chiefdom in close collaboration with appropriate governmental and other development agencies;  support community-based groups to identify and establish functional links with partner institutions within and outside Sierra Leone; and serve as a vehicle for channeling of resources for the improvement of agriculture, education and health infrastructure in the chiefdom.

 Several stakeholders made presentations including Secretary General of KaCDeF, Abu Bakarr Kamara; councilors of Ward 160 & 161, Ballay Mansaray and Eddie Thoronka; and KaCDeF Coordinator Northern Province  Foday Thoronka.  Questions and answers formed part of the launch, and the vote of thanks was made by Chief Payo Mansaray.

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