SPECIAL THOUGHT OF THE DAY ‘A Prophet Has No Honor in His own Country’ ‘Be careful about despising the ordinary. Remember how God spoke to Moses the time? He used a burning bush. In god’s hands, something ordinary can become extraordinary. Every soul on earth has a mission. Last week Sierra Leoneans honored the passing away of an icon, an embodiment of unity and a symbol of peace. Late President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, as president of Sierra Leone was widely credited for returning peace to Sierra Leone after years of brutal civil war. He led Sierra Leone both during and after 11-years of civil war, in which thousands of lives were lost. He was credited for instituting a disarmament program that led to the official end of the civil war in 2002, with the help of the United Nations peacekeeping force and British military trainers. With all his political accomplishment to end the civil war, President Kabba was still criticized by Sierra Leoneans for failing to rescue Sierra Leone out of poverty. Most Sierra Leoneans and the world at large were aware of the struggle he went through, after he was elected president of Sierra Leone in March 1996, and signing of the peace accord with the rebel leader Foday Sankoh. He was overthrown by the RUF in May, 1996 in a coup and fled to the republic of Guinea. After a fierce battle with the troops of the West African regional force in February, 1998, the junta forces were kicked out of Freetown, this eventually paved the way for President Kasbah’s return to power again. In January 1999, Foday Sankoh’s rebel forces led another massive attack to take over the capital city of Freetown. After his persistent effort and struggle to bring peace to his country Sierra Leone, President Kabba’s dream of a peaceful Sierra Leone became a reality when in July, 1999, he and Mr. Foday Sankoh apprehensively signed a peace accord and agreed to share power. Simultaneously, the United Nations peacekeepers were dispatched to Sierra Leone. It was in May 2000, when Foday Sankoh and his Revolutionary United Front reneged on its pledges by taking some 500 peacekeepers as hostages. With the help of our former colonial masters, Mr. Saybom Foday Sankoh was captured and imprisoned. This led to the disarmament program and the end of the civil war in 2002. President Kabbah began a disarmament program that gradually led to the official end of the war in January 2002. He stepped down in 2007 as president after the APC became the clear winner of the 2007 Presidential runoff elections. Again President Kabba as a Drum Major for peace handed over the presidency to the clear winner Ernest Bai Koroma. This created a profound conflict within the SLPP political camp and made him unpopular within the SLPP supporters as former political party leader. President Kabba became a political outcast of the SLPP and the ‘Judas Iscariot’ of their political movement. In his last days on earth, President Kabba received more honors and praises from the APC leadership than his former political party protégés. His death became a symbol of unity among Sierra Leoneans and his past political struggle for peace defined his political legacy as a sacrificial lamb for a peaceful Sierra Leone across the land that used to be called the land of blood diamonds. Even after his death President Ahmad Tejan Kabba’s name will still remain as a shining star, glittering through the Lion mountain and continue to reign across the Great Scarcies and Little Scarcies like a burning fire and rest in Sierra Leone annals of history for the next generation yet unborn, as one of Sierra Leone’s Drum Major for peace. Prepared and compiled by Umaru Jalloh, Editor In Chief, and Wusum Times. wusumtimes
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 14:58:44 +0000
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