Dear Sylvia Blyden (Ms); I write in response to the letter that you addressed to Adam Nossiter, correspondent of the New York Times, in relation to the report concerning the forty feet container of medical supplies that was brought into the country by the Chernoh Alpha M. Bah Education Fund and Patriotic Care-Sierra Leone. As you already know, I do not spend my precious time on unproductive and unprogressive discussions. Neither do I pay attention to distractions that tend to sway me from the many important things that I am engaged in on a daily basis. Having read your letter, I have been urged by some of the misleading information that you have fabricated and circulated to millions of people about my character and reputation; which is not the subject of the New York Times publication of October 6, 2014. Since you have chosen to spread information that you obviously know is not only completely untrue but constitutes defamation for which I will definitely seek legal redress. For the sake of the public, I will hereby correct some of the gross and wicked lies that you have fabricated against me because of my selfless effort to help my people in a time of crisis. Firstly, you started your character assassination by falsely stating that I had worked with you at the Awareness Times newspaper that you publish, and that when I was leaving for America many years back, I left problems that caused police officers to visit your premises with complaints alleging that I duped them. You also stated that I ran away with people’s passports. I believe you may have been dreaming or you were in a trance to have written something like that which you know is absolutely false and has never been the case. In the first place, I have never worked with you at Awareness Times. My first contact with you was when you visited me at Concord Times, where I was acting as editor of that newspaper in 2005. You had come to the newspaper office on that day because you wanted to meet me for the reason that you were impressed with the opinion articles that I was writing in the paper. You requested my brotherly friendship. Since that day, my only encounter with you was months later when you requested my assistance to publish a story that related to a prominent Bishop in Sierra Leone. I obviously refused to carryout your wish at the time. Three years later – specifically in September 2008 – you again contacted me to assist you with editing your newspaper, the Awareness Times. At the time, I was on leave and wanted to use my time to organize an international socialist conference in Freetown. I used my free time to help you develop the Awareness Times and I did that only for one month (September 2008). In essence I was a consultant for your paper and you never paid me for my services including money of over Le40,000,000 (forty million Leones) you still owe me for other businesses that we transacted. In October 2008, after I had organized the international socialist conference that was attended by Comrade Oswald Hanciles, the late Olu Gordon, Dr. Ibrahim Abdullah and many other international activists, I left Sierra Leone for Kenya on international assignment. I was in East Africa until the end of 2009 when I returned to Sierra Leone to launch a political party. From 2010-2012, I was throughout in Sierra Leone actively engaged in media discussions and political campaign as Spokesperson of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) until the end of the November 2012 elections. As you also know, I ran for parliament in Makeni on the ticket of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2012. After the elections, I resigned from the NDA and left for the United States in October 2013 to launch my new book, Neocolonialism in West Africa, and for almost a year now; I have been traveling around the world doing international speaking engagements in the United States, Canada, Europe and many other places in the world. I have had speaking events at Howard University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Maryland, City University of New York, Book Signing events at Barnes & Nobles and many other bookstores across the world. Before coming to Sierra Leone few weeks back to assist in the fight against the Ebola epidemic, I was scheduled to be in the United Kingdom where I was slated to speak at the House of Commons on my new book, Neocolonialism in West Africa. I have inserted this modest background of mine in this letter because you have forced me to do so. But people who know me can attest to the fact that I take great exceptions to self-trumpeting my own records. I am not an attention seeker and I have been trained to be of modest character. For the last ten years, I have been on the international stage working with reputable institutions and individuals all over the world. As I write you this letter, I serve as a strategic partner to many governments in South America – from Cuba to Venezuela - and many organizations of intellectuals in the world. You have wasted my time to write these words because you falsely claimed that I “left for America many years back” with people’s passports. The truth of the matter is that I have never left Sierra Leone for any country. At no point did I relocate to the United States although I am frequently traveling across the world several times every year attending conferences and speaking engagements. For the last five years – since 2008 – I am mostly in Sierra Leone. You are apparently confused by information you could have gotten about my frequent travels in and out of Sierra Leone. In essence, I could not understand how your allegation that police had raided your premises in search of me when I am frequently on the public domain speaking on radio and television as a prominent opposition politician without these so-called police officers arresting me? Or why would police officers raid your premises in particular and not my family residence when my only relationship with you is just a business transaction for one month (September 2008)? If it was true that police officers had visited your premises on allegations of an apparent crime that had been supposedly committed by me, why have you, as a responsible citizen, not assisted in prosecuting this matter and only bringing it up now - five years after the alleged crime had been committed and only after a New York Times story had been published? It is quite obvious that you have viciously attacked my personality and reputation because I have used my international connections and credibility to help my people during a period of crisis. I want to point out to you that at 35 years of age, I have worked assiduously to build an international reputation and image that has earned me several laurels from credible international persons and organizations. Your letter to Adam Nossiter of the New York Times was obviously not responding to the subject of the article. Rather, you venomously engaged in a character assassination enterprise; the reason for which I am still uncertain. I only hope that you will be able to present evidence to support your allegation when this matter goes before the court. This also brings me to the question of the forty-foot container of anti-Ebola materials donated to the government of Sierra Leone through the Ministry of Health by my foundation and Patriotic Care-Sierra Leone; which is the subject of the article. I am appalled by your own narrative of the chronology of events as regards government’s response to this container. You narrative is not only wrong but it presents a deliberate concoction on your part to besmear my effort and by extension my hard-won reputation. In several instances, you alleged that I demanded cash payment for the container and you even went as far as stating that I placed a condition that if US$6,500 was not paid to me I was not going to release the Bill of Lading to the Ministry of Health Officials for the clearing of the container. How absurd can your narrative be as against the facts of this matter? In the first place, I did not enter into direct communication with officials of the Ministry of Health neither did I show up on their door-steps as you alleged. What I know is that I sent an official correspondence to Comrade Oswald Hanciles, Special Assistant to the President on Media Outreach, in early August notifying him of this container in question and asking him to inform the relevant authorities. I attached the packing list of the container and the respective invoices from the shippers regarding the shipping and loading fees. In that originating correspondence, I expressly asked the government to assist with the payment of the shipping fees for this container bearing materials valued over US$140,000. This correspondence was forwarded to several senior officials at State House and the Health Ministry. In fact, Prof. Monty Jones, a Special Adviser to the President, initially thanked me and expressed appreciation for my efforts. He also gave assurances that government would do what is necessary to get the container out when it arrives in Freetown. I also sent another correspondence to Mr. Hanciles on August 12, 2014 notifying him that the container had arrived in the country and government should contact the shippers in respect of the fees and the necessary documents for the clearing of the container. This correspondence was also forwarded by Mr. Hanciles to the relevant authorities both at State House and the Health Ministry. Through Mr. Hanciles, I also forwarded all the relevant information on how government officials can contact the shippers to make the payment directly to them. I never contacted anyone in the Ministry of Health directly and at no point did I ask for cash payment as you have falsely stated. All communication from me on this matter was sent through Mr. Hanciles. So how can I have made any demands for cash from the Ministry when I was not in direct communication with anyone but Mr. Oswald Hanciles? You also wrongly stated that I was withholding the bill of lading when in actual fact the Health Ministry was already in possession of the Draft Bill of Lading from the Shippers and it was they who even showed me the copy of that document when myself and Mr. Hanciles met with the Permanent Secretary and the Procurement Officer of the Health Ministry at the World Health Organization office where the Ebola Emergency Operational Command (EOC) is operating from. There was no way I was going to be in possession of a Bill of Lading because I was not the shipper or the consignee of the container. This container was directly consigned to the Ministry of Health and was to be taken possession solely by them. If I had wanted to take possession of this container or wanted to turn it into cash for myself, I would have consigned it to myself at the time when it was being shipped from the United States. This is where your narrative violently crashes in the face of the actual facts surrounding this container. I think what is lacking in your long, disjointed and self-contradictory essay on this container is your inability to respond to a simple question: why has it taken two months for a container bearing anti-Ebola materials to be cleared from the ports (though you yourself acknowledged that the packing list of this container was very impressive). You must note that as at the time the New York Times published that story, this container is still at the port. Instead of addressing this question, which is the heart of this matter, you have deliberately singled me out and chose to assassinate my character. It is this attitude and act of disdain with which most of you, with the exception of Mr. Oswald Hanciles and a few others, handled this matter that got it to international media limelight. Given the facts as I have outlined above, it is clear that your response is not in the interest of government or the people of Sierra Leone but it is self-serving. I am sure you are seeking a front-page coverage in the New York Times, which was not my aspiration when my foundation and my colleague at the Patriotic Care-Sierra Leone facilitated the transportation of this container to Sierra Leone. My objective has been to try to get the other three containers totaling over US$500,000 of anti-Ebola materials and ambulances into the country to help in the fight against this epidemic. I will pause my response by reminding you of my determination to seek legal redress for your defamatory letter that you have sent out to the world. You must note that apart from being an author of international repute and a respectable politician, I am a father and a responsible husband. I therefore take great exception to an effort by any individual or institution to tarnish my family name. My regards, Chernoh Alpha M. Bah Author/Politician
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 11:11:17 +0000
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