BlackBox

By James Tamba Lebbie

The political evaluation mechanism in the name of Performance Management Contract, instituted for government ministers in 2008 by President Koroma, perhaps, on the advice of the Commonwealth Secretariat has been given a new lease of life, albeit in another sector. And the move has come at a time when many Sierra Leoneans have forgotten about the initiative, and therefore prompting speculation that it is dead.

By James Tamba Lebbie

It was written on the walls all over the place. And I saw it coming. But it happened much later than I imagined. And in case you are concerned about my concern, I’m preoccupied by that courageous but perhaps, unfortunate move recently in Bo by the leader of the People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) who apologized to his supporters and party members for his endorsement of the leader of the All People’s Congress (APC) in the 2007 run-off Presidential polls, which to a very large extent, earned the latter the presidency.

By James Tamba Lebbie

It was written on the walls all over the place. And I saw it coming. But it happened much later than I imagined. And in case you are concerned about my concern, I’m preoccupied by that courageous but perhaps, unfortunate move recently in Bo by the leader of the People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) who apologized to his supporters and party members for his endorsement of the leader of the All People’s Congress (APC) in the 2007 run-off Presidential polls, which to a very large extent, earned the latter the presidency.

By James Tamba Lebbie

The struggle by rights groups and civil society organisations, including the media, to have the local paradigm of a Freedom of Information Law, perhaps to compensate for the existence of the obsolete and obnoxious Public Order Act, has been one of the most legal, intellectual and political challenges in the contemporary history of Sierra Leone.

By James Tamba Lebbie

The editorial team at Politico newspaper views with some concern the attempt by the management of the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation to drag our image into disrepute in its press release issued on 4 May (See below) in reaction to a front page story with the headline “Massive Corruption at SLBC…KPMG report says” carried in our 2 May 2012 edition.

By James Tamba Lebbie

I will imagine that both David Sarnoff and John Reith will be turning in their graves because of the reckless compromise or sheer incompetence of Sierra Leone’s public broadcaster, a media enterprise that is supposed to not only serve as a panacea for decades of governments’ abuse of our state media but also provide an equitable space for all shades of opinion regardless of political, ethnic, religious and other considerations.

By James Tamba Lebbie

A friend visiting Sierra Leone from Ohio, USA amidst the “timbergate” scandal in November last year told me if Sierra Leone was a decent and civilized democracy, Vice President Samuel Sam Sumana’s political obituary would have been written and thrashed in the litter bin.  And even though I reminded my friend that this is Sierra Leone where legality and decency among other virtues are subservient to political expediency, for reasons, I was inclined to believe that our Vice President is already a political corpse.