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The 419er Saga

Author: Puawui - Dr. Sama Banya - Freetown

Since that awful incident and nightmare two weeks ago of the 419er I have continued to receive messages from various contacts. It would appear that quite a few people already aware of the existence of this criminal gang and of their activities; many have expressed concern and while congratulating me on my good luck which was that no one actually parted with money, I have been advised to be more vigilant, to guard my password and so forth. In this matter of computer wizards and over-clever criminals, how can I, computer illiterate as I am, be more vigilant? For instance I changed my password no more than ten days before the rogue’s attempted theft. In addition to that I had previously refused to give my password to any of the junk mail groups who keep promising me a fortune but requesting that in addition to my Identity, I should enter my password. The advice should more appropriately be directed at the recipients of such bogus requests. I would like to express gratitude to my friend and political adversary Philip Neville for his concern and his advice. But I believe Philip may be wrong in his assumption that perhaps someone was trying to tarnish my reputation. Last May while I was in Kumasi, Ghana, I received a similar letter, word for word, from a friend up Fourah Bay college. The crook must have been disappointed when I told him that I couldn’t afford even a fraction of what he needed. Yes, I am often broke but not to the degree that I would send appeal letters across the globe that I was stranded in Lagos. There is absolutely no harm in letting ones friends know that irrespective of the global economic difficulty one was already facing financial difficulties in the absence of a regular income. I know that such information will amuse my detractors who have always assumed that I had stashed away a large fortune which I had accumulated while in government. Every time I have been in need I have spoken either face to face with potential benefactors or spoken to them by telephone. So Philip it is my conviction that we are dealing here with a criminal, a conman rather than with a political detractor. The latter would abuse me, fabricate lies about me and even threaten my life; I am sure that you must be familiar with some of these characters, but, I shall be careful.

In a private conversation with President Ernest Bai Koroma some time last year, I expressed my concern that a large number of Paramount chiefs were to be investigated for their political affiliation with the former SLPP administration. The President understood the dilemma of Paramount chiefs when it came to their relationship with government although some took the relationship too far. But he added that in his opinion such individuals often wanted to score an advantage over others. We are witnessing this in the behavior of some of our chiefs to the APC government but have simply ignored it. However there may be serious undermining of their colleagues in the behavior of certain Paramount chiefs. I’ll cite the Kailahun district which has fourteen chiefdoms, although three are currently headed by Regent chiefs. The council of chiefs has a chairman and a secretary and its members are in regular contact with each other. A few months ago, the Paramount chiefs of Bo district came down unblock to pay a courtesy call on his Excellency the President; they also called on the honourable Vice President and there were pleasant exchanges. In the case of Kailahun district, two Paramount chiefs have taken it to come down to pay a courtesy call on their own to his Excellency without saying a word to their colleagues, not even to their Paramount chief Member of Parliament who is also the honorary chair of the council. What are they trying to prove, that it is only they who are loyal to the President? What was their answer if as I assume his Excellency enquired about the situation in the district in general or even an innocent question like, how are your colleagues and how is your relationship with the rest of them? If those two were not among our traditional rulers I would have had very strong words to describe their hypocrisy and to name them publicly. Be that as it may I hope they will now have the decency to inform their colleagues of the outcome of their two-man-gang visit.

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