sierraleonenews

My dear African Brother,

When I first met you at the Washington Center for Academic and Internships Seminars two years ago, I knew you are a Patriotic Egyptian who can rise to the occasion. When you call me the “Thomas Payne” of Africa for supporting the Tunisian cause, I was not offended; I thank you for the complements although you went further calling me names in Arabic which I couldn’t comprehend. When ever I felt betrayed by a close confidant, I write down my thoughts in consolation to heal. My encounter with you on that day gave birth to the January 17 article in my blog titled “Tunisians have spoken” which ask that citizens of other oppressed regimes to RISE UP. When you called after the article was published and asked for reconciliation, I accepted.
During our reconciliation Lunch on January 21at the Indian restaurant in Adams Morgan, we discussed about renown revolutions including the execution of Louis XVI in France on January 21, 1793, American Revolution, Russian Revolution, the first Military Intervention in Africa and subsequent others that followed due to the contagious effects, Civil Wars in Africa, Pro- Democracy Movement in China, Gandhi resistance against the British, Civil Right Movement of Dr. King, Women Right Movement and the Tunisian demonstrators that chase the coward Ben Ali out of Tunis, I knew you will become the “Thomas Payne” of Egypt.
Remember, the main strategy against Forces of Brutality is non violence strategy of Gandhi and Dr. King. The desert for non violent strategy is the tactic used during Women Rights Movement in the United States called “Refusal to go home.” Keep on pilling the pressure and encourage all participants to use Skype, and other social net works to spread the violence against demonstrators around the world. Don’t ever under estimate the world’s opinion when it comes to human rights abuses. Please be aware of Islamic fundamentalists because they are worse than the dictator you are trying to push out. He had managed to consulate his hold to power for so long due to the strategic role Egypt is playing in the Middle East debacle. I am certain this role can be more effective in a Democratic government that is transparent, and accountable to its citizens.
Africa has a generational problem, until the self proclaimed kings in disguised vacate office, their will be no respect for human rights and democracy. We are there with you in sprit, and with unrelenting pressure, the dictators will be chase one after the other. Two- Thousand and Eleven will be a year that will go down in history as the era when the African people finally grew up, and recognize the duties and rights they have in their states. West Africans! What are you waiting for, the North is bracing up to remove the aching pre- molar tooth from the mouth by demonstrating perseverance against the pain it’s causing. How long can you endure the mid- night pain caused by this aching pre- molar?
For French speaking West Africans that read this blog momentarily, the African Center for Transparency and Accountability (ACTA) is asking you to translate this letter into French and dispatch it around the rural and urban area coffee and cookery shops. Rise Up! Stand Up! Against your dictators, it’s not a crime to ask a leader that has ruled more than a decade to step down. It has to be a unanimous effort by all citizens of a state to discourage charges of treason against organizers. These destitute of common sense will soon realize that, they cannot manipulate their citizens any more. They have to follow the example of term limit for leaders in Sierra Leone and Ghana. Do you want to read history, or take part in writing one and chance the course of a horrible history?
It’s not always easy, but very soon the forces of brutality will soon realize that, their actions will never go unpunished. They are citizens, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, uncles, nephews, aunts, grand fathers, and grandmothers before becoming a government agent. They will one day come home and found that one of their family members has been murdered by their comrades in arms. That will hit them very hard in sleeping pillows, and will decide to join you in the revolution to uproot the pre- molar that causing the pain. Take the example of the pilot of Ben Ali in Tunisia, he refused an order to transport the family of Ben Ali to Saudi Arabia, and became an instant hero. You can also become a hero of your people by refusing to go to work for an authoritarian regime by joining the demonstrators in the streets of everywhere a dictatorship regime reins.
Good evening Libya, good morning Ivory Coast, Good afternoon Burkina Faso, how are you The Gambia? Viva Tunisia, Viva Egypt, it's becoming very contagious, brothers! what are you waiting for? If the Berlin Walls came crumbling overnight, the apartheid regime melted in broad day light, you can do it. The world is watching and listening, you have more sympathizers than you think.
Finally, back to you my brother, it was courageous for you to travel home for this very noble cause. You have indeed become “The Thomas Payne” of Egypt overnight. Stay safe and don’t quite. You guys have come too far to retreat. Keep the woods burning and mount the pressure every day.
Long live Africa! Long Live Democracy! Aluta Continua.



Gershon Bai-Lama Bangura
African Center for Transparency & Accountability (ACTA)
Copyright2011
All rights reserve

Tunisia is a country located in North Africa between the Mediterranean and Libya. The country was once colonized by France until 1951 when Tunisia became independent. Habib Bourguiba became the first President of the country after independence, and ruled by one party state for 33 years with the support of Western Powers. Despite being a despotic ruler, the West preferred Bourguiba in the region to secure Tunisia’s neutrality in Libya and the Middle East debacle.

Also, Tunisia’s neighbor, Libya, has started worrying Western Powers by the abrupt assumption to power by Col. Muammar Abu Minyar al- Qadhafi, who established his Third Universal Theory system of government. He had a plan coming to office by creating a utopian idea of state governance. His form of government is an amalgamation of socialism, Islamic and cultural traditions. He seeks an identity for Libya that would be different from modern Western way of governing. That was Qadhafi’s idea of being an independent nation; he is a visionary and a revolutionary who can do anything to get his ideologies the respect they deserve. He totally disassociates and rejects the Global community to achieve his utopian ideas in state governance.

Most academia perceived Habib Bourguiba as a political puppet of the West, and he manipulated Tunisia by consolidated his hold to power for 33 years with two soft weapons. That is, his quest for the promotion of women’s rights, and repressing Islamic fundamentalism in North Africa. This made Bourguiba a compromising figure for the West. However, young military nationalists that aided in putting pressure on France to secured Tunisia independent felt that their country was still governed by an Arab imperialist who was popular abroad, and considered as a traitor by his people.

In November 1978, Bourguiba was deposed by self proclaimed military nationalist named Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, in a still bloodless military coup. Ben Ali served as President for five terms until January 14, 2011, when angry protestors for hiked in price of food, fuel and his impotent economic policies in a global village world ran him out of the Presidential Palace. He later fled to Saudi Arabia when bread lines went on the rampage, and took to the streets of Tunis, took the law into their hands and called for the President’s resignation. His Prime Minister since 1999, Mohamed Ghannouchi announced the president’s hasty abandonment of the country and declared himself president to prevent constitutional crisis.

Unlike his predecessor, Mr. Ben Ali has made himself very complacent in the way he controlled his country by isolated himself from Western Powers. This self isolation made his administrative kite economically bankrupt, and the lack of stringent measures to combat corruption made economic recovery a daunting task for the elderly statesman. His government was unable to pay civil servants and teachers, the global recession skyrocketed prices of domestic goods which made conditions unbearable for the citizens of Tunis. The political parties that have been playing the underdog all these years saw the food crisis as an opportunity for the Old Fat Cat’s exit. They fuel the tension in the Capital and the forces of brutality of President Bin Ali were no match for the hungry and angry crowds of Tunis.

Let me give you an idea of political pluralism in Tunis, here are the political parties and their
leaders. Al-Tajdid Movement [Ahmed IBRAHIM]; Constitutional Democratic Rally Party (Rassemblement Constitutionnel Democratique) or RCD [President Zine El Abidine BEN ALI] (official ruling party); Democratic Forum for Labor and Liberties or FDTL [Mustapha Ben JAFAAR]; Green Party for Progress or PVP [Mongi KHAMASSI]; Liberal Social Party or PSL [Mondher THABET]; Movement of Socialist Democrats or MDS [Ismail BOULAHYA]; Popular Unity Party or PUP [Mohamed BOUCHIHA]; Progressive Democratic Party [Maya JERIBI]; Unionist Democratic Union or UDU [Ahmed INOUBLI]; note - the Islamist party, Al Nahda (Renaissance), is outlawed (CIA- The World Fact book).

Tunisia is blessed with many natural resources including Petroleum, Iron Ore, but the National debt was enormous during the regime of Ben Ali. Tourism was one of the main sideline revenue for Tunis, but due to the economic meltdown of Western economies, tourism has declined. The challenges ahead for the new government include: privatizing industry, liberalizing the investment code to increase foreign investment, improving government efficiency, reducing the trade deficit, and reducing socioeconomic disparities in the impoverished south and west. They must also beware of their skillful neighbor, Libya who have tried time and again to get Ben Ali mixed up in the Arab- Israeli conflict.

Although Libya has been showed the unwelcome door mat several times in the Arab League, she has tried to revamp by claiming Pan Africanism and calling for the Unification of Africa. Libya has done her campaign through the African Union, and also known to have sponsored civil conflicts in Africa to position leaderships that may sympathies with his unification ends. Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ivory Coast have been some of the countries she has destabilized by providing training, arms and compensation for insurgents. Libya is also economically supporting other African dictators such as Blasé Compaore of Burkina Faso, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Yayah Janeh of The Gambia to aid them in power consolidation.

It has concerned most in the academia the big brother role often played by Saudi Arabia when it comes to African Dictators. Sheku Toure who had ruled Guinea since independence from France in1958 was one of the first dictators in African. He had an alliance with Saudi Arabia. He planted desert trees in Arafat desert in Saudi which Muslim Pilgrims claimed to be fifty miles long. He constructed this tree planting project in a country that is very rich, and has no record of helping developing economies other than issuing free tickets to pilgrims during the Hajj, knowing quite well that the pilgrims will economically boom Saudi economy. The trees were planted decade before AL Gore and others started talking about global warming, which cast doubts in the minds of many as to why Guinea will spend millions of pound sterling in the rich deserts of Saudi Arabia, while millions of her citizens were without drinking water and electricity.

Years after his death, it was revealed that the Guinean Statesman had purchased properties, burial sites for himself and his Moroccan wife in Saudi Arabia. When Toure passed away in a Moroccan hospital, a manicure was shipped to Guinea for burial, while the Saudi and Moroccan government conveyed his body to the Holy land for burial as he wished.

Idi Amin Dada, former dictator and murderer of his Ugandan people also lived in Saudi Arabia until his death after he fled Uganda. Several attempts for his repatriation failed, as the Saudi King turned a deaf hear to calls for his return. Ugandan former President Obote once called Amin "the greatest brute an African mother has ever brought to life." President Jimmy Carter said events in Uganda during Amin's rule "disgusted the entire civilized world" (Associate Press). I wonder who else will be on transit to Saudi, the safe heaven for dictators where the International Community has no strategy to expatriate Human Rights violators due to politics of petroleum.

Really, who next? Is it Mugabe, Yayah Janeh? Blasé Compaore? Ivorian, Gbagbo? Seriously, help me here, who is next? Can Charles Taylor escape from The Hague and seek refugee in the Holy Land? Has the Holy Land become a refugee for African dictators? I guess am alone in this state of mind. Who else cares about what Africa and Africans think about their destructive, corrupt, thieves, murderous escapee leaders? I guess no Western power’s interest has been threatened in Africa? Time and again, military dictators will change their uniforms and jump into civilian clothes and continue to rule. Yeh right! African democracy! It is unbelievable that the IMF and World Bank are buying into this old trick and released funds to governments that are democratic in policy.

Who am I to ponder over these issues? The other day, some guy rained abuses on me, calling me the Thomas Payne of Africa. I was called a Thomas Payne of Africa because I reminded my Egyptians brother that, Egypt is in North Africa and not located in the Middle East. Although Egypt plays a strategic role in the Middle East debacle, doesn’t change their geographical locality. North Africans may have different complexion from the rest of Africa, but they are still Africans. They must cancel their memberships from the Arab league and concentrate in building Africa. They were never fully accepted in the Arab League of Nations, and I hate to see them kiss the behinds of Arab Leaders just to belong. The Partition of Africa has been finalized, we may add new states as larger and divided nations like Sudan and others disintegrate. So get over it Buster, and be who you are, an African.

Finally, I am calling on my Tunisia brothers that are loyal to the run away President Ben Ali to stop sporadic attacks on police officers, and opponents of other political party. A comprehensive Unity government is pending soon and a lot has been learned politically the previous week. Also, I am calling for the impartiality of the Police and Soldiers during the transitional period. The days of military intervention are over; the world is now a global village. The International Community is watching, and Human Rights of all Tunisians and foreigners must be respected. Violators of Human Rights will never escape prosecution in Tunisia. The people of Tunisia have spoken, took the appropriate course of action in Tunis, what are you waiting for? How would you tolerate a single dictator to control your future, the future of your children, grand children and great, great, grand children? And you! Am talking to you, not you, I meant him and his little boy. How long will you cling to power at the detriment of your people? Stop the suppression of members of the fourth estate in your countries. The world is watching, the day of reckoning will come sooner than you expect, you have been warned.

Long live Democracy, Long live Africa.

Gershon Bai-Lama Bangura


copyright 2011
All rights reserved

By Gershon Bai- Lama
Managing Director

Women in the United States must vote in every election, be it local or national. They Must cease the moment because their are millions of women worlf wine who have been disenfranchised by their legislators. Lets go down memory lane and trace women's struggle to acquired their electoral rights.

American women were granted the right to vote in 1920 through the superb organizing abilities and political skills of Carrie Chapman Catt, with commitment to broad social reforms. She would not have accomplished her goal without the help of other women activists and committed male feminist who supported the women suffrage morally and financially. The women saw education as the only vehicle to bridge the gap with men in all spheres of life, and took advantage of it in their bid to secure political suffrage. Below is an analysis of Catt’s “winning plan” and contributions made by Wilson College’s women in the struggle for women suffrage:

There are several women that contributed in the struggle to earn women suffrage including Susan B Anthony, but the most influential of them all was Carrie Chapman Catt. There was no united political force amongst women when Catt joined the suffrage movement. The Fourteenth[1] and Fifteenth Amendments[2] have done nothing in granting women the right to vote. Catt started her suffrage career in 1887 when she joined the Iowa branch of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, becoming head of its suffrage section.
As that local group began breaking apart, she began organizing women and creating suffrage clubs. In 1889, she was elected secretary of the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association and, the next year, was a delegate and minor speaker at the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in Washington, D.C. From 1869 until 1890, the women’s suffrage movement had been divided between two organizations, one headed by Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell, and the other by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton – which had differing methods of achieving their goal; they reconciled differences into NAWSA (Baker, 2002).
The strategies applied by women to get the vote consists of proceedings from the meetings of women’s organizations, books, pamphlets, parading, women run newspapers and also contributions from male sympathizers. The most remarkable turning point in the suffrage movement is the “Winning Plan” of Catt which she designed to campaign simultaneously for suffrage on both the state and federal levels, and to compromise for partial suffrage in the states resisting change. Under Catt's dynamic leadership, NAWSA won the backing of the House and Senate. She raised a lot of funds to help propagate the cause of women’s vote which facilitated publicity nationwide.
Catt’s winning plan adopted a nonpartisan lobbying at federal level after unsuccessful lobbying at state level. Catt’s winning plan to convince men and the federal government to support women suffrage was based on the following steps, namely: a specific concept of leadership which she has already exhibit by increasing the organization’s membership including progressive men to secure financial support. Secondly, she instilled discipline in a hierarchical military style fashion amongst regional organization leaders all over the United States. They organized parades and peaceful demonstrations. To make sure everyone was aware of their cause, she established a school to train volunteers in organization, public speaking, parliamentary practice and suffrage history, and made sure workers were assigned to every voting precinct in the states (Burnett, 1953).
Thirdly, Catt designs a publicity machine to sway public opinion in favor of women’s suffrage. This is done by the publication of newspapers and pamphlets in support of World War I, as well as opposition to the voting rights of illiterate immigrants, and freed men in the north. Her charismatic public oratory earned the organization respect amongst men of all works of life. The suffrage movement persuaded progressive men to believe that women were morally superior to men. Most of the women married to progressive men who allowed them to do their activists work in their Newspapers. In Colorado, the “Rocky Mountain” newspaper was run and managed by Alice Meredith, who wrote letters to Susan B. Anthony for financial support, which resulted to the visit of Catt in Colorado and secured the women vote for them (Burnett, 1953).
They also persuaded men with claims that, with women suffrage, their will be better conditions of living for working men and politics would become less corrupt. They also suggested that, war and miseries of men would become a thing of the past if given the right to vote. Most American men were opposed to war and needs better living condition for their families and equal pay for equal work would ease their destitute state. The men were finally persuaded and they start joining parades and helped distributing pamphlets in favor of women suffrage. This support for the war however compromise the organization’s pacifist nature, but however overlooked by many sympathizers for the sake of securing the vote.
As for progressive men, they were convinced that women needed the vote to advocate for self protection legislations against incest, rape and unsafe working conditions (Nash, p.566). These above persuasions won the support of both aristocratic women and men for the suffrage movement. During parades, women from both houses of Aristocrats and Senators took part to convince the White House to sign the suffrage bill into law. At the time of unveiling her “winning plan” in Atlantic City, NJ, Catt used her favorite phrase that inspired both women and men of the suffrage base of that era:
"Do not stand in the way of the next step in human progress. No one living who reads the signs of the times but realizes that woman suffrage must come. We are working for the ballot as a matter of justice and as a step for human betterment."
Amongst the women base for the suffrage movement were alumnae of “Wilson College” in Pennsylvania. Mrs. O’Sullivan was a member of the PA Women Suffrage Association and wrote an article title, “Why the Working Woman Needs the Vote” and was published by the National Women Suffrage Publishing Company, INC. In this article, she lamented about the poor conditions of work for families in both the Urban and Rural area. She mentioned about the low paying jobs for women due to cheap labor as a result of competition for labor between them and children. She cautions men that, this competition will not only reduce wages for women but those of men as well. To quote her words, she said:
“Every union man knows how dangerous and harmful the competition of child labor is; it is dangerous because it is cheap, and cuts down the man’s wages.”
She believe that by women securing the right to vote, their will be “Equal pay for Equal Work” and their will be equilibrium in the work place. This article was addressing both women and working middle class men, with specific inferences about the dangers of child labor and what it would meant for both husband and wife to earn equal pay for the same amount of work. Life, she assumes will be easy because capitalism will never exploited their families again if women were granted the right to vote, as they will steer the political ship and help elect Congressmen, Senators and Presidents that will favor social reforms.
On a similar tone, another Wilson Woman wrote an article titled, “What Can We Do for the Feeble- Minded Women of Pennsylvania?” with a sub title “Help to Solve To Solve This Problem!”
The dictionary meaning for feeble minded is someone that lacks intelligence, and in the 19th century it was used to classified people with mental retardation. The article is concerned with the care of this retarded women and their children by the state. The writer of this article was very displeased with the way Pennsylvania State is handling the welfare of these women, about 2000 of them were unaccounted for. This article believes it’s due to state negligence on women issue by allocating funds from the budget else where instead of women issues. This lack of funds to take care of these “feeble women” has caused the increasing birth rate amongst these feeble women who cannot take care of themselves, not to even speak about their illegitimate children.
The writer of this article further stated facts that are crucial to proof the PA State government is negligent of women issues in the way they allocated their budget.
“In 1913, $100,000 was set aside for investigating the Chestnut Tree Blight Disease. $25,000 was given to erect a PA Building at the Anglo – American Exposition in London.” Then $50.000 to establish a village for feeble minded people, but later reduced to $40,000 by the governor.”
This article targeted women’s attention to unite and fight for their right to vote for their welfare in a patriarchic society. It also targeted male politicians in PA due to the fact that, the article exposed their lack of moral social reforms.
Finally, the women suffrage would not have been a practical reality if the women had neglected education. Armed with the only weapon they had, which was education, they were able to organized and triumph without spilling blood. Indeed, the “pen is mightier than a sword.”


Bibliographies:


Baker, Jean H., editor. Votes for Women: The Struggle for Suffrage Revisited. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.


Burnett, Constance (Buel). Five for Freedom: Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony, Carrie Chapman Catt. New York: Abelard Press, 1953


Nash. The American People: Creating A Nation and A Society, 5th edition. Pearson Longman, New York, 2005


National Women Suffrage Publishing Company, INC, New York City

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[1] Protects rights against state infringements, defines citizenship, prohibits states from interfering with privileges and immunities, requires due process and equal protection, punishes states for denying vote, and disqualifies Confederate officials and debts
[2] The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

AFRICAN CENTER FOR TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY (ACTA)
USA

Attempts to build a multicultural society in Germany have "utterly failed", Chancellor Angela Merkel says.
I think brain drainers should rethink another strategy to return to their homeland. Developed nations are nolonger tolerant to multiculturalism and make one wonder if the days of Hitler will revisit the world leaders. The German's Chancellor's remarks were irresponsible and could spark violence that may cost German immigrants immensely.

She said the so-called "multikulti" concept - where people would "live side-by-side" happily - did not work, and immigrants needed to do more to integrate - including learning German.
The comments come amid rising anti-immigration feeling in Germany. A recent survey suggested more than 30% of people believed the country were "overrun by foreigners".

According to the BBC News, a recent study conducted by Friedrich Ebert Foundation think-tank - also showed that roughly the same number thought that some 16 million of Germany's immigrants or people with foreign origins had come to the country for its social benefits. I don't see any new reason here why people migrate to another place, its always economical, social and political reasons that inspired people to migrate. The sole attribution of the 16 million German immigrants to migrate to that country for social benefits alone is bias and fabricated.

Let reminiscent on some of the world’s famous immigrants throughout history. In 1620, English Pilgrims seeking religious freedom arrived in Plymouth Massachusetts and the English Puritans followed suite. By the 18th Century, over 60, 000 criminals of European descent were brought to the U.S. as indenture servants, and soon to be followed by the Africans who unwillingly captured and brought to the Western and new found World. In 1847 and 1849, thousand of Irish caused a population explosion in the United States due to bad harvest that caused potato famine in Ireland. Several other nations including the Germans, Chinese, Japanese to name a few also migrated into the United States not only for Social benefits, for economic and political reasons as well.

In recent months, French President Sarkozy supported a bill that will prohibit Muslim women from wearing a full veil in public. This is one of the fundamentals for the women in regards to their religious rites. I think a reasonable legislation would be the exposure of their faces to reveal their identities, because of National security reasons. But a full barn is a step too far towards ethnocentrism and Frenchnazation. Most Muslim women, in France's immigrant communities and around the world, do not wear a full veil, but the niqab, which covers the face apart from the eyes, is widely worn on the Arabian Peninsula and in the Gulf states

After getting heavily criticized for banning face veils, the nation of France again painted a target on its back for organizations and countries to throw darts at when it began to make deportation of illegal Roma (more universally known as Gypsies) a top priority. What happens to humanity, Liberty, Fraternity and Freedom for all mankind? Developed Nations are supposed to extend their hands to those that have fallen in the pitch but present occurrence indicates other wise, instead they shovel cement on the fallen nations and buried their citizens six feet below.

Finally, for all of you who are brain drains in the making think twice before having children in a foreign land because they will always be categorized as third class citizens. Go back to your countries and help develop it because it’s better to go to a place where there is no path and leave a trail for the vulnerable. Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Sarkozy must be ashamed of them selves for their political orgies against immigrants.


Gershon Bai-Lama Bangura
African Center for Transparency and Accountability ( ACTA)
Managing Director
Greencastle USA

By Maada Gumbu, Freetown.

Katanya Women’s Development Association (KAWDA) one of the leading advocates against Female Genital Mutilation in Sierra Leone has intensified its campaign against the age-old practice despite stiff resistance from traditionalists.

Ann-Marie Caulker, the Executive Director of KAWDA says, “We are not against people in the Bondo Secret Society which practices FGM, but it is the crude way it is done and the resultant effects that are of concern to us.”

She says many children have lost their lives during FGM ceremonies. The age-old practice has been part of Sierra Leonean culture since the pre-colonial era. However, not everything is bad about the society. Some women are taught positive things during the initiation ceremony.

They are taught motherhood, how to become good house wives, cultivation of good citizenship, the role of a woman in society, herbalism and other good virtues that need to be imbibed by women. This is to ensure that by the time they enter marriage they would have learnt many things that they need to know about the real world.

But the FGM practice which has led to harmful effects, has over the past decades aroused concern both locally and across the international scene. Some of the harmful effects that have been observed to result from the practice are: pregnancy- related complications as a result of injuries sustained during the process, contracting HIV/AIDS, chronic infection and in extreme cases deaths, which in many instances are not reported to the police. The practice is common in all the regions of Sierra Leone; even in the capital, Freetown.

Far away at Njala, in the Moyamba district, southwest of the country, some girls were forcibly initiated five months ago and one had to be hospitalized. Another girl, Trina Fatima Kposowa (photo) escaped and has not been seen since. An alarm was raised in the town for her capture, but was nowhere to be found. Some of her relatives were accused of harboring her, an allegation they stoutly rejected. The leader of the Bondo secret society warned that Trina Fatima Kposowa had already become privy to the secrets of the society which is not open to non-initiates and therefore allowing her to go away without initiation would bring evil on the town and the society leaders. She threatened to search for her by all means and pointed out that wherever the girl went there are Bondo Secret society members there, so it was a folly for her to run away.

A new law has been enacted in Sierra Leone making it unlawful for a girl below eighteen years to be initiated. In other words, she has to reach the age in which she can freely make a choice of her own ; whether to be initiated or not. But Anti-FGM campaigners say even at eighteen, girls face the risk of dying especially with the crude method of mutilation. They pointed out that in many rural areas there are no medical facilities and the blades used are most times rusty and contagious. Some campaigners have pointed out the painful ordeals girls have revealed. Female Genital Mutilation is also known as Female Genital Cutting.

Apparently, this (the cutting) has been the cause for Trina Fatima Kposowa’s flight. Campaigners, including KAWDA, say successive governments have been reticent over the issue because of political reasons. Either they fear resistance from the members or because of massive support for the society they are a force to reckon with in the political dispensation of the country. Any attempt to offend the members will apparently lead to social disorder or political suicide.

The family of Trina Fatima is reported to be worried about her whereabouts. Campaigners say something needs to be done about the situation. “If she is seen today, she will definitely be initiated,” says one family member.


AFRICAN CENTER FOR TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY (ACTA)
GERSHON BAI- LAMA BANGURA
MANAGING DIRECTOR
USA

Carter G. Woodson, the father of Black History Month and second Black PhD to graduate from Harvard, wrote the acclaimed The Mis-Education of the Negro way back in 1933. In the 1940s, psychologist Kenneth Clark’s "Doll Test," demonstrated that Black children were being psychologically conditioned to yearn and favor the looks of White people at the expense of self-dislike. His critical findings were cited during Brown vs. Board of Education when the Supreme Court desegregated schools in 1954.

Here we are, decades removed and Dr. Woodson’s book is still widely sold and studied, while Black children are still predisposed to view White dolls as "prettier and nicer" with hair that’s "better" than Black dolls. Educationally, we face ever-dismal challenges where Black children enter kindergarten a full year behind Whites; by high school the gap extends to 4 to 5 years; and 58 percent of Black males don’t even graduate high school.

Princeton researchers recently published a 7-year study, concluding that a 20-year "Manhattan Project-effort" is necessary to close today’s education and economic gaps of racial inequality. Just so you’ll know, the original Manhattan Project was a massive pursuit, costing the equivalent of $22 billion and comprising thousands of scientists who developed the A-Bomb in 1945 to nuke Japan into a crisp. So, to infer this same category of endeavor, speaks to the comparative enormity of the challenge.

There's good reason for skepticism since Black kids who dropout commonly say "classes aren’t interesting." And as far back in the 1970s, "Acting White" has been a tagline used by Black kids to ridicule those who academically excel. Naturally, adults respond by saying, "there’s nothing White about being smart." Although this is absolutely true, it absolutely misses the point and fails to address the sociopolitical and mis-educational factors that confound young minds to misconstrue smartness with Whiteness.

Children worldwide learn that the earth is round and 1 + 1 = 2. These are universal facts that are neither Black nor White. However, the functions and end-uses that nations apply such facts to educate kids are neither neutral nor universal. Hence, "Acting White" is a troubled way that youngsters express something that we have lacked the power to change – Which is that the functions and end-uses of America’s "System of Education and Intellect" are based on skewed purposes, processes, and interpretations that place European images, ideals, and institutions as the central and supreme frame of reference and relevance. This lack of intellectual and institutional equality, encapsulates the essence of the mis-education identified by Dr. Woodson.


Our mistake is that we consider it sufficient to simply insert Black people into existing White institutions, and then paste tidbits of sanitized versions of "Black History" into America’s larger body of education. By contributing without properly correcting the end-uses and known partialities within America’s "System of Education and Intellect," we have allowed "the problem to masquerade as a solution."

Ask yourself – To what end-use is our current system of thought being applied, and who are the ultimate beneficiaries and end-users? With our 4 centuries of collective intellect and institutions, we can’t stop our youngsters from shooting and killing each other. We can’t even stop them from cursing in front of elders. We have communities nationwide being held hostage to Black-on-Black crime. Mis-education is making us intellectually and functionally unfit to "rescue ourselves from ourselves."

Black leaders and educators have convened for decades to debate and decipher "what’s wrong." But here’s a hard truth – The very psychological inducements that trap Black children to idolize and overvalue White dolls, mutates into sociopolitical mindsets that induce Black adults to idolize and overvalue European ideals and institutions just the same ... its one yoke with two levels of shackles.

Centuries of mis-education won’t simply evaporate, yet the purging process would undress America’s character and historiography in ways that America would find uncomfortable and unwilling to concede. So unless we mount ample intellectual and institutional capacities, The Mis-Education of the Negro will not only be the title of Dr. Woodson’s book, it will be an accurate description of a permanent reality.


GERSHON BAI-LAMA BANGURA
AFRICAN CENTER FOR TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY (ACTA)
MANAGING DIRECTOR
GREENCASTLE, USA

Thomas Nast was a freelance journalist of American German decent in the 19th century. He later established the “Harper’s Weekly.” He seemed to be affiliated with Radical Republican ideology, with a blend of liberalism, progressive and nationalist tendencies. His cartoons portray him as a strong supporter for the Union government. He skillfully used allegory and melodrama in his cartoons to support the Republican Party; this will be proven when we analyze his piece titled “This is a White Man’s Government.”

“This is a White Man’s Government” was sketched in September 1868. The significance of the date in this sketch is that on April 9th, 1865, General Robert E Lee of the Confederacy surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant of the Union Army. Lincoln was assassinated shortly after that leaving his Vice President Andrew Johnson to assume the office and finish the reconstruction era. In 1868, President Johnson was impeached by the Senate for dismissing Edwin Stanton, his Secretary of War. Earlier, Congress had passed the ‘Tenure of Office Act’ which serve to check and balance on the president’s appointment power.

There was tension between the White House and Congress due to differences in methods of approach as to how to go about innovating the South, and transitioning the rebel States into the Union. However, they agreed on forceful enforcement to ratify the “Reconstruction Amendments” which were the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution.

In this famous cartoon, Thomas Nast features members of the Democratic Party ravaging a Union Veteran who appeared to be Black. The man on the left is a caricature of an Irish American man, whose cap has the inscription ‘5 Points,’ referring to the New York City Irish Men who are often configured as mob. The ‘Five Points’ was part of the old Sixth Ward of the 19th Century New York (The New Yorker). It was the worst slum area habited by Irish immigrants and, later joined by freed Blacks fleeing the segregated South.

The Irish man on the left of the Cartoon is been portrayed as a beastly figure because, like the Blacks in the 19th century, Irish immigrants were not welcomed in most communities in the United States. The beastly caricature of the Irish man also portray him as angry, could be because of the competition for jobs between newly arrived Blacks from Southern plantations. It is also not surprising for the appearance and behavior of the Irish Caricature, during this juncture in American History, Irish men were been forcefully conscripted in the Union army to fight what they considered as a “Black man’s war” (New Yorker, October 1998).

The Man in the middle is been identified by the initial “NBF” which probably stands for Nathan Bedford Forrest, a former infantry General in the Confederate army (Henry. 2009). On his right jacket pocket, there is a badge identifying his army brigade, “Fort Pillow.” According to military historian, David J. Eicher, Fort Pillow marked one of the bleakest, saddest events of American military history. This is because; General Nathan Bedford executed Black prisoners of war that surrendered to him at the fort on April 12, 1864 (Eicher, p.657). On his belt buckle, there is the inscription of “C.S.A.” It represents the Confederate bonds, and its true meaning is the Confederate States Army.

The “Lost Cause” is a name given to an elite group that was trying to persuade Southerners to join the Union government against the Southern Confederacy, between 1861 to 1865 civil war (Gallagher, 2000). Those against the incorporation of the Confederacy into the Union government are labeled present day as “Old School” and during the civil war as “old fashion Chivalry” (Gallagher, 2000).

The caricature in the right seem to be a very wealthy man holding a stack of money that could be used to buy votes, or pay Confederate loyalists to manhandle Blacks. He is probably from 5th Avenue in New York, because his badge has the identification of being a 5th Avenue resident. His wallet has the writing “Capital Votes” which makes this writer believes he was buying votes. This was not the case in the South, Republicans especially Blacks are forced to vote Democrat without paying them a dime. A pistol and a couple of jabs will do the bribing for them to change their mind and cast a vote for the Democrats. The detailed of his clothes definitely distinguished him from the others, even without the stack of money in his hand; one could identify this man as being wealthy.

The background between the middle and left figure portrays a building in flames, titled “Colored Orphan Asylum.” The Colored Orphan Asylum was a place that house over 600 Black children’s, situated in 5th Avenue, New York. During the infamous riots in New York, July 1863, Irish immigrants attacked the Orphanage and destroyed the lives of several Black children. That was a contributing factor while the Irish man in the caricature had been published as a beast, due to the violent nature of the Irish immigrants (Harper’s weekly, August 1, 1863). A Black man is also hanging on an electric pole beside the Orphanage, emphasizing the horror during the riot. On the right is a school building for Black children which suited the description of the piece given on the “Report of the Board of Education for Freedmen, in 1864” on the Moodle website.

As already mentioned, the man on the ground seems to represent Black Union Veteran, trying to exercise his right to vote. The 15th amendment to the Constitution guaranteed the right of freed male slaves to vote. The man on the ground seem to have refused to accept bribe money to vote Democrat, thereby angered the rich man from 5th avenue and his Confederate pals , who were determined to teach him a lesson. The determination of the man on the ground to vote is clearly indicated by his resistance to terror, and his courage to exercise his franchise right to vote. Although he was on the ground, he still has a firm grip of the Union flag on his right hand. His left hand stretched towards the ballot box in defiance to complete his vote as he desired and not by the wish of any Confederate supporter.

The setting somehow conflicts the author’s statement earlier on about violence in the polling station to be practice only in the South, and not the North. Nast seems to suggest that if the Democrats failed to change Black vote by paying them, they will use force if necessary to disenfranchise them. They may exercise their franchise right to voting, but by voting contrary to their wish is tantamount to disenfranchising them.

Finally, it is very disappointing that Nast was very bias, concentrating only on the vices of the Democratic Party, instead of being impartial. There is no credibility in journalism if you can predict what the publisher is going to write. I wonder how his newspaper makes money if only read by Republicans. It’s like listening at present time to Rush Limburg’s show which so one sided that, it left very little room for Republican writers to defend his views.

Bibliographies
Gallagher, Mathew. “ Military Aspects of the captured of the Confederate Army.” The emancipation and its Consequences, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2001

Henry, Charles. “The Black Scholar,” Volume 39” (2009): 7-8. Print.

Institute for Research Center in African- American Studies, “The Political Orientation of Young African Americans” (New York: Columbia University, 2008).

The Chronicle of Higher Education: “Private Colleges” 1958. Web, 6 September, 58.

In 1851 Justice Lemuel Shaw denied an appeal to release a fugitive slave, Thomas Sims on the whit of “habeas corpus.” This is a typical classical example of natural law theory of positivism. This theory is based on what’s legal and illegal under the Constitution. The attempts of both Rantoul and Charles Loring, who represented Thomas Sims, to place moral responsibility as well as condemned the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 as unconstitutional, represented another classical thing of beauty for natural law optimists.
Below is an analysis of the case in question, and how a legal realist would have reached a different conclusion to contradict Chief Justice Shaw of Massachusetts ruling in this historical case.

In 1851, Thomas Sims an African American slave escaped from his master in Georgia and fled to Boston, Massachusetts were slavery was illegal. He was arrested in Boston under the federal Fugitive Slave Law on April 4, 1851. Following a dramatic court trial, he was returned to his owner against strong protests of abolitionists and his legal team, which was headed by Rantoul and Charles Loring. The case was later appeal for “habeas corpus after his legal team failed to secure his freedom from the Massachusetts’s Commission of the Fugitive Slave Act.” Lemuel Shaw was Chief Justice for the Massachusetts Supreme Court from 1830 to 1860 presided over the appeal. Although the Judge was against slavery and crimes against humanity, he refused to release Thomas Sims on the grounds of upholding the laws made by Congress and the Constitution (Davis, 1995). He cited the 1842 ruling of Prigg v. Commonwealth of PA, in which Justices Story and Taney argued that the states were not prohibited from enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act (Finkelman, 1985).

This is where Justice Shaw drew the line between morality and supreme law of the land. The Judge was aware that, slavery in his home state of Massachusetts was illegal, but also recognized a sovereign law that superseded the state law, and that is the Constitution. Shaw’s unpopular ruling makes him a natural law positivist. This class of thought believes that the validity and weight of a rule or law depends on its source, in this case, it was the Fugitive Slave Act. These are certain rules that come from people such as Monarchs, City Councils and in Sims’s case, the Congress of the United States. According to Hart, this school of thought believes that “a rule can be genuine, or law can be validated even though it is grossly unjust.” Hart further stated that in order to know what your legal rights are, you need to research the laws of your society. Also, in order to learn what your moral rights are, you need to figure out what is the true morality (H.L.A. Hart-1961).

What Hart describes above may have aid Shaw in reaching a decision. For the simple fact that slavery is illegal in Massachusetts, does not give Thomas Sims the legal right to run away from his master in slave operated Georgia. If he would have done his research, he would have realized that there was a law called the “Fugitive Slave Act” which demands his return to his master with a single stroke of a pen by signing a document known as “removal certificate.”

The question that arise from this argument is, is it immoral for Thomas Sims to run away from his master to gain his freedom and liberty? Does the Massachusetts Commission on Fugitive slaves acted immorally by sending Sims back to James Porter, his master in Georgia as Rantoul implied during the hearing at the Commission of inquiry?

To answer these questions, we need to share the views from the Natural Law school of thoughts which counterpoise legal positivism. From a Natural Law perspective, the function of the judiciary is to secure justice in a given community. Grossly Unjust laws such as enslavement of another person and preventing the right of women to own property or vote are unjust laws. According to St. Augustine, a Natural Law Philosopher, “unjust laws are not really laws” (lex injusta non est lex), but a premeditated oppression of the weak which own its roots from a popular ideology in the mid- 19th Century known as Social Darwinism. Thomas Aquinas emphasizing this point in his piece of Summa Theologiae that, any positive law has its purpose, that is the common good of the community. Any positive law which conflicts the common good, is inconsistent with either natural or divine law is absolutely not a law. Thus, there is no moral obligation to obey it (Aquinas- 1915).


The Fugitive Slave Act may mean the common for the South since they benefited greatly in slave trade. However, slavery is illegal in Massachusetts, and every person that lives in that state regardless of his color or origin must be granted freedom and liberty. Thomas Sims had no moral obligation according to Aquinas to subject himself to his master; this justifies his moral instinct for running away instead of accepting arbitrary treatment from his master. Thomas Sims was only seventeen at the time of these legal proceedings, which means that he was born in the Porter family farm. However, he was not born with chains around his neck or feet, he was born free and used his moral judgment to secure his liberty by running away.

However, Lon Fuller’s argument may seem to have supported the views of Justice Shaw. Fuller argued that there is some necessary overlap between legality and justice, because the judiciary will not function properly without guidance to the rule of law and formal justice (Fuller – 1969). Fuller would probably have cited Thomas Sims case as a good example of a U.S. judiciary that violates the rule of law so much that it seemed to lack genuine legal system in accordance with the original intent of the founding fathers. But Fuller does not go as far as Augustine or Aquinas, because he argued that a society can have a judiciary that utilizes the demand for formal justice (like cases must be treated alike) yet still have particular laws that are unjust. Fuller emphasized the independence of the judiciary from other branches of government and proposed to decide their cases on merits, so that the citizen’s can honor its principles, “no punishment without a crime” and “no crime without a pre- existing, public law.” Fuller added (Fuller, 1969).

As a result, even though slavery is illegal in Massachusetts, there is a pre- existing law prohibiting slaves from running away from their masters. There was also a precedence to follow, in 1842, Prigg v. Commonwealth of PA, in which Justices Story and Taney argued that the states were not prohibited from enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act. This falls under what Fuller describes as “like cases must be treated alike.” All this facts may have guided Justice Shaw to rule against “Habeas Corpus.” Although Justice Shaw ruling was in accordance to the Constitution which makes him consistent and fair to denied the whit of “habeas corpus” in Thomas Sims case, but the ruling can also be unjust because he was denied trial by jury, his lawyers were not given enough time to prepare, and also charged in his absence in preliminary hearings in Georgia without cross examination (Finkelman, 1985).

Nevertheless, if this writer would have been in the same situation as Justice Shaw, he would have appeal to extra- legal considerations in reaching a verdict. Probably, legal realism would have been the best approach in reaching a safe conclusion in favor of “habeas corpus” to overturn 1842, Prigg v. Commonwealth of PA. The environment and setting was right, and there is nothing in the Constitution which stated that a state judiciary cannot reject the “Fugitive Slave Act.” The citizens of Massachusetts were more devoted to a “higher law” than the Constitution (Davis, 1995). Slavery was made illegal in MA, and Bostonians were more conscious of the liberty and freedom the fought for in the Revolutionary War against Britain, therefore, they didn’t recognized Slave Laws.

Let’s revisit Natural Law, Ronald Dworkin, defends a view of legal interpretation by Judges that he claims is in the tradition of the natural law theory of positive law. Dworkin argues that, it’s necessary for the Supreme Court justices to interpret the Constitution in light of correct principles of justice that reflects democratic principles (Dworkin- University of FL, law Review, 1982).

What Dworkin is emphasizing here is need for Justices to use common sense for the common good of its citizens, in a form of Judicial Review. Judicial review became a precedent in the landmark case of Marbury v. Madison. This case pioneered the way for the Judiciary to declare a law unconstitutional. Chief Justice Marshall of the Supreme Court ruled that the portion of the Judiciary Act of 1789 allowing the Writ of Mandamus was unconstitutional. This decision helped put the judicial branch on an even footing with the Legislative and Executive Branches. The same would have applied by this writer in the Thomas Sims ruling, because a just law can only be tolerated by the few that benefited from it (Davis, 1995). Laws should not be static and predictable due to the dynamism of the world. Judges are constantly overhauling the law and adapting it to the realities of ever changing social and political conditions.

This is what separated former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor that a “wise man” and a “wise woman” should necessary reach the same verdict. This echoed Fuller’s position that “like cases must be treated alike.” “Judge Soto Mayor said her belief in the need for diversity in the court is rooted in her view that a judge’s experience and background inevitably color how that judge rules” ( Congressional and Confirmation hearings, 2009)
In the final analysis, if Justice Soto Mayor the only Hispanic in the Supreme Court is correct, this writer would have not only overturned Prigg v. PA, and grant the writ of “habeas corpus” in Thomas Sims case, but would have declared that every slave who stepped his foot in the New England soil, will automatically be a freeman, case closed.


Bibliographies

Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologiae, Part II (London: Fathers of the English Dominican Province, Trans, 1915. Questions 90, 91, 94 and 96

Congressional and Confirmation hearings of Justice Soto Mayo, 2009

Davis, Abrahim, the Supreme Court, Race and Civil Rights: (Sage Publications, London, 1995)

Dworkin Ronald, “Natural Revisited, “University of Florida Law Review, vol. 34
(1982), pp 165 ff

Finkelman, Paul. Report of proceedings before the Fugitive Slave Commission, Slavery in the Courtroom: An Annotated Bibliography of the American Cases (Washington Library of Congress, 1985)

Hart, The Concept of Law (Oxford: Claredon Press, 1961), selections from Chapters V and VI


Gershon Bai-Lama Bangura
African Center for Transparency and Accountability (ACTA)
Managing Director
Greencastle, USA

Lagos — [NOTE: The plane from Amsterdam to Detroit was Northwest Airlines Flight 253, operated by Delta Airlines).

The young man, who yesterday night attempted to ignite an explosive device aboard a Delta Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan in the United States has been identified as Abdul Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old son of Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, former First Bank chairman. Mutallab, a former minister and prominent banker recently retired from the bank's board.

The older Mutallab, as at the time of filing this report, had just left his Katsina hometown for Abuja to speak with security agencies, family sources say. According to the family members, Mutallab has been uncomfortable with the boy's extreme religious views and had six months ago reported his activities to United States' Embassy, Abuja and Nigerian security agencies.

The older Mutallab was said to be devastated on hearing the news of Abdul Farouk's attempted bombing arrest. A source close to him said he was surprised that after his reports to the US authorities, the young man was allowed to travel to the United States.
The family home of the Mutallabs in Central London, is currently being searched by men of the Metropolitan Police.

THISDAY checks reveal that the suspect, Abdulfarouk Umar Muttalab who is an engineering student at the University College, London had been noted for his extreme views on religion since his secondary school days at the British International School, Lome, Togo.
At the secondary school, he was known for preaching about Islam to his schoolmates and he was popularly called "Alfa", a local coinage for Islamic scholar. After his secondary school, the young man, family sources said went to University College London to study engineering and later relocated to Egypt, and then Dubai. While in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, he declared to his family members that he did not want to have anything to do with any of them again.

His father, Muttalab is a regular visitor to the US where he visits for medical check up and holidays. He is expected to issue a statement later today.
Muttalab is married to an Arab of Yemeni-descent. However, THISDAY could not confirm at the time of filing this report if the woman is the mother of the young man now receiving treatment in Ann Harbor Hospital, Detroit, for burns suffered while he was trying to detonate the explosive device in the plane.

Meanwhile, Prof. Dora Akunyili, minister of information and communications, has issued the following statement: " Federal Government of Nigeria received with dismay the news of an attempted terrorist attack on a US airline. We state very clearly that as a nation, we abhor all forms of terrorism. The Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has directed Nigerian security agencies to commence full investigation of the incident. While steps are being taken to verify the identity of the alleged suspect and his motives, our security agencies will cooperate fully with the American authorities in the on-going investigations. Nigerian government will be providing updates as more information becomes available."

Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, had caused panic when he tried to detonate some explosive device strapped to his leg on Christmas Day while the US airliner was about to land at Detroit Metro Airport with 278 people on board.

Abdulmutallab was said to have been overpowered by passengers after the failure of the device to ignite properly. He is currently being questioned by the FBI, according to a senior US official. A passenger, identified as Jasper Schuringa, told CNN that with the aid of the cabin crew, he helped subdue and isolate Abdulmutallab.

Agency reports quoted the US federal law enforcement and airline security agencies say Abdulmutallab was taken into custody and is being treated for second- and third-degree burns on his thighs. Reports said the remains of the device the suspect detonated have been sent to an FBI explosives laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, for analysis.

Even with the initial official impression that the suspect was acting alone and did not have any formal connections to organised terrorist organisations, there are reports that he was indeed a hard-core, trained al-Qaeda operative. Abdulmutallab was quoted in a US federal security bulletin to have admitted having extremist ties and saying the explosive device "was acquired in Yemen along with instructions as to when it should be used".

Statement from Representative Peter King of New York, the senior Republican on the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, was quoted as branding the explosive device "fairly sophisticated". "(The device) appears to be different from what we've encountered before," Mr King told Fox News. "My understanding also is that while (the suspect) is not on a watch list, he definitely has terror connections.

"There is a terrorist nexus leading towards al-Qaeda involving this assailant. When it did go off he himself was seriously injured, my understanding is he has third-degree burns. This could have been catastrophic."

Abdulmutallab, according to sources, flew into Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on a KLM flight from Lagos and is not believed to be on any "no fly" list. This is despite his name appearing in a US database of people with suspect connections. An administration official also said he did not undergo secondary security screening in Amsterdam. It was from here he transferred to Northwest Airlines - which is undergoing a merger with Delta Airlines - for the nine-hour flight to Detroit in an Airbus A330-330.

US President Barack Obama, who was holidaying in Hawaii, acting on briefing on the incident, instructed in a subsequent discussion with security advisers "that all appropriate measures be taken to increase security for air travel".

Direct fallout of this incident is more rigorous security checks by airlines. A spokesperson for BAA said British passengers travelling to the US should expect their airline to carry out additional security checks prior to boarding.

"To support this important process, which will take time, we would advise passengers to leave more time to check in and limit the amount of baggage being taken on board the aircraft," she added. "If in any doubt, please contact the relevant airline for further information."
A Department of Homeland Security statement Friday told air passengers that they "may notice additional screening measures put into place to ensure the safety of the travelling [sic] public on domestic and international flights. "Abdulmutallab's trip began in Lagos, Nigeria where he boarded a KLM airline flight to Amsterdam and connected with Northwest Delta airline to Michigan, USA.

AFRICAN CENTER FOR TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY (ACTA)
GERSHON Bai-Lama Bangura
Managing Director

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) -- Offshore lights that guide pilots into Jamaica's main airport had been knocked out for more than a month when an American Airlines jet landed in driving rain and overshot the runway, injuring most of the 154 people on board, officials said Friday.
An underwater electrical fault in November disrupted the 1,300-foot (400-meter) stretch of white lights on a sandbar stretching into the Caribbean Sea, according to Norman Manley International Airport operations director Stanley Smith. Pilots have been regularly advised about the outage, and the runway itself was fully lit, he said.

"The airport has been fully operational since (the outage) ... so we wouldn't presume that would be a cause. But clearly the investigation is still preliminary," airport vice president Mark Williams told The Associated Press.

American Airlines Flight 331 skidded off the runway as it landed in heavy rain Tuesday night, arriving from Washington's Reagan National Airport by way of Miami. The Boeing 737-800's fuselage cracked open, the left main landing gear collapsed and the nose was crushed as the plane lurched to a halt at the ocean's edge. All 154 people aboard survived. Ninety-two were taken to hospitals, with no injuries considered life-threatening. The U.S. State Department said 76 of the passengers were Americans.

Jamaican and U.S. authorities are continuing their investigation, including whether the pilot could have avoided the accident by aborting the landing and circling for another attempt.
The Kingston airport has one runway with two designations, depending on the direction of a plane's approach. Lights leading to the other end of the runway were functioning, but wind conditions made that approach less desirable, Smith said. The approach lights are not expected to be operating again until next month. Large planes began arriving at Norman Manley again on Thursday after being diverted to Montego Bay for two days.
Smith said there have been no other incidents of landing problems since the approach lights went out in November.

American Airlines spokeswoman Martha Pantin declined to comment on runway conditions because the investigation is still being conducted. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board's press office was closed for Christmas. Jamaican officials expect the probe to be concluded by Sunday, though Civil Aviation Authority director general Oscar Derby told Radio Jamaica he did not know when its conclusions would be released.

AFRICAN CENTER FOR TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY (ACTA)
Gershon Bai-Lama Bangura
Greencastle, USA