November 1, 2021
A-Z ON THE SCENE
BY OUR NEWS ANALYST
Though recent, we have come on the media scene to add to the stuff dished out to the reading public. We are aware that for enquiring minds news is never enough.
Like others before us our vision is to tell the news as it is without fear or favor. This column is to continue the apolitical stance which this newspaper has been pursuing since its inception. Constructive criticism will be part of its regular fare in the knowledge that no government is infallible.
During our brief appearance on the scene we have arguably been able to deliver news from a wider coverage than some of the older newspaper owing to our nose for news and justice to the reader. Our accent is on distilling the news for the benefit of a mainly illiterate and semi-illiterate populace.
Unlike many other newspapers A-Z does not depend mainly on adverts for its continued existence but on increased sales as the readership enlarges. For us adverts are incidental though they form the bedrock of a newspapers existence. We want to be all things to all categories of readers as best as we can.
Notwithstanding the fact that, there are political party newspapers we are striving to be neutral as we can although there is nothing like absolute neutrality. Within the ambit of partisanship there can be room for objectivity and this is the avowed mission of the column.
Issues in the news is expected to come your way on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays ceteris paribus (all things been equal)
A MAVERICK IN TOWN
A Maverick is a person who does behave and think like everyone else but also has an independent opinion.
Dr. Sylvia Blyden is one such person. She is well known as a former Cabinet Minister and a nation awardee but that is not the focus of this piece. It is on her pedigree and what her potential is. She is not the only maverick in town but she stands out among them for now.
She hails from an illustrious family of over a century and their influence spans across other West African states. The penultimately illustrious Blyden was Dr. Edward Blyden who had a famous case with the former Principal of Fourah Bay College J.J. Grant. He later formed a political party called the Sierra Leone Independent Movement (SLIM) that contested General Elections.
Back to our main topic, Dr. Sylvia Blyden, she has a firm purpose and dares to stand alone in spite of the consequences. Her gallantry during our 11-year war is unbelievable. It’s akin to the bravery of Ex- Brigadier Julius Maada Bio.
Fast forward, she had straddled herself between the APC and the SLPP but she is always quick to emphasize that she is APC where she has better chances of achieving her lifelong ambition to be president of Sierra Leone. She does not give a damn in bashing her former benefactor, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma as the occasion demands.
As if to fulfill her ambition to be president of Sierra Leone, she has survived an air crash. Future generations should carefully watch the career of Dr. Sylvia Blyden; she may well lead the country.
SCISSORS IN THE BELLY
Medicine has been defined to be the art or science of amusing a sick man with frivolous specification about his disorder and tampering ingenuously till nature either kills or cures him.
This has been exemplified in the case of a woman in the local news who had a pair of scissors left in her abdomen for seven years. Thankfully it has now been removed. There are many questions to be answered in this regard.
One of the questions is incompetence of the doctor who carried out the operation. What institution gave a license to him to practice medicine? It certainly cannot be a doctor trained in the United Kingdom, Germany or some such responsible country. It must be a doctor trained at the Sierra Leone Medical School. If not let them issue a disclaimer.
It is unbelievable and unheard of that such negligence could take place. Can a doctor be as forgetful as to leave a tool which should be in hand or with the theatre assistants in a woman’s belly? Was there no table stool to have kept that pair of scissors?
The woman concerned must be a super woman to have endured a metal in her belly for 7years. The culpable doctor should be struck off the list of regular medical practices in Sierra Leone. The result of the investigation should be made public if not we shall raise the matter with the Right to Access Information Commission (RAC)