Sunday, 6 April 2008
Sustainable Community and International Development
This is where you can post project ideas, project plans, network with other organisations, arrange project partnerships, share resources. Debate development ideas such as; 'which is better for Kono's sustainable development and sustainable livelihoods - mechanisation and artificial inputs, or Fair Trade and organic farming?'
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
test
The interim executive is doing a fantastic job and we all appreciate their effort. Nonetheless,the Community must now start looking for stable leadership in persons who want to lead in order to enable others. We are all a 'big family' hence the truth though sometimes painful must be said. As a family, we once refused to tell or were scared of telling the truth and we all know the consequences. We would not want to repeat the mistakes we made in 2004 that had such a tremendous impact on the KDDA. The Community should be seeking genuine, committed and forward looking leadership that resonates with other organisations of the 21st century. Let us join hands in strengthening the Community and the result will surely be development and not ego, ego, ego.
Let us begin the leadership debate. What qualities do we think the Community Leaders should have and have we got people that possess such qualities?
Sorkai TJ
The will of Kono Community prevails
'Chairman for life' Tamba opel Pessima Sam-Sumana and his cohorts are making frantic effort to sway people from attending or contributing toward the strengthening of the newly formed 'Kono Community UK & Ireland'. Our success is surely oozing a lot of energy out of him.
Opel's recent letter to his invisible membership of the once proud KDDA organisation explains why he has in five years brought this previously dynamic organisation to a standstill. He is the elusive organisation's everything at the moment. Surrogates like Sahr Sinah and others have begun testing the waters in order to make a clean break from him. His, is an organisation without tangible elements that are usually ascribed to anything organised. No executive, no meetings, no structures etc etc.
What do psychiatrists call a person who is characterized by an exaggerated sense of power? I believe 'megalomaniac' and what an apt description of this miserable character. There is every aspect of delusion and classic attributes of grandeur in his recent and previous publications. I believe Kono people in the not too distant future will put the information out there that Opel is not the 'mouthpiece of the Kono People'. Certainly not. Not in the way he writes, presents his material and analyses issues. He can only be a mouthpiece for himself. Everything in his newsletter is aimed at projecting himself and not Kono.
I don't think it would be wrong of me to kindly ask Opel to stop deceiving himself. The wider community knows that he does things to project his 'no image' and no one else. The people Opel accuses Augustine Tutu of not inviting have not complained. In fact Opel got the invitation completely wrong. We have moved on from the period when good natured Kono people were trying to arbitrate in the spirit of reconciliation. Opel was invited to the last Kono Community meeting like every other Kono man was. There wasn't going to be any special treatment. We have no time for 'pettiness'. The Kono Community is tired with Opel's gimmicks. It shouldn't all be about him. We want to talk about Kono and issues that affect Kono. The Community has no time for individuals with 'big egos'. Let's keep it simple and 'Kono development'.
May I also caution Opel and his cohorts about the new found love for the Vice President Sam-Sumana? Whatever this Community does in the future with regards to Kono dignitaries has nothing to do with him. VP Sam-Sumana may be his brother by extension and how sad for Kono if he were to be listening to Opel and none of his other genuine brothers who mean well. It is VP Sam-Sumana who needs us in the Diaspora and not the reverse. He'll be committing political suicide if he decides to ignore us in the interest of his northern collaborators.
Long Live Kono Community, May Kono's development be our prime objective and may curse be upon those who obstruct our positive development.
Sorkai TJ
Recent skirmishes in Koidu involving ragtag APC youths that resulted in the death of our people explains why we need very formidable diaspora organisations that can influence political, economic and social decisions in Kono. Our people are destitute and our current local politicians have either got no influence or lack the stature to influence policy decisions that affect Kono. Coming to look at it, it seems a complete joke to have a second in command in the entire country coming from Kono yet the progress seems so painfully slow. This is not about APC, PMDC or SLPP. It is about how we all join hands together to effect change in our fatherland. What a shame that this sort of misbehaviour can only be allowed in Kono.
I have listened to friends say that our current 'Kono Community' dispensation should only be aimed at charitable and developmental projects and should't have any political dimension. I completely disagree as nothing will be achieved in current day SL without the necessary political influence.
We are yet at a crawling stage of development. When we get to the walking stage, nothing should hinder our influencing abilities in all sectors of life for the Kono man. Let's think about it.
Sorkai TJ
Popular opinion amongst Konos has shown that people shy away from politics, which they see as distasteful, but they are interested in our development and community. We have suffered as a community for a long time because the main actors in our community tend to move towards politics and away from humanitarianism and practical action.
It is patently untrue that development is dependant on politics in the way one domino is dependent on the previous domino. In fact most development occurs in our country DESPITE politics rather than BECAUSE of it. Politics often gets in the way of development mainly because of the various interests and groups that politicians pander to. They do not take a wholehearted humanitarian and ecological approach, instead they struggle mostly to satisfy the capitalist cause and its lobbyists, their own ambition and self interest, keeping up appearances and getting re-elected, and of course the second greatest corruptor; power (the first is surely money). It is no wonder that human needs and suffering come last on their task lists when they should be first.
Businessmen will tell you globalisation and economic development equals human development. Futurists will tell you a technological concrete-metal utopia equals human development. Authoritarians will tell you to bow to authority and trust those in power and they will deliver human development. Spiritualist will either tell you to forget human development or concentrate only on your soul and leave the world to go to hell. Politicians will tell you to vote for me and I’ll set you free or feed some other jargon, while they firmly ally themselves with globalisation, preserving the power of the state against their citizens and economics. Humanitarianism comes a poor last on their list. Surely the only group concerned with sustainability and humankind in its best sense are the humanitarians and ecologists.
“The process of globalisation provokes questions such as does it work? Is it a good or bad thing? Can it last? The questions are hard to answer bilaterally. Who’s doing the convincing? The neoliberal, radical or transformationalist? The poor man, the humanitarian or the businessman. Right wing or left wing? This indicates the level of confusion that comes about when one tries to deal scientifically and accurately with conflicting arguments that apparently arbitrarily select and use less than empirical evidence to ‘prove’ their points . Eventually one has to step outside of the arguments and perhaps take some higher ground perspective. The sustainable humanitarian solution seems to be the most logical common ground for each of the above to begin examining the process. The most hard-hearted capitalist will presumably want his exploits to survive and despite his denial will need humans to at least purchase, if not also produce, their product. So it makes sense to keep us in the picture, as opposed to extinct. It also provides the clearest view of the distance globalisation takes humanity from the provision of each persons physical and psychological basic needs, necessary for the survival and sanity of the race , in other words, its sustainability.” (SOF January 2008)
I do not see politics as the precursor of human development and I believe economics plays a secondary part. I do instead see the humanitarian and ecological movements as the precursors to realistic humanitarian and ecological politics.
“………The immense, devastating and dehumanising exclusion (globalisation and urbanisation) cause are best seen first hand and hard to describe here to reflect their scale or the distance they take us from sustainable humanity, hence my argument in the first paragraph. Other issues relating to this are those of the legitimacy and mandate of money-led institutions to decide humans’ fates and quality of life, whether local or global. The transformationalist view attempts to perform the devils greatest trick of convincing us that evil does not exist, when it should be clear from the scale of suffering of those affected that this is neither benign change nor does it provide guaranteed, the benefits espoused by the Washington Consensus..” (SOF January 2008)
Post a Comment