Dear Friends and Colleagues,
As some of you are fully aware, the Patriotic Vanguard was founded by a group of professional journalists (not by "play cook" jesters) in July 2005 on two core principles: 1. Bringing to our people and the rest of the world accurate, unbiased news about Sierra Leone in an objective and fair manner devoid of malice and propaganda. 2. Serve as a forum where matters concerning Sierra Leone are critically analysed, commented on and dissected in a civil and intelligent manner for the ultimate benefit of our country and continent. This newspaper, as its name indicates, is therefore highly patriotic and dedicated to the truism that only Sierra Leoneans can really develop Sierra Leone, with, of course, the assistance of friendly people around the world. But we have to take our country’s destiny into our own hands (no matter where we are) and work hard to help make it the heaven on earth it’s supposed to be.
In this spirit we therefore urge you to continue writing as you have been doing and please do not allow yourself to be distracted or intimidated by some buffoon that may not like what you write or by the outpouring of some fat idiotic Mullah sitting somewhere, trying to dictate to you what to write. We find this kind of behaviour not only outrageous but also foolish because president Ernest Koroma himself (God bless him) has always stressed freedom of speech and freedom of expression. Since he came to power in September 2007, no journalist has been beaten, detained, jailed or killed on his orders. That alone is a huge achievement on his part, something his predecessors (with the probable exception of Sir Milton Margai) cannot claim.
So we say go ahead, speculate, comment on, dissect and analyze the news; that’s your right as entrenched in the Constitution of Sierra Leone. We only ask that you continue to say everything in a civil and fair manner with no axe to grind or cow to slaughter. As for the Mullahs, leave them to us. We shall from now on monitor them closely on your behalf and will return fire for fire when necessary. It should be clear by now to most people that we answer to nobody but to the people of Sierra Leone and will protect our correspondents, writers and analysts fully at all times. Na ihn dat (That’s it).
PV Management
Comments