When I established this newspaper, the Patriotic Vanguard, in July 2005, I was worried about one main thing and that was whether I could find many Sierra Leonean journalists and writers that would share my vision; which was creating an independent, vibrant, professional and fearless news organ that would be highly valued and command the respect of Sierra Leoneans and non-Sierra Leoneans alike. A newspaper with a team of dedicated Sierra Leonean professionals with enough love for their country to keep on working with or without financial remuneration.
Yes, I knew that an online publication such as ours was not a money-making venture (at least at the outset) but a powerful medium to disseminate news and analyses about our country, not only for the benefit of our compatriots at home and abroad, but for scholars and potential investors curious and interested in our country.
So when I started recruiting correspondents and columnists the first thing I always told them was: "PV does not have money to pay you; you will be working as volunteer in the service of your country. Are you ready for that?" Most of the people I contacted answered yes to that question but many later fell by the wayside and stopped writing. Yes, it’s hard to build something out of nothing. Some have however been with me from Day One and are still with me. I don’t need to name them all, because most of you readers know them.
But permit me to discuss one of them today, mainly because we nearly lost him to the Grim Reaper a couple of months ago. I am talking about our Editor, Anthony Kamara Jnr, one of the most patriotic and mentally disciplined young men I have had the privilege to work with as CEO and Publisher of the Patriotic Vanguard, Sierra Leone’s premier and most respected news portal.
Anthony Kamara Jnr
Anthony, like everybody on the PV volunteer staff list, has deep love for his country. The type of person that will keep writing, money or no money. Only a true writer will write without compensation. Not that he or she is stupid, it’s just that they cannot do anything else. Even if they have another job, their main job or concern will be writing. That distinguishes the writer from the ordinary scribbler. Anthony is a writer.
Anthony is humble and imbued with high morals. You cannot work with PV for long if your morals are questionable or if you don’t have respect for people. There are a lot of things we don’t encourage on PV; things like personal attacks including character assasination, blackmail, mercenary instincts, extortion, insults, and so on. Many columnists and and correspondents have left us because we refuse to publish unethical and immoral stuff. We don’t miss them, of course. We are not moral crusaders, just ordinary Sierra Leoneans trying to do what is right.
Anthony will never blackmail or insult anybody, just like the other memebrs of the team incuding myself, Bayraytay, Punchy (General Editor Abayomi Charles Roberts), Roland, Alpha in Freetown and many others. As they say birds of the same feathers flock together.
In almost six years of operation, I think we have attained the first part of our vision which is to stamp our authority as a medium reflecting the intellectual prowess, patriotism and moral fortitude of a team of Sierra Leoneans in the field of Journalism. The next step is to make PV a viable and sustainable commercial enterprise that would provide meaningful employment for Sierra Leoneans and non-Sierra Leoneans in and out of Sierra Leone.
For that we will need advertising revenue from the public and private sectors at home and abroad while operating both online and print editions. We shall try to access that while always bearing in mind the concerns of the members of our constituency, the people of Sierra Leone. To begin: Advertising Managers in Sierra Leone and the diaspora will soon be appointed. Yes, money was not our concern at the beginning.
Indeed Editor Anthony Kamara, is back. We wish him well and would like to thank him for serving his country pro bono, all these years. Keep on keeping on, Anthony. The future is bright for PV and for all those that have been willing to make the sacrifices that have led to what PV is today. A dream come true. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
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