30/10/2014
i do listen Dr. David Tambayoh ,Hon Robbin and Mohamed massaquuoi yesterday on monologue to my dismay the Same Mohamed Massaquoi who was lambasting the OGI has now become the spokesperson for OGI..............! is a question ?
Esteemed Facebook read what Mohamed Massaquoi wrote about the OGI and its Director Khadija Sesay on 18th March 2013... Madam Khadija Sesay were you afraid by not responding to him? .....another question?.....
REBUTTAL
What’s the hell with OGI?
I have tried very hard not to engage into press wars with colleagues especially those I have worked with since I entered the business of journalism close to a decade ago.
I have the right to take legal action against those yellow journalists who run behind politicians to give them money to write about me even though they have no business dealing with issues and happenings within the Open Government Initiative (OGI).
I am not reacting to the blatant and misguided allegations made against me by OGI and its buffoons but to put the records straight for better understanding of our people as to how far we have come these past years.
It is significant to highlight my contributions to the development of that group and how some shallow-minded people have transformed that respectable institution into state exploitative machinery for their selfish desires.
I have always questioned the manner government institutions are being managed or mismanaged by people, especially institutions that are established by the Office of the President.
My intension in this short article is not to expose those officers working with the OGI but to let the President know that OGI is another institution waiting to be investigated by the anti-graft agency, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
I came onboard OGI when its former Director, now Deputy Minister of Political Affairs, Karamoh Kabba was steering that organization.
It was a forum created to bring both the opposition parties and the ruling government together and to interact with their respective constituencies.
I could still remember when some Members of Parliament were taken to the eastern district town of Kenema to engage their people and to explain their roles and responsibilities to them; that meeting created a lot of impact on the transformation of the Kenema Government Hospital, the Kenema Prisons among others.
At some point Kabba could not continue with OGI after he allegedly involved in a road accident on his way to Kono to organize an OGI meeting.
Concord Times did an exclusive story on the incident in which some Sierra Leoneans were even advocating for Kabba to pay back the money he misused. I was never intimidated for that neither did somebody have to be paid to attack me for writing stories against Karamoh Kabba.
Up till this moment Kabba could not account for the millions of Leones that got missing, this is the opposite of the Attitudinal and Behavioral Change(ABC) campaign instituted by President Koroma.
When the new Director took over OGI, her enthusiasm and courage to move the institution forward spurred me the most to work with her even though it is a government-led project.
I have always served as a guide to Madam Kadija Sesay to ensure that she succeeds with her new agenda of transforming OGI into a potent government civil society outfit.
She encouraged other civil society activists like Victor Lansana Koroma, Titus Masallay, myself among others to sell out the OGI concept and Concord Times has been very helpful in that direction.
When Madam Sesay could not get the needed money to implement a project for example, she would call on me, Ahmed Sesay of 98.1, CTN Bah among others to discuss as to how we could write stories goading the Ministry of Finance to disburse money for the project. That has been the level of relationship between me and the OGI Director.
OGI officers travelled to the U.S and UK and collected huge sums of money without giving account to civil society and the media they claimed to be working with. When I questioned that, Madam Kadija became furious. The other problem between me and the Director was when I refused to allow my organization, the Sierra Leone Reporters Union, to support the APC and President Ernest Bai Koroma’s reelection as some other organizations did in the 2012 general elections.
I challenged her for establishing an OGI office in Mattru Jong instead of Bo, which is the district headquarter town of the South. Again when the issue of the Citizens’ Report Card (CRC) survey came up, she applied to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for support, by then Campaign for Good Governance (CGG) had as well applied for the same programme.
She was frustrated and therefore called on us to write against CGG taking up that project. I told her in her face that it was wrong for OGI to examine government activities. I was lambasted by some OGI officials who thought that I was proving difficult. All of these confrontations happened months before the elections, contrary to what those political vuvuzelas wrote about me in the Nationalist newspaper.
However, the Ministry of Finance gave over two hundred million Leones to OGI to organize the CRC survey. At first paramount chiefs were invited to participate in the draft survey document. I was assigned to Kono to mobilize local authorities to come for OGI meetings in Freetown. A special consultant was hired by Madam Kadija and her team; was there any advertisement placed for the job?
That is left with them to say. I was again in Kono covering a political meeting when I was called upon to stay and carry out the pilot survey in two chiefdoms in the Kono District. I have never received a single Leone from Madam Kadija and OGI without working for it as being peddled by her pen mercenaries.
Before finally getting funds for the Citizens’ Report Card, Madam Kadija nearly gave up because some politicians were insinuating that the project will undermine the presidency especially as we enter into the 2012 elections. We held meetings in Bo and Makeni where I insisted that we must carry out the CRC; and finally the CRC was conducted.
Most of the journalists who were writing and broadcasting the concept of CRC were asked to serve as observers or enumerators while All Peoples Congress activists served as district coordinators to monitor the activities of the journalists.
OGI hired over 25 vehicles from private individuals to conduct the survey but the vehicles were only assigned to district coordinators to manipulate the document which was one of the main reasons why Statistics Sierra Leone backed out of the project. Most of those recruited to carry out the survey were incompetent but because of political reasons, they were allowed to work.
OGI OBSERVING ELECTIONS
Few weeks ahead of the 2012 general elections, the OGI Director again, as usual, called on the same set of journalists to report that her organization was planning to observe the elections though it was out of their mandate.
I vehemently opposed to that on the grounds that the OGI will not objectively observe the process because it is a government outfit. After that, and few days later, I was accused by Madam Kadijaof being SLPP and that I had informed Maada Bio about their intension of monitoring the elections.
It was during this wrangling that I was nominated by the United States Embassy here in Sierra Leone to report on the US elections.I was out of the country for two consecutive weeks and when I came back, Concord Times had already printed out my election observation Identity Card.
It was a roving ID which allowed me to move freely across the country to monitor the process.
What is more baffling about OGI is that all of those working for that institution are related and most of them lack the required educational qualification.
I am not a self-acclaimed president parading the streets of Freetown as purported by that weak and poorly written OGI article against my person but a dynamic and sober-minded SLRU president who has diligently served Sierra Leonean reporters both in and out of the country.
I urge OGI staff to publish the list of those acclaimed civil society activists on government payroll, how much was used on the Citizens’ Report Card, why UNDP backed out of the process and the unexplained wealth of the OGI Director.
These are the issues instead of paying people to write about Massaquoi. Go through the National Elections Watch (NEW) report and address the mess instead of attacking me.
You dare write one more sentence against me, then I’ll have no option but to bring out pictorial evidences of OGI’s dubious activities.
— with Patricia Ganda and 19 others.
Esteemed Facebookers read what Mohamed Massaquoi wrote about the OGI and its Director Khadija Sesay on 18th March 2013... Is she afraid of this fly-by night reporter??? We deserve explanation Madam Director. The Director travels with him REBUTTAL What’s the hell with OGI? By Mohamed Massaquoi I have tried very hard not to engage into press wars with colleagues especially those I have worked with since I entered the business of journalism close to a decade ago. I have the right to take legal action against those yellow journalists who run behind politicians to give them money to write about me even though they have no business dealing with issues and happenings within the Open Government Initiative (OGI). I am not reacting to the blatant and misguided allegations made against me by OGI and its buffoons but to put the records straight for better understanding of our people as to how far we have come these past years. It is significant to highlight my contributions to the development of that group and how some shallow-minded people have transformed that respectable institution into state exploitative machinery for their selfish desires. I have always questioned the manner government institutions are being managed or mismanaged by people, especially institutions that are established by the Office of the President. My intension in this short article is not to expose those officers working with the OGI but to let the President know that OGI is another institution waiting to be investigated by the anti-graft agency, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). I came onboard OGI when its former Director, now Deputy Minister of Political Affairs, Karamoh Kabba was steering that organization. It was a forum created to bring both the opposition parties and the ruling government together and to interact with their respective constituencies. I could still remember when some Members of Parliament were taken to the eastern district town of Kenema to engage their people and to explain their roles and responsibilities to them; that meeting created a lot of impact on the transformation of the Kenema Government Hospital, the Kenema Prisons among others. At some point Kabba could not continue with OGI after he allegedly involved in a road accident on his way to Kono to organize an OGI meeting. Concord Times did an exclusive story on the incident in which some Sierra Leoneans were even advocating for Kabba to pay back the money he misused. I was never intimidated for that neither did somebody have to be paid to attack me for writing stories against Karamoh Kabba. Up till this moment Kabba could not account for the millions of Leones that got missing, this is the opposite of the Attitudinal and Behavioral Change(ABC) campaign instituted by President Koroma. When the new Director took over OGI, her enthusiasm and courage to move the institution forward spurred me the most to work with her even though it is a government-led project. I have always served as a guide to Madam Kadija Sesay to ensure that she succeeds with her new agenda of transforming OGI into a potent government civil society outfit. She encouraged other civil society activists like Victor Lansana Koroma, Titus Masallay, myself among others to sell out the OGI concept and Concord Times has been very helpful in that direction. When Madam Sesay could not get the needed money to implement a project for example, she would call on me, Ahmed Sesay of 98.1, CTN Bah among others to discuss as to how we could write stories goading the Ministry of Finance to disburse money for the project. That has been the level of relationship between me and the OGI Director. OGI officers travelled to the U.S and UK and collected huge sums of money without giving account to civil society and the media they claimed to be working with. When I questioned that, Madam Kadija became furious. The other problem between me and the Director was when I refused to allow my organization, the Sierra Leone Reporters Union, to support the APC and President Ernest Bai Koroma’s reelection as some other organizations did in the 2012 general elections. I challenged her for establishing an OGI office in Mattru Jong instead of Bo, which is the district headquarter town of the South. Again when the issue of the Citizens’ Report Card (CRC) survey came up, she applied to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for support, by then Campaign for Good Governance (CGG) had as well applied for the same programme. She was frustrated and therefore called on us to write against CGG taking up that project. I told her in her face that it was wrong for OGI to examine government activities. I was lambasted by some OGI officials who thought that I was proving difficult. All of these confrontations happened months before the elections, contrary to what those political vuvuzelas wrote about me in the Nationalist newspaper. However, the Ministry of Finance gave over two hundred million Leones to OGI to organize the CRC survey. At first paramount chiefs were invited to participate in the draft survey document. I was assigned to Kono to mobilize local authorities to come for OGI meetings in Freetown. A special consultant was hired by Madam Kadija and her team; was there any advertisement placed for the job? That is left with them to say. I was again in Kono covering a political meeting when I was called upon to stay and carry out the pilot survey in two chiefdoms in the Kono District. I have never received a single Leone from Madam Kadija and OGI without working for it as being peddled by her pen mercenaries. Before finally getting funds for the Citizens’ Report Card, Madam Kadija nearly gave up because some politicians were insinuating that the project will undermine the presidency especially as we enter into the 2012 elections. We held meetings in Bo and Makeni where I insisted that we must carry out the CRC; and finally the CRC was conducted. Most of the journalists who were writing and broadcasting the concept of CRC were asked to serve as observers or enumerators while All Peoples Congress activists served as district coordinators to monitor the activities of the journalists. OGI hired over 25 vehicles from private individuals to conduct the survey but the vehicles were only assigned to district coordinators to manipulate the document which was one of the main reasons why Statistics Sierra Leone backed out of the project. Most of those recruited to carry out the survey were incompetent but because of political reasons, they were allowed to work. OGI OBSERVING ELECTIONS Few weeks ahead of the 2012 general elections, the OGI Director again, as usual, called on the same set of journalists to report that her organization was planning to observe the elections though it was out of their mandate. I vehemently opposed to that on the grounds that the OGI will not objectively observe the process because it is a government outfit. After that, and few days later, I was accused by Madam Kadijaof being SLPP and that I had informed Maada Bio about their intension of monitoring the elections. It was during this wrangling that I was nominated by the United States Embassy here in Sierra Leone to report on the US elections.I was out of the country for two consecutive weeks and when I came back, Concord Times had already printed out my election observation Identity Card. It was a roving ID which allowed me to move freely across the country to monitor the process. What is more baffling about OGI is that all of those working for that institution are related and most of them lack the required educational qualification. I am not a self-acclaimed president parading the streets of Freetown as purported by that weak and poorly written OGI article against my person but a dynamic and sober-minded SLRU president who has diligently served Sierra Leonean reporters both in and out of the country. I urge OGI staff to publish the list of those acclaimed civil society activists on government payroll, how much was used on the Citizens’ Report Card, why UNDP backed out of the process and the unexplained wealth of the OGI Director. These are the issues instead of paying people to write about Massaquoi. Go through the National Elections Watch (NEW) report and address the mess instead of attacking me. You dare write one more sentence against me, then I’ll have no option but to bring out pictorial evidences of OGI’s dubious activities.
