{"id":67762,"date":"2014-05-30T01:32:50","date_gmt":"2014-05-30T01:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sierraexpressmedia.com\/?p=67762"},"modified":"2014-05-30T01:32:50","modified_gmt":"2014-05-30T01:32:50","slug":"is-naffsl-a-two-man-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/?p=67762","title":{"rendered":"Is NAFFSL a two man show?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following publication by this reporter\u00a0 of the National Federation of Farmers-Sierra Leone (NAFFSL)\u00a0 & Farmers Based Organization (FBOs) constitutional battle on 22nd<\/sup> May 2014, there are now startling revelations that have attracted the immediate intervention of the Agricultural\u00a0 Ministry and stakeholders calling for the\u00a0 immediate resignation of Jesse-Olu John, President of\u00a0 NAFFSL and Mohamed Kabiru, Secretary-General.<\/p>\n

The two referred to by the Farmers Organizations (FOs) as Aki and Pawpaw have been running the organization as a two – man business representing it in meetings.\u00a0 Documentary evidence made available to this medium stated that the Permanent Secretary of the umbrella Ministry (MAFFS) sometime ago sent a query letter to the Federation for lack of transparency.<\/p>\n

Because of the perceived administrative incompetence, this medium gathered from an FO head that the President and Secretary-General are grossly incompetent as they lacked\u00a0\u00a0 administrative skills.<\/p>\n

The insider stated that the\u00a0 \u201cguys have nothing to show for the five years they have been in office; no farmers data-base, no farmers newsletter, no Annual General Meetings, no monthly or quarterly meetings with the executive \/Farmer Organization (FO) heads, no established bye-laws, no organized fund-raising plans and a whole lot of issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another FO head with a contrary view stated that the headline for the last article was misleading as there was no constitutional battle within the Federation but rather a disregard for democratic values culminating in deceptive manipulation and unacceptable strategies by the \u201cduo.\u201d<\/p>\n

A senior Ministry\u00a0 Official who is conversant with the details of the Federation\u2019s\u00a0 Constitution expressed dissatisfaction over the manner in which the PS\u00a0 in the Ministry is seemingly \u2018projecting\u2019 an administration that is practically not performing to the expectations of its members and the nation.<\/p>\n

A talented consultant had this to say to this reporter, \u201cThe whole problem of the Federation springs from semantics and proper understanding of the legal language in Article 14, which states:\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNotwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in the Constitution, the person (s) or group of persons elected, nominated and or appointed to any office mentioned in this Constitution, IMMEDIATELY BEFORE <\/b>(note the capitalized words) the\u00a0 coming into force of the constitution shall be deemed to have been duly elected, nominated or appointed for the purpose of the Constitution\u201d.<\/p>\n

The article did not say those \u201cholding offices\u201d but rather those elected, nominated or appointed IMMEDIATELY BEFORE. <\/b>There was no election, nomination or appointment IMMEDIATELY BEFORE<\/b> the ratification at Moyamba. The dictionary definition of \u201cimmediate\u201d is \u201cnet to, very near to, and within seconds, minutes or hours (of an event). That clause in Article 14 therefore does not refer to any official in the Federation. Those who were there had been elected\/appointed etc. years before the Moyamba event.<\/p>\n

The consultant also pointed out that it was within the powers of the Ministry to use the sledge hammer to solve the impasse in the interest of the poor farmers of this country from the very Constitution of the federation which states: \u201cit shall be the responsibility of the Ministry to ensure that the Federation functions in the best interest of the farmers and the nation and to take measures to ensure that this is done.\u201d So, why the delay?<\/p>\n

By Abdul R. Bedor Kamara<\/i><\/p>\n

Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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Following publication by this reporter\u00a0 of the National Federation of Farmers-Sierra Leone (NAFFSL)\u00a0 & Farmers Based Organization (FBOs) constitutional battle on 22nd May 2014, there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":51133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[671,673],"tags":[816,18897,18898],"class_list":["post-67762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-national-news","tag-agriculture","tag-naffsl","tag-national-federation-of-farmers-sierra-leone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}