In our search for peace for which we have gone from compromise to appeasement, we have not recognised any winners or losers. The fact is that we should all win our various continuing battles for peace. We have been leaning over backwards to co-exist peacefully with those who killed our loved ones, destroyed our property and ruined our lives but this is the price we have to pay for peace. We have been caught in a spiral of forgiveness but we should never forget otherwise January 6, which is tomorrow, should pass unnoticed and unobserved. It is in fact the remembrance of the event that teaches us lessons for the future, which can be passed on from one generation to the other.
History has an uncanny way of repeating itself.
President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, together with Vice President Albert Joe Demby and other senior government Ministers and officials, were among hundreds of Sierra Leoneans and foreign invitees who journeyed from Freetown to grace the long awaited resuscitation of this traditionally popular event. According to the Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Okere Adams, the show and trade fair had been designed to encourage farmers engage in large scale income generating agricultural production in the current fight against hunger and poverty. By Wednesday evening, Bo Town itself was awash with holiday-makers and guests from Freetown and surrounding areas, who almost filled all hotels and motels to capacity. In his official opening statements at the jam-packed show grounds, the following day, President Kabbah first noted his delight at seeing such an impressively grand procession of Paramount and Regent Chiefs of the Bo District, which formed a significant part of the formal opening programme. He said that traditional rulers have a crucial role to play in governance and maintenance of peace, law and order in their respective communities.