Today we arrived in Sierra Leone anticipating the historic events we'll be involved in over the next three weeks including the launch of the African People's Socialist Party of Sierra Leone (APSP-SL) and of the Uhuru Radio FM station.
I was traveling with Comrade Omowale Kefing, Editor of The Burning Spear newspaper, who was coming home to Africa for his first time. When we got off the plane and stepped foot onto our land, that familiar feeling of being right where I belong came rushing back again. I can imagine how Comrade Kefing felt because before now, he'd never been home.
The beauty of our Africa can be overwhelming, eclipsed only by the significance of the mission we were returning home for—to forward its liberation and unification.
We began going through the process of getting into the country. That process is made difficult by the poverty imposed on our Africa, which prompts Africans working in the airport to ask for bribes every step of the way. We were lucky enough to get through with minimal occurrences of this and were met upon exiting the airport with chants of "Uhuru!!!"
A group of comrades from the APSP-SL escorted us from the Lungi airport to the ferry, but we missed the ferry by minutes. This would prove to be a real problem because apparently, following the announcement of the launch of the APSP-SL, the government imposed checkpoints throughout the country, or at least in the area we'd be traveling.
These heavily armed military checkpoints are now in place between the hours of 10:30pm-7:00am. Our traveling on the next ferry would put us on the road right in that time frame to be subjected to a series of searches by heavily armed government militia forces. So for the night, we stay in Lungi. And while I don't believe there is any coincidence that these checkpoints were established right after heavy publicizing of the Party's launch, we move forward and we shall have to see about further developments leading to the launch.
Uhuru!
Forward to the Launch of the APSP-SL and Uhuru Radio FM!
