LEAVE ANNIE WALSH SCHOOL ALONE .COM

Folks , this is the report of the news published in AWOKO Newspaper- Some kind friend e-mailed it to me yesterday. (SEE AT THE END OF MY  COMMENTS)  C                                                                                                                                                                                                      Sometimes Governments tend  to attempt some woeful policies which eventually hurt them in the end. We've just seen the embarassing backing down by the British Government  on Education Policy - viz- to scarp the GCSE. The Secretary of State , Michael Gove curt a 'humiliating U-turn' admitting the policy reforms were "a bridge too far".                                                                                                Whosoever advised our beloved President to embark on this road to MOVE The Annie Walsh School from their location of nearly 200 years does not apppear to love the President because that person or persons must realise the trouble this announcement will cause.   There are better options in the lacation of a Market in the Center of Freetown. Do we want to turn that area of Freetown into one gaigantic Market crowded village - once that Market is built, within a short time we surely will be bosting of one great Shanty sub-town and the whole of Kissy Road, Mountain Cut, Magazine Cut. Fireburn  will merge with Upper and Lower Bombay Streets to make one sub-district of a Shanty town. If Annie Walsh School is moved , will the Gibralter Church be moved too? If the Annnie Walsh School is moved, will The Holy Trinity Church with its Primary School be moved too? Will the policy spread to the Cathedral School and the St Marys School? Where will this policy end? Yes there is great need for de-congestion but wiser policy action is needed not this frivolous and disturbing approach. Government  and the City Council must now come up with policy action plan to move the illegal traders from the vicinity of The Annie Walsh- that is the focus that must be embraced now. It is clear that some action be taken , but not the one revealed by this news. I dare say I am not impressed by Mr Osho-Coker's letter. It evokes PROVOCATION- and I do not like it. I am seeing this separately from my personal point of view - yes as an APC dedicated member and I serve the Party  for very long but I separate this issue totally from the Party and the Government. THIS to me is not an APC policy but a government policy which I dislike totally. The Annie Walsh is my mother's school. It is the school my mother's Grand Aunty, Miss CLARA BELFORD, (that is the sister of my maternal Grandmother from Benguima) taught  for decades: many of my relatives and friends including Mrs Elizabeth Lavally-the former Deputy Speaker of Parliament, went to that school even the President's wife - The First Lady, and the wife of the Former High Commissioner of Sierra Leone to the UK Mrs Challobar and many other prominent women.  THE HERITAGE MUST BE PRESERVED. Kissy Street Market and the area surrounding it can be buldozed and clear to build a SUPPER MARKET: or a Shopping Centre- this can go all the way down to 'BIG WARF'; Or Cow Yard and its visinty can be used to build this market for the Market woman dem. or Maket man dem. BUT LEAVE ANNINWALSH ALONE .COM -                                                                                                                                                                                                                     PLEASE READ THE AWOKO REPORT BELOW. B                                                                                                       *****************************************************  
For the construction of a Modern Market Annie Walsh School to relocate.
 Sat February 9, 2013 01:01PM                                                                                                 

Bishop Julius O.P Lynch, proprietor of the Annie Walsh Memorial School has received a letter from the Secretary to the President, proposing the relocation of the school from its present location at Kissy Road for the construction of a modern market.
The letter written by E.B. Osho-Coker, to the Lord Bishop of Freetown and the North states, “as you are no doubt aware, when the Annie Walsh Memorial School (AWMS) moved to its present location on Kissy Road, Freetown in 1865, the environment was ideally suitable for a school that pursued excellence in all areas including high academic performance, sound discipline and a solid Christian foundation.
However, the passage of time, has witnessed a massive growth in the city’s population and
concomitant expansion of trading activities eastwards, the area occupied by the school has become an unsuitable environment for the pursuit of academic excellence.
As Government intensifies its efforts at waste management, improvement of road safety and decongestion through “Operation WID” the compelling need for relocation of the AWMS to a more ideal site has been identified.
The selection of the site will be at the behest of the proprietors of the AWMS and arrangements will be concluded with Government for acquisition of the land and construction of the new school. The land vacated at Kissy Road will then be utilized for the construction of a modern market to be occupied by traders that are being removed from the streets of Freetown.
His Excellency the President, has instructed me to bring this proposal to your attention, so that it can be initially considered by the Church and School authorities.
Please be informed that His Excellency looks forward to a favourable consideration of the proposal contained herein,” the letter concluded.
Bishop Lynch’s first reaction to the letter dated 29th January 2013, was to write the Secretary of the Improvement Relocation Committee of the Annie Walsh Memorial Old Girls Association (AWOGA).
In his letter, he stated, “I hasten to bring this letter received on 30th January 2013 from the Secretary to the President to your notice, for a speedy consideration of the proposal contained in the document. Kindly advise me, so that I can respond appropriately alongside our proposal for privatization.
He ended his letter on this note, “This matter cries haste and must be treated as such.”
However, most Old Girls are of the opinion that there is a need to maintain the present location.
Another school of thought lamented that “but it seems we don’t know what to do with our monuments, relics and historic sites.”
The lady further affirmed “Look at the old FBC building at Cline Town. So far, no effort has been made to preserve it, stressing on “it is our history..our story we need to preserve it. What do we show our kids tomorrow?
Tourists, visitors and Sierra Leoneans need to be able to go on tour to the old FBC building at Cline Town and even the AWMS on Kissy Road. That site needs to be preserved, not destroyed. Do we know what we want to do willingly? Look at what the Islamists are doing in Mali and the attention it got from the international community. Then to think, we want to willingly destroy our heritage”, she lamented.
By Samuel Dennis John