"Yeah, can Sylvia Blyden live? Can She live?
' Yeah, can Sylvia Blyden live? ' is an odd headline. But Jay-Z's 1996 song symbolizes the increasing frustration some of us feel with the escalating harassment of Sylvia Olayinka Blyden. 'So, what do you want to do with Sylvia?' I recently asked one of her detractors. Those who write about Sierra Leone's most vocal critic in violent and aggressive ways. 'Do you want to kill her?' I pressed. Plus, I added, any country with a president who orders three police truckloads to surround his critic's house is THE banana republic. Sylvia Blyden is no more an enemy of the state than all the revolutionary united front (RUF) sympathizers and combatants in government. If Sylvia's detractors consider her actions self-serving, why bother with a sledgehammer for such low-level agitation? I argue Sylvia is a target for broadsides and innuendoes because the preferred candidate was roundly defeated in the recent election. Sure, some Sierra Leoneans I know d...