WHY CAN’T JUSTICE BIOBELE OPEN A RADIO STATION?
Now the erudite Nigerian judge, Biobele and his colleagues who are presiding over the Commissions of Inquiry in Sierra Leone should seriously consider opening a radio station. Here is why: While former Red Camp ministers and parastatal bosses are hiding away from confronting them in their courtrooms, they appear to have no problems going on radio to talk about the same issues. Maybe that’s a prudent political calculation, an integral part of so-called 99 Tactics that were crafted by Pa Sheki in the 70s to eliminate opponents and dominate power.
We know that even with a radio station there will still be the small matter of the kind of questions that will be put to those defeated politicians and who will be asking those questions. We have some idea in how to produce such interviews that we will share with our readers at no extra charge.
1. We would have a normal journalist with no legal training conduct the interviews so as not to scare the politicians away. Those politicians would be shocked to death to walk into a radio studio to find Biobele and the other judges behind the presenter’s microphone.
2. We will not tell them that actually Biobele and his colleagues would have arrived at dawn and taken up position in an adjacent room to feed their questions to the journalist using cheap modern technology.
3. When they realize how clever the journalist has suddenly become with legal matters and suddenly call a time out to consult with their lawyers we will reject that and press on. In fact we will tell them their lawyers must remain in the courtroom.
4. We will only reveal this trick at the end of the whole trial and close the radio station.
5. We would justify this deception with Public Interest arguments because we cannot understand how people who were appointed to serve the nation would refuse to appear before a Commission of Inquiry to answer questions about their stewardship by hiding behind partisan considerations. When you are invited in your own right as a former servant of the nation, please show up and answer the questions. Otherwise, is there something we should know in secret?
THE RAINS ARE HERE, BEWARE OF FAKE WEATHER FORECASTERS
We are well and truly in the rainy season now and we know Sierra Leone gets a lot of rain. We thank God for that but we warn people to be very careful with fake social media weather forecasters who have started running riots again. They are all over social media telling people what to do, where to go, even what to eat. And the trouble is all their forecasts bring up extreme weather conditions – flooding, flooding and flooding – thunder and this and that. They never forecast a bright and sunny day and they would typically reference their fake material to credible broadcasters like the BBC and CNN. When people talk about mischief-making on social media, we really can’t find a better example. This is how our fake forecasters do their job:
1. They look at the sky, notice its dark and conclude it will rain within a few hours. Then they will run to social media and throw in garbage.
2. The other alarmists would pick it up and spread it into the million groups of which they are members and ask the question, “is this true?”
3. When they are challenged they would fight back saying they were only seeking clarification. How do you seek clarification from a bunch of laymen about something as complex as forecasting the weather? In fact, if you suspect there is a meteorologist in the groups why not ask an open question rather than recycle garbage?
4. So the day goes by and their forecast turns out to be the spectacular lie it always was and nobody comes back to apologize for spreading fake news.
5. The world is really blessed with smart phones and cheap internet connectivity, but the world is seriously blighted by people who spend all their time in the world using those same facilities to make life miserable for many. By the way, we have just looked outside as we write this and we can authoritatively say they have lied again.
FIFA AND THEIR BULLYING OF SMALL MEMBER STATES
FIFA have again unashamedly proved how much of a racist bully they really are. They have no respect for small nations like Sierra Leone and have told us – well not in as many words – that we only matter because we have a vote that may decide who heads the organization.
How they react when the authority of their approved football officials is challenged in Africa is poles apart from what they do when such a challenge comes from Europe or America. This covers issues ranging from corruption to so-called political interference. Now consider this: Isha Johnasen is arrested by the Anti-Corruption Commission in tiny Sierra Leone on allegations of corruption (she has now been acquitted), and the next minute FIFA reacts by banning the country from international football. The president of the African football confederation (CAF), Ahmed Ahmed is arrested in France for allegedly abusing his office in corrupt sponsorship deals. What does FIFA say? Essentially, they are monitoring the situation and working with all parties. Is this the same FIFA? We will not understand any intricate explanation as to why they behave in this way. They are completely biased against small countries in Africa and Asia.
Now we understand Johansen was on international media once again after snubbing the local media – she said it from day one of her illegal tenure that she “didn’t need the local media to become great.” Well the local media are only interested in her because her not-so-clever maneuvers to cling on to her flawed leadership with FIFA backing make good copy. That’s all!
We hold no brief for the CAF president. In fact we only referenced him to demonstrate FIFA’s racist behavior. Here’s the problem we now have in Sierra Leone.
1. The football association is run by somebody with a questionable mandate from the outset and she does the job mostly from THIRTY THOUSAND FEET above sea level or in European capitals.
2. Even that stolen mandate expired long ago, but like small time African dictators she continues to pull one trick after the other from the hat to stay on.
3. Her favourite trick is this talk about match-fixing, integrity test and all that. In the last five years or so only one footballer has been set aside by FIFA for match-fixing and the reputations of the other people so accused remain in the sewers. They are a collateral damage to the power game.
4. FIFA personnel conducting their integrity tests and the elusive road map leading to an elective congress are mere smokescreens to keep Johansen in power for God knows what.
5. We warn the New Direction that playing hide-and-seek with this issue and invoking the ghost of the Red Camp instead of confronting it head on will hit them really hard. We have an FA president who has no authority or mandate. The day she turns up for a match in the ongoing football league, many fans would boo and quit. It’s that serious.
© 2019 Politico Online
