WHAT NOW SAY THE MORE TIMERS IN MAMA SALONE?
And it came to pass that De Pa told a group of European Union diplomats that this nation will go to the polls again in 2018. And it came to pass that for weeks leading to that meeting a group of highly qualified sycophants had organised themselves into MORE TIME CAMPAIGNERS, going all over the place telling people De Pa must rule Mama Salone again, and again, and again...well till thy Kingdom come.
And it also came to pass that since that meeting, the MORE TIME Campaign has gone quiet. Looks like they've all returned to their holes kicking themselves in the foot in disappointment. They must be asking themselves thus: why didn't this European Union delegation delay their visit by three months so we could milk a lot more from this campaign? There is a lot of money to be made by simply shouting “More Time”. Undemocratic and anti-people politicians are all over the place funding those groups to demonstrate their so-called love for De Pa.
So this More Time CHOP MONEY door is now tightly locked. Hahahah! Those who managed to get good CHOP MONEY and at the same time build houses can congratulate themselves that we are totally unwilling to go after them for unexplained wealth. But is there any other campaign to consider? We have a few suggestions to make.
1. They can re-start the JBS Movement campaign on a big time footing. Pretend as if you have the same momentum that followed that big funeral not too long ago.
2. The More Timers can transform themselves into members of the JFK Movement. The guy looked very presidentially ambitious when he visited the Seat of Power after his appointment as Attorney General - so much so that you wonder what he had been doing under the guise of fighting corruption. Lord’a mercy!
3. Can they encourage Kothor to introduce them to his friends in Lebanon? Instead of writing on paper to tell their trash proposal would be considered, the More Timers can easily land the things at Bormeh. It will make no difference. In fact, hundreds of thousands of people might rush down to scavenge Lebanese waste.
4. Why can't the More Timers take over LEADERLESS and rudderless UDM Party and use it as a platform to bring pressure to bear on De Pa and so open another pipeline.
5. Or the guys can simply accept defeat, get up, dust their skins and return home to their families. There's no shame trying.
6. They can set up support groups for the BEST PRESIDENT EVER campaign. You know De Pa doesn't get flattered and hardly feels awkward - otherwise many SALAMUTU things they have said about him in his presence he would have attempted to correct.
WITH Ngor CHARLES IN THE VESSEL, EBOLA MONEY NAR BUFF
Well, it's beginning to look as if this Ebola money wahala that appeared to have been swept under the carpet all those months ago has crept back quietly into national reckoning. And inevitably, Ngor Charles of Health for All Coalition is back under the spotlight over that small matter of ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY MILLION LEONES. Let's not waste time on this.
The best thing Ngor Charles can do is to pay the money before the end of March, or challenge the report in court. He doesn't need media people like us to tell him what to do. Ngor Charles kept a really low profile since that debacle in parliament in the hope that the country would move on like we seem to have done over those ONE HUNDRED BUSES. (We still can't see them on Savage Street). Ngor Charles must pay the money! But so must many others whose cases also seem to have been swept under the carpet - thanks to that parliamentary “probe”. Only in Sierra Leone where an audit is audited by less qualified auditors.
We are sure he doesn't have a penny in his organisation's account but we have some suggestions to make to help him get the cash quickly and save his skin.
1. From the evidence in parliament, it was clear to some of us that the money in question had a lot of legs. Ngor Charles should simply retrace those steps and get the owners of those legs to bring back what they got then under the KICKBACK scheme. Salone na kontri!
2. Frankly, Ngor Charles has had enough time to write other project proposals to unsuspecting donor agencies to help raise the money with ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES. So why hasn't he paid?
3. During the first week of March, we will set up cash collection points for generous Sierra Leoneans to drop little grains of sand and water, so that by third week of March, we will have a mighty ocean and beauteous land full of money to pay the ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY THOUSAND LEONES.
4. Does Ngor's organisation have any landed property that we can put up for pawn until the end of the year? Desperate situations require desperate responses. Ngor's reputation is in serious reverse. (That's our euphemistic way of suggesting it is irredeemable in the context of Civil Society work).
5. Can we all just write off this cash as bad debt and move on from Ebola and all its attendant problems? Come on people, time there was when Ngor was the darling of the nation, in terms of Civil Society action. It's payback time.
FIGHTING EXAM MALPRACTICE IN SALONE: OUR VIEWS
We hear the recent conference aimed at fighting examination malpractice in Salone which was really good. Well to the extent that they did something for which Sierra Leoneans are well known - talk, talk and talk. So to many, this was simply another opportunity to talk and make recommendations. Then everybody would return home to continue business as usual. Welcome to Sierra Leone.
So here's what we want to add to this talk, talk and nothing done syndrome:
1. Slowly, slowly technology has crept upon everything we do these days. How come we've not responded to that as it relates to exams and the general security of our campuses? Have the authorities ever seen CCTV in operation? Have they realised what is possible with mobile phones apart from spying in exams and doing Whatsapp and Facebook?
2. Let's be serious about the kind of people we hire to supervise these exams. People who have nothing to lose, no integrity and are known criminals should never be recruited
3. Frankly let's pay our examiners salaries befitting their dignity and the crucial nature of the job they are called upon to do. The money WAEC pays is ridiculous and is always in several months’ arrears.
4. When we catch exam cheats - teachers, administrators or students, they should all go to jail. Let no official run to the police to get them out as it happened in one case we know about in one college.
5. Let's create a database of all exam cheats and make that available to all employers in this country. We must make it almost impossible for them to get jobs
6. Let's make entry into our tertiary institutions very competitive. Let's readjust entry requirements to cater for only the very best. This thing about raising numbers to collect good cash is seriously impacting the quality of teaching and the general output.
7. Ban those carnivals that some parents organise near NPSE exam centres. That's how invigilators are corrupted.
SHAMELESS BLAISE COMPAORE TAKES IVORIAN CITIZENSHIP
So South Africa refuses to hand over an indicted war criminal who entered claiming African unity. Now Alhassan Ouattara is doing everything within his power to keep shameless Blaise Compaore out of the trial chamber at the ICC. We are talking here about the same Ivory Coast on whose watch Laurent Gbagbo was arrested and carted away to The Hague. In fact, we now hear that under Ivory Coast law, no citizen of that country can be extradited by any government. So why did Ouattara allow Gbagbo to be taken away.
Now we believe that Compaore was the man behind the rebellion in the Ivory Coast that eventually brought Ouattara to power. He is now being paid back for his help in toppling Laurent Gbagbo. We have no doubt that he was probably the field commander for the troops who came to Ivory Coast in the same way Charles Taylor coordinated RUF military operations in Sierra Leone.
Only yesterday, Compaore was busy perfecting plans for what we know here as MORE TIME. By the time he realised what was happening, he found himself in exile in Abidjan, the hotel holding his colleagues in the crooked political game up in flames and his parliament partially destroyed. He will soon be on the move from that country because nobody can guarantee how long Ouattara would be in power. We believe his next destination will be Sierra Leone. Safe flight sir!
(C) Politico 01/03/16
