TRADE MINISTER PAY ATTENTION TO AFRIGAS AND OTHERS
Afrigas and their counterparts are doing something we don’t understand. We want the Trade Minister to help us understand why these people have increased the price of cooking gas TWICE IN JANUARY alone - 18th and 24th. They did the same thing in FEBRUARY - 20th and 27th 2023. Going by this trend prices would reach Mars by JUNE.
Minister Sandy should know this because he belongs to that class that uses cooking gas instead of charcoal or wood. Obviously, he can afford it and we have nothing against that but since he is our minister and we are paying him to regulate these people, why is he burying his head in the sand over the drip drip increase in the price of cooking gas?
Our attention has been called to this by the many people now moving away from charcoal burning to reliance on cooking gas. Instead of being rewarded for saving our environment, it’s almost as if they are being told to return to Charcoal because it’s cheaper. We know that efforts were made in the last budget to relax some taxes on gas so why is it not reflecting on the price of the commodity?
Several months back when we protested, we were told by somebody in the trade ministry that prices went up because of the canister. Just imagine such an argument. We will only understand that in the case of people buying gas for the first time. People doing refills have no business thinking about the cost of the canister. It’s like asking us to pay for a satellite dish, LNB and cables every time we recharge our TV subscriptions. Mr. Minister this cannot stand.
How can Afrigas really explain this: 6Kg refill moves from Le 165 to Le 180 and 12 Kg refill from Le 330 to Le 360? This thing about global this and that is the cover they are using to justify whatever. We call on the Trade Minister to look into this and help the people of this land that we love realize the sacrifices being made on their behalf by the government by readjusting taxes. We will be back.
TOLONGBO COULD FACE MORE FINES FOR MAMMY CUSS
We are told SHEIK JAGABAN has a very deep pocket. The Red Movement’s recent acquisition is said to be worth about 50 million US DOLLARS. We haven’t yet seen things like tax returns to confirm one way of the other but do we really have to? Let’s just believe what they are telling us and play along. In the coming days and weeks, it will be up to JAGABAN to confirm or deny what those who want him to work with Orsamu are saying.
For now, we think the Red Movement should ask SHEIK JAGABAN to deposit a cool 120 grand NEW LEONES into the bank account of PPRC to save his party from any further embarrassment. PPRC has slapped the Red Guys hard for turning a blind eye or pretending to be deaf when their supporters unleash container loads of Mammy Cuss even at official events.
There are times when we’ve waited for the big guys in the Red Movement to stand up and close such bad behavior down as soon as the boys begin to go off track but we have always been left totally disappointed.
So even for SHEIK JAGABAN who is as rich as Donald Trump, paying 120 grand NEW LEONES for Mammy Cuss will be a bit of a stretch. That’s apart from the man being a SHEIK. SHEIKS should have nothing to do with Mammy Cuss.
We advise that when you go asking JAGABAN for the money please put it under miscellaneous expenses and don’t explain the details. PPRC would not exactly be looking forward to another round of Mammy Cuss but they wouldn’t mind laughing all the way to the bank daily between now and July. By that time things would have simmered down.
AVOIDING RAPE CHARGE AS AN EPL PLAYER
We can produce a long list of celebrities, including EPL players being charged with rape. It’s not a new thing but what is new is that these days the number of EPL players charged is growing and we have a reason to be concerned. It’s not our mission to create the impression that just because they are EPL player they cannot commit rape. We are saying that the outcome of some of these cases confirms our suspicion that there is something fishy about those arrests and prosecutions.
So EPL players should read this and stay out of trouble.
1. Concentrate all your energy on the field of play and of course in training. As young people you may want to hang out with friends and enjoy yourself. By all means do that but your primary focus should be on playing football and keeping fit.
2. This culture of going to clubs all the time or organizing parties of whatever type in your home should be abandoned. That’s where all the allegations or lies about rape or inappropriate contacts begin. Stay with your wife or fiancé for the duration of your playing career because that’s the time you are most vulnerable.
3. Money is at the center of all these allegations. Stop spending money like drunken sailors. There’s nothing wrong with living the good life when you can afford it but tone things down a bit. You are only attracting greedy people looking to get a big slice of your savings. They have lawyers in the background.
4. Let’s address the last point to our African brothers playing in the big leagues of Europe. Many of you are from desperately poor villages and that’s why we find it hard to believe some of the things we read about your arrogance and lifestyle once you sign those pornographic contracts. Some of you have returned and helped the less privileged in your home countries but there are many others that have turned away from their places of birth, pretending to be Europeans. You are just fooling yourselves.
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION IS BACK: PLAY BY THE RULES
The nation’s Supreme Court has ruled that the elections in June this year, should be conducted using the Proportional Representation or PR system. Unless the same court overturns its own decision, there’s nothing anybody can do about it. Of course there are arguments here and there about the verdict – that should be expected in a democracy but let’s all prepare for PR.
This is not the place to start teaching people about PR but we can simply say that in the end, political parties would put candidates forward on a list and depending on the number of votes they get in a particular district, seats would be allocated to them. Those utterly divisive and chaotic bye-elections are gone because in the event of somebody leaving office and dying, the next person on the list takes the place automatically. So the whole thing starts with getting on the list in the first place. Our concern is about those lists.
1. Already we are hearing about party executives in some districts doing things that are clearly against the letter and spirit of PR. It is up to political parties to allow party hacks to cheat good candidates and force them out of the district lists. They’ll see how local people would react.
2. No matter how genuine some district executives are, unless the process by which people appear on the list is made absolutely transparent and fair, there would be cries of foul play and political earthquakes may follow.
3. Political parties MUST set out criteria that are not skewed to satisfy certain people and follow their own rules for putting people on the list. The criteria must be widely publicized so the people can monitor how things play out.
4. Please let’s eliminate money from this process of putting names on the list. In other words people should not be made to offer bribes to be on party lists. We are not from Mars, it’s possible. Maybe the ACC should be ready to investigate these things, after all a corrupt individual might just end up in a big office of state.
Copyright © 2023 Politico Online (01/03/23)
