DAY STREET VIOLENCE SHAMES FREETOWN AGAIN
Are we running out of ideas in dealing with regular street violence by so-called school children and football hooligans who have turned the lives of people in certain parts of this city upside down?If you live in the affluent suburbs of Freetown spare a thought for people living on Circular Road, between Christ Church and Regent Road, and those who use that stretch of road during the evening rush-hour who have to put up with their cars being smashed, mobile phones and money being stolen while suffering physical injury and stress every other week. It’s as serious as that.
Exactly why pupils from Government Model and Rokel Secondary Schools should be having a go at each other with disgraceful regularity is something somebody should explain to the rest of us in this city. Instead of having quiz competitions and debating issues of national significance, these pupils engage in pelting people with stones and repeatedly turning that very busy part of Freetown into a war zone.
Football hooligans just down the road at Parade Grounds who gather for so-called Community League every evening have not helped the situation. They are always engaged in sporadic violence as COFA authorities, who are largely concerned with the money they collect, look on helplessly. COFA has lost control. That’s a FACT.
Let De Pa consider the following:
1. Sack the principals of Model and Rokel Secondary Schools immediately. They bear the greatest responsibility for the behavior of their pupils. NO EXCUSES. This thing has gone on for too long.
2. The police should carefully pick out the criminal elements responsible for the violent conducts by raiding their homes, arresting and prosecuting them, come what may. On conviction, let us put them away for a long time and display their photos in the schools to send a powerful message.
3. It will cost a bit of money but let’s have a basic police deployment at Model Junction daily - particularly at the end of the school day. We must stop criminal pupils from distressing people in the way thing are happening now.
4. As for COFA, the league must be BANNED immediately. We must do that now until a proper security assessment is done to determine if crowds of that size can be allowed to gather for high pressure football in that place. Some of COFA’s funds should be confiscated to compensate those whose properties have been damaged and those injured.
5. De Pa must warn his minister AL-SANKS to take his politics out of security matters. The last time COFA was banned, he,it was, who out of political correctness, produced some foolish communiqué that he said marked the end of football violence at Parade Grounds. Now the thing is worse. Let the minister stay in his office. Please.
AFTER 30 YEARS ON THE RUN,HISSÈNE HABRÉ JAILED AT LAST
The dictator of Chad came face to face with victims of his bloody rule in Chad in a courtroom thousands of miles away on Monday. Hissene Habre fled to the West African country of Senegal when his people lost patience and chased him from power. He tried all the tricks in the book to stay away from the law but when his appeal fails, and it will fail, Habre will spend the rest of his miserable life in jail.
The best thing Senegal can do is to get assurances from Chad that he will not be hanged or tortured and then transfer him to the same jails where he tortured and killed many.
When such things happen we always turn around to ask whether the current leaders of Africa are learning anything. There are many others who should be looking over their shoulders now to see if a police officer was pulling up to deliver a summon.
Laurent Gbagbo is in jail in The Hague because he refused to accept the verdict of the people at the ballot box and instead set in motion a chain of events that led to many deaths. Blaise Compaore thinks he is safe in Abidjan after causing deaths and destruction in his country because the people stopped him from subverting the democratic process.
Pierre Nkurunziza is another candidate for the same Habre and Gbagbo kind of treatment. He would like to stay in power forever. Look at all the killings in that country now.
We find ourselves in a continent full of power hungry politicians who use the security forces against their own people. Hissene Habre will rot in Jail, like Charles Taylor and eventually like Gbagbo and Compaore.
We congratulate the human rights community of the world for the struggle to bring the dictator of Chad to justice.
SCORING MANY GOALS AND EVADING TAXES – GREAT Messie
There is definitely no disagreement about the FACT that whichever way we analyse football, LIONEL MESSI, the Barcelona midfielder is a GENIUS – a REAL GENIUS. He dribbles defences and scores fantastic goals and assists his colleagues to shine by also scoring bags full of goals. Ask that racist Uruguayan called Suarez.
Messi also dribbles tax authorities in Spain. They have had to look in far away tax havens to find out where Messi hides the money he is supposed to pay in taxes to the tax man in Spain. Tax authorities in Spain have finally seen the loophole in their tax line of defence and have found a way of tackling Messi. Can they now pass the trick on to the guys on the other La Liga sides? The new season is fast approaching.
So Messi told the tax authorities in Spain that he signs contract document without reading the fine prints. That in fact, it’s up to his father, who is also his agent to tell him things and secure his interests. Really?
1. Does this GENIUS of a footballer want to tell us he is that stupid when it comes to dealing with contracts? Or is this a lawyer trying to be clever knowing his client is facing jail?
2. If Messi is so clever to conclude that it’s good to keep the money in the family by appointing his father as agent, should we even listen to his nonsense about him signing contracts without reading them?
3. In the light of what we now know about his tax dealings, is there anything Messi would like to tell us now about his near perfect performances on the field?
4. Messi doesn’t read contract documents before signing them. Is that also true of Papa Messi? Let these guys try another trick please.
5. There are many defenders in La Liga who wouldn’t mind Messi being put away for the first half of the next season. The guy is causing too much trouble for them. We doubt Messi will remain in Spain for more than two years more whichever way this trial goes.
EDSA AND THE TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR ELECTRICITY
When it becomes possible to successfully prosecute utilities like EDSA, the corporation will be inundated with lawsuits by Sierra Leoneans who continue to suffer for an electricity supply that trips on and off like twinkle twinkle little star, leaving us to wonder what it is that we call electricity in Sierra Leone.
These days, in a three to four hour period, light goes on and off like eight times. How can anybody explain that? Appliances are being destroyed but it’s impossible for anybody to bring a court action against EDSA to recover their losses.
We are fed-up with EDSA’s excuses. We need action. If you can’t keep the light on, shut the system down. Please!
(C) Politico 01/06/16
