WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SIERRA LEONE AND COSTA RICA?
"The worship of the image of the president is over, at least under my government," say Luis Guillermo Solis, the new President of Costa Rica.
Maybe we should have narrowed this question down to the point we really want to make here. But there's nothing wrong trying to figure out the many differences between the two countries apart from the very obvious one that while Costa Rica is in the quarter final stage of the World Cup, Sierra Leone's minister of sport is busy telling parliament that our football association is riddled with corruption and match-fixing.
For the pope, that should explain why our team has even suffered defeat at the hands of a weakling like Sao Tome. So let's forget about football and talk about something fundamental. Let's talk politics and governance because according to the BBC: "Costa Rica's newly elected president has passed a decree banning his name being put on plaques at public works. Luis Guillermo Solis, who was sworn in last month, also said he did not want his portrait hung in public offices, which was until now a common practice. The worship of the image of the president is over, at least under my government," Mr. Solis said.
Now you get the point. While Mr. Solis is stopping people from creating a Soviet-style hero out of his leadership, De Pa of Salone is quietly enjoying the spectacle of his bustbeing erected in strategic parts of the country, his photographs hanging on the walls of all public buildings and so on and so forth. Sometimes we wonder, just who is paying for all that. Nobody should tell us that those young people involved in all this worship of the leader are using their own cash. We are all Sierra Leoneans and we know how De Pa is spreading the patrimony. Long Live De Pa!
HARDSHIP GRIPS THE NATION BUT DE PA's GOVERNMENT IS OUT OF TOUCH
Can anybody please tell us what is happening to our country? Can anybody tell us why instead of making progress we appear to be moving backwards? Those enjoying the fruits of the vineyard should be very angry with us for raising issues like these. But raise them we must, because millions of Sierra Leoneans, including our humble selves are suffering. Yes, we are.
There are more beggars on the streets today than even during the war, including those BRA YOU BORBOR DAE YAR,men who believe they must survive out of the pockets of poor guys like us. Well, sometimes we feel like helping people who are poorer than us but things are just bad in De Pa's Salone. We have given up going to Youyi Building for anything. The begging starts from the entrance, continues inside the lifts and in all waiting rooms. Ministers are in big trouble. This can hardly be a good sign in a country like this where we also know of people who within the last five years have become multi-millionaires out of nothing. This is a small place and everybody knows everybody else.
Can somebody tell us why, at a time when many are going without food, a few people are so rich and are shamelessly displaying their wealth to such pornographic proportions? Sometimes the World Bank and IMF talk about growth in our economy - where is that growth in terms of the size of my pocket, the food on our table and the quality of schooling our children are getting?
De Pa travels abroad with big delegations and has appointed many people, whose salaries are quoted in US dollars instead of the leones which they've asked us to now use exclusively and all that. His government is definitely out of touch and the people are under pressure. This is a very serious matter. If things are difficult in Sierra Leone, how come a few who are close to power are so prosperous? Are they more Sierra Leonean than us?Are they more educated than us? It’s Animal Farm all over again. Long Live George Orwell!
KENEMA FOOTBALL TEAM STIGMATIZED OVER EBOLA BY SLFA
If there's one thing the ministry of health has got very badly wrong with this fight against Ebola, it must be the way they have conducted communication around the project. The communication is bad and the result is there for all to see. Arrogant Sarah Palin, simply relied on her ministry's traditional methods of communication in the face of a killer disease like Ebola. The result is disaster. Yes disaster. People are now being openly stigmatised and disgraced.
Look at this: The SLFA invited Kamboi Eagles, winner of the FA cup, to come to Freetown to receive their trophy. Before that they had to play a match at the football academy against De Madam's team. The match was unceremoniously shifted to the national stadium because De Madam didn't want anybody coming from an Ebola zone to go anywhere near her kingdom.
At the award ceremony, De Madam didn't show up, we suspect for the same reason and some of his officials wouldn't shake hands with the players from Kenema. We know the dangers of Ebola, but this was very crazy. If De Madam and her people were so concerned about Ebola, why did they put footballers in harm's way, playing against Kenema in the FA cup, even De Madam's own players?
If they were so concerned about Ebola, why didn't they simply postpone the ceremony and all games involving teams from Ebola areas? Haven't we suspended BECE for Ebola? We are tired writing about this SLFA but they are a catalogue of unmitigated disasters. When they put on a shambolic awards ceremony like what we witnessed the other day, we definitely must come out of retirement to put that on record. Are the people of Kenema all now infected with the Ebola virus? This is collective punishment.
AFRICANS CRYING OVER MATCH BONUS PAYMENTS ON THE PLANE HOME
So a plane carrying three millions US dollars landed in Brazil just in time to settle the wahala in the Ghanaian camp for the boys to take to the pitch in their final game of the World Cup. Great Ghana performed very badly against a weak and distracted Portugal. Before that, two of their players were sent home after a row about money. You know, Africans are not the only people taking part in the World Cup, but apart from the Luis Suarez nonsense, the bonus wahala is the biggest off-field story that journalists have been feeding on.
It's not only Ghanaians who've been crying - Nigerians and Cameroonians also made huge noise about money.
This is Africa - if it's not our athletes declaring asylum after sporting events, it's our players striking for match fees. For Sierra Leone, the Commonwealth games are coming round again. We will not be surprised if our whole given is denied visas for Scotland. They just keep running away.
FIFA has a good idea now on how to deal with this bonus noise. They should easily deduct it from the appearance fees they give to participating countries and pay the bonuses as long as they are presented with the correct budget. All we want is to end this shame of being woken up every morning by the noise on radio about money in the African camp.
(C) Politico 01/07/14
