ANGRY HON. ANSU KAIKAI STORMS RADIO STATION: WHAT WAS HE THINKING
There was real drama inside the studio of Radio Wanjei in Pujehun, last weekend. The main character was a man who first came to parliament in 1996, the Rt Hon. Ansumana Jaia Kaikai. It was simply extraordinary and we think the guy needs lessons in humility especially for people serving in a place like parliament.
Here's what happened. No less a person than the Station Manager invited the MP for a live interactive discussion programme last Saturday night along with two other MPs from the same district. Upon request, Kaikai was told the discussion would revolve around three issues: the Ebola outbreak, Constitutional Review and development activities within his own constituency. Nothing controversial, but our MP failed to turn up. His two other colleagues were in the studio.
At the start of the programme, the presenter tried to account for the absence of MP Kaikai (the station had earlier announced he would be on the show), by announcing that he was indeed invited but he didn't show up. That was what pushed Kaikai over the edge. And the following events took place:
a. The Deputy Chairman of the Pujehun District Council, Kalilu Fofana called into the station and attacked them for holding the MP up to the light in the way they did.
b. The District Council Chairman himself phoned in and made the same point, in a very forceful manner - well that's his usual style.
c. MP Kaikai himself stormed into the station and put himself in a very defensive mood once he went on air. We can't give graphic details of what he said on air but we left Pujehun with this impression: The authorities there need real media education for these reasons.
1. Kaikai told Radio Wanjei he would pay for his own air time when he is ready to talk to the people. We ask him this: how can that be compared to a programme in which people trained for the job are in control? Any media-literate person knows that paid-for programmes are propaganda exercises. Period!
2. The MP made a monumental blunder by refusing to answer to his people through proper journalism. He could have respectfully negotiated his way out of the programme instead of going on air to talk down on the people. He thought he was being hard on the journalists. He was actually talking down on his own people.
3. Why were the two most important local politicians so interested in defending MP Kaikai? We don't expect any answers. Hahahahahahaha! The MP's colleagues in serious countries would pay an unforgettable political price for that. But this is Salone.
"JOBS IN CANADA" - ANOTHER HUGE SWINDLE IN OUR TIME?
Is what we are hearing not another episode of the Wealth Builders project which De Pa's government has failed to properly deal with for the longest time? We all have to ask this question: why are we so vulnerable? How is it that our police and other intelligence services are always unable to prevent criminals from stealing money from the people using such fraudulent schemes?
We have not mentioned the Ministry of Labour that should protect workers' rights because we believe firmly that the current minister should have been sacked the day his ministry was declared the least-performing. We didn't produce the study. It was the government's own report and De Pa promised to act. Several months on, NATIN.
So those Sierra Leoneans who were hoping to land in Canada and with a job in the bag are completely devastated. It hasn't worked and won't work.
Things are so hard in this country that any mad man can come into Sierra Leone with any cheap scam and make money. We have many documents in our possession that clearly point to that scheme being totally fake and we got all of them by checking official Canadian websites and speaking to people in that country. Why was that too difficult for our police?
We are afraid that a time will come when hundreds of young Sierra Leoneans will be recruited from under our noses in Freetown for combat in a foreign land. From the look of things, it's very easy to do that. Every criminal coming to this country is an "INVESTOR". His movement is easily facilitated by an army of so-called ministerial personal assistants through Youyi building. And before the sun goes down, the "INVESTOR" has all his papers and he is in business. And Sierra Leone is first in the DOING BUSINESS INDEX - De Pa celebrates in style. Dis country sorry!
BELEAGUERED NDA THROWN INTO FURTHER CONFUSION OVER MONEY
The continued existence of bits and pieces of what is called the NDA speaks volumes of the decadence into which our politics has fallen. How is it that an unashamedly mono-ethnic party whose flag bearer committed suicide two days to a general election by declaring for the ruling party continues to treat itself as a serious entity? Their "Executive Leader", (we've never heard such title before), is too ill to travel outside the US and the weak political infrastructure he built in Sierra Leone has collapsed like a pack of cards over Goodluck Jonathan's money.
Well, other parties, including the Green Movement, the former rebels in RUFP, Orbangu's UDM, all went to the PPRC, complaining that some members stole Jonathan's largesse. This is a real disgrace - a few thousand dollars is enough to destabilise our parties. Really? Isn't this what The Red Movement has been doing since 2007?
Goodluck Jonathan meant well but see the damage a few US dollars can cause in this sea of greedy politicians we have in Sierra Leone. The PPRC has done its own bit but we believe that only Jesus Christ himself can calm this rough sea now.
There was a time in the recent past when the NDA looked like a good opposition party. Their position on the introduction of the metric system was the best. We remember that. But look where they are now. We believe that this call must go out again: Good Men and Women Must Wake up and Do Something for This Country. Sierra Leone has no serious party - opposition or governing.
SLPP OFFICE IN PUJEHUN NEEDS ATTENTION BUT OSUOFIA IS IN LONDON
Green Movement politicians are busy squabbling for power in Freetown. They are using the courts, they are using the media and all that but their office in the district of Pujehun where they control the local council and all five constituencies is in a very bad shape. We would not be surprised if the police carried out a raid there in the coming days because we are told that young boys have turned the place into a gambler's den. That's the situation in which the Green Movement finds itself in its so-called stronghold.
The party vehicle parked near the building has been in a state of disrepair since the last time we saw it. And that was a long time ago. Come on guys, opposition parties are so important in a democracy that we really can't understand why you are behaving in this way. The recent bye-election results should teach you a lesson but as always you fail to see coming events just like it was in 2007.
Osuofia who has big ambition to be party leader for life is away in the Whiteman's land pursuing PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT, instead of spending time with his people. What is this PhD project really about? Is he thinking about some university post when the final nail is driven through his political coffin next year?
If things continue like this, the Green Movement looks set to be in opposition for a long, long time. Leading a political party by Skype and Facebook is a mad idea in Sierra Leone where fibre optic cables are still being laid, almost seven years since IB Kargbo first mentioned the project
(C) Politico 03/06/14
