THE FOI QUESTION: BETWEEN THE BERATER AND KAN KAN KAN
What is The Berater really doing at the Government Spokesman's Office? Or what is his idea of being a government spokesman? We are not sure he will risk his current office and all the goodies that come with it to engage us in any public debate about how his colleagues in civilised countries perform the role he is trying to take on here.
In fact, a little bird told us last night that The Berater is hoping, praying and dying for the promised major reshuffle to go ahead now because another deceitful little bird has told him he is in line for a ministerial job. Well, that's up to De Pa, but a lot of people in Sierra Leone will finally make up their minds about where this country is headed when The Berater is made minister of SOMETHING or even ANYTHING.
We were at State House for the signing of the FOI bill when Kan Kan Kan, under no pressure, stood up and recalled a recent presidential visit to the White House to see the most powerful man in the world - Barrack Obama. He said Obama praised this country's democracy but also noted that something very important was still missing from the democratic infrastructure we have here – an FOI LAW. We can't quote him directly now but we are absolutely sure we have captured the essence of what he said in his own words.
So, what was The Berater thinking when he sent an SMS to a radio station, taking issues with a journalist who said that the push for the Millennium Challenge Corporation cash was the main force behind the hurried passage of the FOI bill?
The Berater was away somewhere when the struggle for this basic democratic right called an FOI bill started. It lasted 10 years. And for six of those years the government he serves, which came to office in 2007 promising to enact the FOI, has been in power. Does he now understand why everybody apart from him, commends the Americans for the FOI law? You can't fool all the people all the time, bro.
ANOTHER SLPP MAN FALLS OFF
By the way, our little bird has also told us that an SLPP MP with strong media background and extremely close links with Kothor The Presidential Adviser will soon be appointed Information Commissioner for the FOI. We hear that he has already told friends of his new job about which he is extremely excited.
Well, in true African tradition, we have to congratulate the guy but we have to be also concerned that the opposition in parliament is losing steam daily by looking for bigger and fatter and longer executive cakes – chewable and eatable without end.
For how long has this opposition MP been working towards this milestone? We ask because given the way appointments are made these days people in those kinds of jobs are required to prove their loyalty over a long period and sometimes in public. And loyalty to De Pa means believing without questioning any of his policies and statements. In fact WORSHIPPING him. So our opposition MP has really proved himself a loyal disciple of De Pa. Good luck Mr Information Commissioner!
Once again the nation is in for an expensive and may be violent bye-election somewhere in the South. We would not be the least surprised if the Information Commissioner and outgoing MP were to join in the campaign for the Red House.
SPOTLIGHT ON THE OFFICE OF SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT
Just when we thought that as far as constitutional matters were concerned all attention must now be focused on the Constitutional Review Process, De Pa's government has opened up another huge constitutional argument over the Office of The Speaker of Parliament. Now the usually dead opposition SLPP is jumping up and down alleging a goal is about to be scored from an offside position.
We are also studying the papers from both sides of the argument but we have to say from the outset that we can't understand the urgency with which the government wants to review the qualification clause for the holder of this very important office. Why is the government in so much haste?
A Constitutional Review process is already underway and a lot of public money has been committed to the process. So why can't we wait for that to deal with this office. Directly and indirectly, the government is overwhelmingly represented on that committee and is likely to get what it wants one way or the other.
This haste is causing us some concern and we are beginning to think seriously about what the opposition is saying. We have lived in Sierra Leone for too long to ignore such clear warning signs.
BRITAIN ABANDONS VISA BOND: BUT WHOSE IDEA WAS IT ANYWAY?
The British government has finally pulled back from a policy that would have ensured people within a certain age bracket from certain countries travelling to the UK for certain reasons pay a mandatory bond of around 3,000 pounds as guarantee that they would return to their home countries in line with their permit.
As always with policies like this, opinion was sharply divided between just why Great Britain was attempting to turn itself into a fortress and how to control mass immigration that was beginning to put the squeeze on social services including the criminal justice system.
Somehow the coalition government has convinced itself that the security bond system will not work and has taken the very decent decision to drop the idea. We are waiting to hear from those who celebrated the project. They too have their story.
For us in Sierra Leone, we were very concerned and even worried that people from affected countries in our sub-region would have flooded this country to corrupt their way into getting Sierra Leonean passports to enter Britain. Our immigration service would have collapsed and before long Sierra Leone's status would have changed. We've been spared some embarrassment by the decision to drop the policy. The immigration debate is very much on in the UK. It will rise up the political ladder as the general election approaches. Anything can happen.
PUTTING THE SQUEEZE ON FC KALLON FOR ELECTION DIFFERENCES
Even Mohamed Kallon knew that Isha Johansen's so-called peace overtures after her flawed victory in the last elections were totally ineffective. He knew that people in that SLFA Secretariat were definitely going to try and get back at him and his colleagues on the other side of the election divide. Typical Salone politics!
The Secretariat has the active and clandestine support of a maverick former SLFA official who is probably running the secretariat from his bedroom and the internet cafe at NP Station at Brookfields and sometimes on his mobile phone. When will this manipulation stop!
Here we quote from a letter the secretariat wrote to effectively block the movement of some players abroad for trials that effectively presented them the opportunity of playing in the major football leagues of this world.
SLFA - “The Executive has directed that all transactions on movements of players both within and outside of Sierra Leone to be put on hold until all internal departmental mechanisms are regularized. The issue of the international movement of players falling within the category of MINORS is a particularly sensitive area which the FA is currently scrutinizing vigorously”. (sic)
TWITTER - We thought the secretariat operated continuously whether or not there was an SLFA election. And so far there has been no significant movement of personnel in the secretariat. So why would they be putting things on hold "until all internal departmental mechanisms are regularised"?
And this thing about "MINORS" and the possibility of them travelling abroad; what is the SLFA saying to us? All the players due to travel abroad have been in the PREMIER LEAGUE for at least three years, so how old were they when the same SLFA registered them to play for those Premier League clubs? The SLFA is full of contradictions: on the one hand their executives receive sponsorship money from Mercury company, on the other hand anybody remotely connected to somebody who has connections with somebody who is linked to Mercury somehow, is hated and treated undemocratically by the SLFA. Strange people, the FA.
May be we should deploy SLFA personnel to Niger's border with Algeria to stop MINORS dying in the desert on their way to find work in Algeria.
This same SLFA took the unprecedented step of writing to foreign missions, suggesting MINORS were about to be smuggled out of Sierra Leone to play in Europe. Now we know that Mohamed Kallon was the man in their sight. At the end of the day, the young boys will suffer and the country will not be able to replace those aging players in the national team which continuously concedes goals in the dying seconds of every international game.
We will keep the light shining on this SLFA. Well, that's our job anyway!
© Politico 07/11/13
