ASO ROCK COMES TO TOWN: BUT FOR HOW LONG?
At last De Pa has appointed a group of people to run the beleaguered Ministry of Energy. The man from ASO ROCK is now the minister. Recent events have caused many to have mixed feelings about the choice of ASO ROCK for this job. We are looking carefully at the reasons behind De Pa's choices. There are some indications but please bear with us until we conclude our investigations.
We make bold however, to say that ASO ROCK or not, electricity supply is back to the days just before the 2007 elections that brought De Pa to State House. Let's note the following:
a. We are definitely not excited about ASO ROCK coming to electricity house for obvious reasons. But at least, with him there, that so-called Energy Adviser at State House who gave that sycophantic interview to a radio station recently, will return to his SPU boardroom at the big house, keep quiet and enjoy his huge salary for doing nothing.
b. The appointment of that talkative US army major as deputy has confirmed our fears that very little will happen in that place. Here is an army major who once spoke for almost four hours on a flight between London and Freetown about what he would do if he became president of Sierra Leone. He lost the Green Movement ticket woefully and subsequently did what people like him would do - go away to look for pastures green. By the way we are investigating his middle name relative to his elder brother's first name with a view to establishing some O Level and university papers. This is Sierra Leone for you!
c. Can De Pa assure us that this new set of ministers wouldn't have been sacked by this time next year? We have very good reasons for asking.
d. Can De Pa please nominate Robin Fallay for the vacant board chairman post at the SLRTC for which Maya Kaikai just went through parliament? When did De Pa realise Maya Kaikai will be a good minister instead of a board member? This is the second time this is happening. De Pa appointed Sarah Palin as head of Operation WID and within a week, he appointed her to fight disease. So like Sarah Palin, like Maya Kaikai. Hahahahahahahah! So much for strategic thinking.
FALLAY IN PORTLOKO AS EBOLA RACKS TROUBLED KAILAHUN
We have seen Robin the son of Fallay on two occasions distributing books and other school materials in the northwestern district of Port Loko and making big speeches about De Pa's "commitment to quality education and the development of Portloko". Yeahhhhhhh, interesting stuff eh? It's almost as if this guy now lives in Port Loko.
So Robin the son of Fallay, the man who says he loves Kailahun more than any other person, the man who says he will put his life on the line for Kailahun, has packed out of the place as Ebola continues to destroy lives there.
Robin the son of Fallay did not say a word when schools were closed in Kailahun. Now he is distributing books and other school materials in far away Port Loko while his own grandchildren are out of school. Great Robin! There's another vacancy now at NACSA too. We are on the hunt for a few more for you. We charge no fees, please!
Out of curiosity, please let us know when your "After U nar U" campaign will be formally launched. We are waiting. The nation has already spoken on the issue but we hear that in the next five weeks, you will formally launch the project to actualise the "After U nar U" thing.
Please remember to make your budget and sources of funding public too. There is no half democracy. You will soon come face to face with what we call THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE.
GHANA MIDDLE CLASS POWER vs. SIERRA LEONE MIDDLE CLASS SYCOPHANCY
Middle class Ghanaians took to the streets the other day to protest against rising cost of living and a somewhat indifferent government. And the Kenyans have been observing Saba Saba Part 2 for a similar reason.
Ghana is just two hours from Freetown and we have adopted many things from that country but we have not copied the political courage of the powerful Ghanaian middle class.
Here's a group of people who can afford to live a good life - travel abroad, live in fantastic houses and all that - standing up to support the poor of their country. It wasn't easy going on the streets because the Ghanaian police have a bit of that Munu mentality in them. So they only allowed half a dozen protesters to deliver a petition to their president.
Where's the middle class in Sierra Leone? They are completely disengaged. They are looking for government contracts, singing thy praise O De Pa and hanging out on the beach and in petrol stations, talking big over food and booze and insulting the poor. Anything that threatens that lifestyle they don't encourage, including telling De Pa to his face, like those middle class Ghanaians did, that life is hard and people are dying.
So disengaged they are that they live behind high walls in exclusive suburbs of Freetown, with expensive SUVs, satellite dishes peeping over the walls and their children either abroad or in some school where the annual fee is a poor man's life savings. O Sierra Leone middle class! No country can develop if the middle class behaves like the one we have in Sierra Leone.
SALARIES TO FIGHT EBOLA: WHY ALL THIS POLITICAL SHOW?
Please let's not turn this fight against Ebola into a political football. When we heard that ministers were giving away half of their salaries to the struggle against Ebola, we saw raw politics and publicity behind it all. De Pa's government loves publicity, well that which says De Pa is the greatest and all other people are not fit to untie his sandals. Yes!
Ok, please give the money to Sarah Palin and let us be able to verify it. We don't want you making an announcement for public consumption and not give a penny. That's very important.
And please we don't want ministers organising "workshops and sensitisation meetings" throughout July and August. If they must, then we want to see the budget. Otherwise, whatever money is given to Ebola will be recovered from such programmes.
We call on all Permanent Secretaries not to approve any cash for the next six weekends for so-called familiarisation meetings up country. It's a big money spinner. Hahahahahah! By the way we hope ministers agreed to make those donations from their salaries willingly. Please don't complain in some corner about this.
On another note, are members of parliament giving anything like the ministers are? We are waiting to hear from them. Sheeeyor!!!!!
CABINET INTERFERES IN MEDIA OPERATIONS AGAIN AND AGAIN
We are settling into a familiar but dangerous pattern of media regulation in Sierra Leone - when the government is not happy with the way the Independent Media Commission adjudicates a particular complaint, especially those relating to ministers, they issue a cabinet directive and compel the IMC to implement it. This is hardly the way to treat a regulator.
It's the second time this is happening in just two years. It started with Africel Radio. Now it's the turn of Monologue - a network radio programme. Who's next please?
The procedure by which a media institution is suspended from operation is clearly set out in the IMC Act. Going around it by claiming or even feigning "national security" is not very clever. Is there no national security question when ordinary people are involved?
Why can't the government act without bringing the IMC into the issue? Here is this bizarre scenario; the IMC meets and decides on an issue today, next day the government holds its own meeting on the same issue and INSTRUCTS the IMC to do its bidding. There is no need going through the IMC then. In fact if the government had such powers to directly regulate the media, why do they make a complaint to the IMC in the first place?
Is the government telling us that every time they make a complaint to the IMC, the case must be decided in their favour?
When the media, led by SLAJ refused to close ranks and stop the government when they tried it with Africel Radio, they opened the way for what we have today. Media people always behave in self-serving ways. Some openly collaborated with the government at the time.
Unless the law is changed, the government should never step into the work of the IMC in this way. Or they should simply go to 444 parliament, close the IMC and impose direct rule on the media.
Let's not fool ourselves, the media in this country have no prospect of being FREE under De Pa.
(C) Politico 08/07/14
