ONE ULTIMATUM AFTER ANOTHER – NOW DE PA IS VERY ANGRY
Just when we thought we should comment on this important issue of organisations issuing ultimatums all over the place comes a very angry press release from a very angry De Pa. He presents a smiling face all the time but it looks as though he is now fed up with all these ultimatums. And, according to the BERATER in the Office of the Government Spokesman, such ultimatums are "undermining the country's democracy". Come on Mr. Spokesman or whatever you are, what kind of a democracy is this that three ultimatums from few small time organisations can easily undermine? People of such ilk are simply find criticism intolerable. Is there anything said not by a government official that doesn't undermine democracy in your view?
Here are the people who the BERATER says are "undermining democracy":
a. A group calling itself Revolutionary Sports Journalists gave the Ministry of Sports a 21-day ultimatum to clear their own goods from the port or else…
b. Health Alert then came with another 21-day ultimate for the Ministry of Works to fix more than 5,000 potholes in Freetown alone or else...
c. The Sierra Leone Chamber for Agri-business Development also gave a 21-day ultimatum for the implementation of the Local Content Policy or….
As public utilities continue to fail, more ultimatums will be issued.
In the meantime let's read what De Pa said in his press release:
STATE HOUSE: IT HAS COME TO THE ATTENTION OF HIS EXCELLENCY THE
PRESIDENT THAT OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS VARIOUS CIVIL SOCIETY
ORGANISATIONS HAVE ISSUED ABSURD ULTIMATUMS TO GOVERNMENT THREATENING CERTAIN ACTIONS IF THEY ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ITS PROGRAMMES IN THE AREAS OF INFRASTRUCTURE, AGRICULTURE AND LOCAL CONTENT POLICY.
TWITTER: Well, we are also concerned that the government appears to be too slow for the liking of many of its citizens hence all these ultimatums. And we don't agree with De Pa that the ultimatums are "absurd". In fact some of the so-called policies are so mixed with cheap politics that people don't know what to believe or who to trust. So who or what is really absurd? Now you know.
Look what has come of OPERATION WID that was launched with such presidential authority inside State House. It's now a huge fund-raising exercise with SLRTA unnecessarily towing cars everyday while traders violate the law and run to State House for cover.
STATE HOUSE: GOVERNMENT WANTS TO MAKE IT ABUNDANTLY CLEAR THAT THE PROGRAMMES AND PROJECTS THAT ARE THE SUBJECT OF THESE ULTIMATUMS ARE GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES THAT WERE DESIGNED IN RESPONSE TO THE NEEDS OF THE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY AND ARE BEING IMPLEMENTED IN THEIR FAVOUR. THEREFORE, NO SINGLE ORGANISATION OR GROUP OF ORGANISATIONS CAN PRETEND TO BE SEEKING THE INTEREST OF THE PEOPLE MORE THAN THE ELECTED GOVERNMENT WHICH HAS INITIATED AND IS LEADING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THESE PROGRAMMES. THE APPROACH TAKEN BY THE SAID CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS IS MISCHIEVOUS AND A FORM OF MORAL BLACKMAIL WHICH WILL NOT BE TOLERATED BY GOVERNMENT.
TWITTER: Let's face it! There are times when even the government becomes indifferent to its own programmes. Sometimes they announce projects purely for political reasons. Didn't Tejan Kabbah talk about a bridge to Lungi? Didn't he also pledge to end hunger in Sierra Leone? In the fullness of time we shall discuss De Pa's projects, but already the issues are piling up. So the people have a right to bring pressure on government to get them moving.
And on this issue of blackmail, please, De Pa is the last person to complain about being blackmailed. He has allowed himself to be blackmailed by all sorts of people for only one reason – to get votes. So what is he talking about!
In the same week he issued the document now under scrutiny, a group of lawless traders defied the dictates of Operation WID and marched to State House to see De Pa. Our information is that De Pa, again, under heavy blackmail, reversed the police action against the traders.
Many people expect a departing president to be tough and work hard to secure his legacy. But one year after re-election, De Pa continues to behave as if it's the eve of another election in which he is a candidate. We are now being compelled to take Failed Logus Koroma's third term project with some seriousness.
STATE HOUSE: GOVERNMENT WISHES TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE RESPECTIVE MINISTRIES, DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES WILL SOON BE PROVIDING THE NATION WITH UPDATES ON THEIR ACTIVITIES IN THE SPECIFIC AREAS MENTIONED HEREIN, GIVING ASSURANCES IN EACH CASE THAT IMPLEMENTATION IS ON TRACK.
TWITTER: In our opinion, this paragraph would have been the most appropriate response to such concerns from the ordinary people of Sierra Leone. We are not surprised that the Government BERATER was so disrespectful of Civil Society organisations yesterday on radio. His attitude goes to the heart of how a government that shouts democracy treats public opinion. Every time people cry about poor social services, the BERATER and others accuse them of being "political". Let them please try another trick. This is cheap and shameful.
SARAH MIATTA PALIN IN DE PA’s CABINET
You probably remember the US vice president that never was. Sarah Palin had good looks complete with her designer glasses. But substance she carried not much of. And arrogance she had in no short supply. We notice some comparisons with our own Health Minister. We have been shocked by her display of arrogance amid her newfound status as a minister. The other day she drove into Old Railway Line from McDonald Street and arrogantly drove against the traffic. No emergency! Last week we spotted her at Upgun Turntable again. She was stopped by the police to allow for kids to cross the streets. Her official vehicle, paid for by ordinary people she has no respect for, refused to obey the state police or respect the kids. She defied the stop and went away. The other day she went to the Connaught Hospital Mortuary and derided the workers there threatening the place must never be left to smell or she would deal with them. How much does her ministry allocate to the mortuary anyway! Even if it does give them all the money in the world people deserve some respect however lowly they may be. Basic courtesy and humility, Sarah Miatta Palin.
JAMMEH PULLS GAMBIA OUT OF THE COMMONWEALTH – BUT WHEN IS HE PULLING OUT OF POWER?
The strong man of Gambian politics has dropped another bombshell. He has taken the good people of The Gambia out of the Commonwealth claiming the organisation is only there to continue projecting colonialism. We have a few questions for the Commonwealth too but we are quite sure that Jammeh has made a big mistake.
So after 19 years in power and in the Commonwealth, the man who claims to have found a cure for HIV/Aids has suddenly discovered that the Commonwealth is all about colonialism. How does he square that with the fact that the organisation refused to legitimise his flawed re-election recently? That is the issue this withdrawal is trying to address. As far as we are concerned, Jammeh should now start taking steps to end his unnecessarily long, dictatorial and increasingly temperamental rule in our sister country. All he is doing is consolidating power and driving his opposition voices out of the country. Many more are in jail.
Here is a president who got up one morning and announced he would kill dozens of his compatriots on death row as a consequence of questionable trials. He quickly killed nine and under intense international pressure, he put the other killings on hold.
Jammeh doesn't want organisations like the Commonwealth to speak out against barbaric acts like that. Sierra Leone has a lot of reasons to thank the Commonwealth for. We complain a lot about our police but they can hold their own in West Africa. The Commonwealth made that possible.
Many students have studied abroad and are now working here and in The Gambia because of the Commonwealth, although we have evidence of only a few families recently enjoying such scholarships in Salone. The Gambia is better in than out.
END GAME IN SLFA – THE HARSH LESSONS IN SELF-DESTRUCTION
After reviewing all the information we have gathered from the SLFA congress, we are now satisfied that we have a clear idea how the organisation landed itself in this fine mess in which it is – in terms of the credibility of its institutions and work processes. There are many Sierra Leoneans who as from now will not touch the SLFA with a 20-foot barge pole. Some who are hanging in there have no choice because they have to put food on the table.
We have papers and recordings of meeting in different places, we have listened to conversations that were recorded without the permission of the SLFA and government officials involved. And as professional journalists, we will use them when the time is right.
We want to say however that the main beneficiary of this flawed electoral process and her allies have done a dangerous thing. They knew from the outset they had no chance against their opponents. Their strategy was clear: use politicians and get what you want, then think about other issues later.
The politicians have bullied the aggrieved people out of their protest and from the point of view of MADAM, she is the winner. We warn that when the politicians come for their pay, she will have no one to turn to. When you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
FISHING EXPEDITION PULLS EMPTY BAIMBAY AT KAMARA'S ACC AGAIN.
We think the time is now right for people wrongly accused, charged and made to stand trial for corruption by Josie Kamara's ACC to go to court to seek huge compensation for the enormous damage done to their reputation. We know the ACC Act does not provide for this, but the adverse publicity that goes with being arrested for and charged with corruption is so overwhelming that a lot of people who have gone through that unfortunate experience would find it almost impossible to recover. It is grossly unfair for the ACC to arrest, charge and prosecute people, only for a judge to throw the case out and tell the ACC they should study their cases better before charging people. Our gut feeling is that the problem lies with the ACC prosecutors and not with the courts in this regard.
When the nation cried for the ACC to be given the power to charge and prosecute their own cases, they didn't bargain for this kind of shoddy legal work. Josie and his prosecutors are not doing their reputations any good by losing cases every three months. We don't like making hasty comparisons but Tejan-Cole had far better results in the same courts. And he wasn't paid Le 48 million. That Gavi case is falling apart.
© Politico 08/10/13
