RITUAL KILLING IN WILD FREETOWN: ABERDEEN NEEDS ATTENTION
It will be wrong to make all the people of Aberdeen feel guilty for the many anti-social activities taking place in their corner of Freetown. Aberdeen has always been a very difficult place. Because of the hotels and entertainment joints along the beach, prostitutes, hardcore criminals and crude 419ers have made the place home. Crime rate is high and the fear of crime is pervasive there. When you park your car along the beach road, expect criminals to break into it. It's beginning to look as normal as buying sandwich from one of the many beach bars there.
We are still not sure the police have the intelligence, manpower, equipment and money to clean up Aberdeen. Now we have a ritual killing on our hands. Anyway, as the police would say, investigations are underway so all we can do at this stage is to send out a few words to our readers who can't stay away from Aberdeen.
If you cannot stay out of the many parties taking place at Aberdeen even during a state of emergency, then do the following before you attend any party there:
a. Tidy up your will and hand over to your lawyer. You can even select your funeral hymns.
b. Take some friends along who could, at least tell the police that you've vanished from the party
c. Go there with armed bodyguards. You can get a few well armed soldiers from Pallo Conteh. The has many more bodyguards than any other government minister.
d. However pressed you are, don't pick up a prostitute from the beach side.
e. Note that people offering to sell gold and diamonds are total fakes. Ignore them. 419 galore!
f. In the Sierra Leone of today, don't always admire those who have houses that look like heaven. There may dark secrets in the corner of the room at the back. Hahahahahahahahaha.
Please don't pay us any money for this. We are ordinary citizens who want to help people stay safe in Aberdeen, Freetown. We believe that Mayor Bababode should go to Aberdeen in Scotland, the place from which the Freetown settlement got its name and beg for help to clean up Aberdeen, Freetown. We can help fix some appointments...hahahahahahahaha.
MINISTERAL VEHICLES WITH BLACKED-OUT LICENSE PLATES
We believe now is the time for somebody to tell the good people of Sierra Leone why some ministerial vehicles normally have their license plates completely covered at weekends or when we see them in suspicious places long after normal working hours. Last weekend, we drove behind one such vehicle from the south of the country until we got to Mile 91 in the north - Captured Live. The license plate was carefully covered with plastic. Don't tell us it's because of rain.
Maybe the SLRSA should tell us clearly if they have approved such practices. It's such a dangerous thing to do. Such vehicles could escape criminal responsibility in hit and run accidents. Who's with us on that?
Somebody told us that the owners of those vehicles are mainly government ministers using their official vehicles for private matters even at weekends. The one we captured live at Mile 91 was not so disguised because the flag pole was visible even though, like the license plate, the flag was also covered.
We don't know for sure, but we believe that all these ministers and senior government officials have private vehicles they could use for activities totally unconnected to their official duties. They could even collect their fuel allocation for use in their private vehicles. We wouldn't get to know that.
The good people of Sierra Leone are the ones paying for fuel, vehicle maintenance and overnight allowances for the drivers - that's too much. The president of Liberia has sacked ministers for such misuse of official vehicles. We call on De Pa to the same right now. OFFICIAL VEHICLES ARE FOR OFFICIAL MATTERS ONLY. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf works with one hammer: we all do the same. We did a lot of that at the height of the Ebola war.
SLAJ CONGRESS ENDS: BUT IS KENEMA A REAL CITY?
All the journalists are back home after a weekend in the headquarter of the eastern region of Sierra Leone. SLAJ congresses are good events for some break from work, big arguments about media issues and lot's of gossip about politicians in particular. The Kenema congress was no different.
SLAJ has an unwritten political rule to hold the yearly congress in all regional headquarters including Freetown. But, as a body of about SIX HUNDRED members and counting, it looks as if the Kenema destination is unrealistic, with the GREATEST RESPECT to the people of the place. Kenema was simply overwhelmed. The guest houses are inadequate, the catering - a little below standard. In one such facility, the managers were involved in a big wahala with some journalists when generators broke down on the first day. The SLAJ intention to decentralise in this way is good but should Kenema continue on that list?
The real issue is this: Kenema urgently needs central government help. All their main roads are very badly damaged. We saw mining pits on Blama road and on Hanga road of all places, those are not potholes. Look at the good roads in Makeni and Bo. Why is Kenema different? Those guys who were busy breaking stones to fill the mining pits on the roads are doing their best but how long will that last?
We've gone SIX MONTHS into 2015 and Kenema City Council still doesn't have money to fund its budget. We don't know what parliament is looking for. The ordinary people of Kenema who are also citizens of Sierra Leone are suffering for lack of services. Please don't tell us their political stance is the issue at the heart of this collective punishment.
If Mayor Kelfala, himself a bit of a talkative accuses parliament of something they think is baseless, why don't call in the police? We understand the ACC was invited to investigate some allegations made by the Mayor. How far has that gone? Please, the people of Kenema need their money now.
CORRUPTION PROBE: FIFA FIRST THEN ALL NATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
How does a single individual really begin to spend TEN MILLION DOLLARS that they really didn't work for? Well we should ask that question directly to former FIFA Vice President, Jack Warner. An "AVALANCE OF EVIDENCE" has come to light now regarding how that obvious bribe from South Africa through FIFA was spent. This whole thing is becoming smellier and smellier by the day.
And we warn that even the government of Trinidad and Tobago should be very careful with Warner. He could take them down. He once suggested that FIFA money was having a say in who became president of the Caribbean country. This FIFA corruption mess has a very long tail that could touch many people.
In this land that we love, we are calling on those investigating FIFA to also turn their attention to national associations that are directly influenced by FIFA - they behave like Blatter. We want investigators to look at their books and their operating procedures. Blatter did his best to shield them against local laws as long as they voted for him. They are above the law in our countries.
A FIFA man came here and corrupted the electoral system in the SLFA and drove the association to the point of being administered by somebody with a controversial mandate who wouldn't call any further congress as dictated by the SLFA constitution for fear of being impeached. FIFA has left Sierra Leone football in a mess. We know of other countries that are in the same situation with FIFA hit men going around the world destroying local organisations.
Let the investigations go really deep. Please come to Sierra Leone right now.
Organisation like FIFA should learn this lesson: NEXT TIME WHEN THE BIG BOYS COME FOR SOMETHING, GIVE IT TO THEM.
© Politico 09/06/15
