RED CAMP LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK
There is joy in the RED CAMP as the government finally pays their much-awaited end-of-service benefits. We are very happy that finally we are about to get closure on this issue. We believe people must be paid what they are owed no matter the quality of service they provided while in public office. King Messi of the kingdom of Makeni will get the biggest cut followed by Vice President by default. We have no idea what will happen to Chief Sidikie who was sacked before he could retire. We remain fully engaged with the situation around the chief.
Many Sierra Leoneans have complained bitterly on social media about the Principal prioritizing such payments at a time when competing demands in health and education appear abandoned. Payment is now made so let’s move on to discuss what the RED CAMP people are going to do with the cash. Naturally they will not tell us but we have some suggestions.
1. Seriously, guys, when the money hits your accounts go to Crown Bakery for the first time in more than a year and have a heavy meal. Call some friends around and enjoy. The last one year has been really difficult and the next will be even more difficult. So go on and have your day in the sun.
2. Whatever you do, please save some money for your lawyers at the Commissions of Inquiry and the possible action to follow once the report is released and the Afro Man at the ACC returns to the trenches.
3. Pay some of the debts you have racked up in the last one year. Your creditors know you have been paid. Don’t allow them to turn up at your door with a Man in blue.
4. Invest in some small business like selling cold water in sachets at the stadium. That’s good business, guys. Back it up with some provisions from those blue barrels along Rawdon Street. There’s no shame in that. Better and more dignified than to steal state money.
5. Don’t take any money to RED HOUSE as compensation to those who think they helped get the money from Principal. The money belongs to you. In fact, your former spokesman has also signed cheques from his hideout for a friend to clear his account once the alert comes through. This information is confidential please!
BANK OF SIERRA LEONE RENOVATION BACK ON, AT LAST!
At last we’ve seen some men on scaffoldings around the Bank of Sierra Leone building. Our last publication on the issue was out of complete frustration as ordinary tax-paying citizens of Sierra Leone disgusted with the condition of our central bank. If the money to give the bank’s physical condition a facelift had been approved all this while what was the hold-up about? Yes there was a change of government and it took some time for the Professor from Greeley Colorado to be appointed but there was an administration in place.
Now that work has resumed pleased hear us on the following issues:
1. Did the cost of the renovation remain the same from the Koroma days? We will not accept any unreasonable increase because we did not ask the Professor from Colorado to delay the job. In fact we are coming to his handling of that place at a later date. Writing long and boring articles is not the same as running a central bank.
2. Can we be assured that the cladding materials being used on that building are of good quality? We have a very bad recent example of how shoddy cladding could be dangerous, like in the Grenfell Tower fire incident in London.
3. When will this job be completed? We are fed up with seeing that eyesore in central Freetown.
4. While we are on this, can the Colorado Prof please withdraw old and rotten bank notes from circulation? Burn them up now. We always suspected our family of banknotes introduced here a few years ago under the false pretext that they were dirt and water resistant.
5. Also prepare some answers for us in the next two weeks when we begin to make the case for about a dozen Sierra Leoneans you just unjustly sacked. Your predecessor took them to the CID and later ACC on all types of allegations but they walked free. Then you put the cart before the horse by opening some kangaroo internal inquiry and then sacked them. We are now ready to handle this matter.
DRIVE ALL BEGGARS OUT OF THE NATIONAL STADIUM PLEASE
There’s no football fan that goes through the gates of the so-called presidential pavilion these days who is not sick to death with harassment by unconventional beggars swarming all over the place like locusts in a cornfield. We call them unconventional because unlike those under the Cotton Tree, these ones always look reasonably well-dressed and fed. They call people names like Manager, Chairman, Minister and this and that, even though you might be seeing them for the first time.
The stadium management and the Sierra Leone Premier League Board and the teams hosting matches at the stadium should know that people go to that place to relax and not to be pushed around by unconventional beggars, some of who end up breaking into cars and stealing from fans. The manager should be told that after charging people a fee to enter the place with their cars it is their responsibility to secure those assets. Manager Paul Damulay please answer these questions:
1. How could people who would take as small as le 2,000 after begging and begging be found at the so-called presidential pavilion that is open only to accredited people and those who can pay TWENTY times the cost for open stand?
2. In fact why is it that whenever it rains people from the open stands simply rush into the two covered stands? Is it that lawless at your place?
3. Aren’t you aware that all the fights and use of foul language at the so-called presidential pavilion come from people who are not supposed to be there in the first place?
4. The toilets at the presidential pavilion are not that bad but they will do with some good anti-septic liquids to deal with the smell of urine that greets people at the door. Is that too expensive sir?
5. If you can’t give people presidential treatment at the so-called presidential pavilion then cut the price by half, only because there is some shade. Some of the half that remains with the ticket holder will be used to give alms to your beggars and pay to secure their cars.
DRIVING PRISONERS AT BREAK-NECK SPEED TO JAIL IS WRONG.
The other day we were forced off our lane on Pademba Road heading into town by the Correctional Services vehicle running at breakneck speed returning prisoners to the jail yard after court hearings. They also had a siren blaring all the way. We can’t understand what this is all about. This is not the first time we have witnessed the Correctional Services behaving this way.
We will not be surprised to wake up one morning to hear that a serious crash had taken place involving that vehicle, because forcing your way through such heavy traffic is a perfect way to prepare for a crash.
It is wrong for people who have been confined for offending society and are being taken care of with our cash to be given preferential treatment on the roads when there is absolutely no danger of them escaping from the vehicle.
To stop that ill-advised behavior, open a second gate into the prison yard so that after court sessions you will drive through State Avenue, drive past parliament, get into the hillside bypass road and enter your prison from the area opposite Winners Chapel. Try this and get back to us.
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