THE HIGH COMMISSIONER AND RIGHT-HAND DRIVE VEHICLES
Politicians have always accused the media of quoting them out of context, being sensational, accentuating the negative and all that. Here is a classic case of a politician abandoning his own public position on a matter as simple as banning right-hand drive vehicles from the streets of Sierra Leone. We all saw the TV programme in which the High Commissioner made his views known to the country. His views were widely reported in the local press.
Something definitely happened somewhere and the next thing we saw was a press release on the pro-government Cocorioko website telling the world that our High Commissioner might have been misunderstood because all he was doing on that programme was furthering government policy and in fact, the press release was only an attempt to the following:
High Comm. - “unequivocally register my unwavering support for overall government policy and the prodigious stewardship of His Excellency Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma on all matters, including the imposition of a ban on the use of right hand vehicles...”
POLITICO – Really? Anyway… The press release continues:
High Comm. – “I have steadfastly sought to uphold and defend all government policies and with specific reference to the imposition on the use of right hand vehicles, I have been an ardent supporter and communicator of this policy to the sizeable Diaspora Sierra Leone community in the United Kingdom where I serve...”
POLITICO – Really sir? Well, we know that Sierra Leoneans in the UK should be very interested because they use right-hand drive vehicles over there and some of them bring their vehicles to Sierra Leone for family and friends but you could have articulated that without taking the position you had taken in that programme which left us wondering where in God's name was the principle of collective responsibility. Have you been coerced to do this? If so where is the conscience? Resign my friend instead of speaking that which you do not believe in. Sheeeyooor!
High Comm. – “unreservedly apologise to his Excellency the president, the government and people of Sierra Leone, for any appearance of deviation, real or otherwise, from the principles articulated therein as a consequence of my comments on the Podium.
POLITICO – Well, on our part we accept your apology but it's up to De Pa who hired you to serve in that most sensitive of diplomatic positions to make up his mind about your continued service. This was certainly not “any appearance of deviation”, it was the real thing. It made headlines in the local press. All your press release has succeeded in doing is opening up the whole debate all over again.
High Comm. – “Any such perceived deviation from the above, must be viewed as an honest attempt on my part (even if miscalculated) to suggest plausible means to augment the implementation of government policy, including the capture of strongly expressed views of Diaspora Sierra Leone community in the United Kingdom...”
POLITICO – Mr High Commissioner Sir, we absolutely understand this point. You represent us in a country where there are tens of thousands of Sierra Leoneans and most of them are likely to oppose this ban on right-hand drive vehicles in Sierra Leone for what we have already mentioned. So why apologise for making their views known back home?
The High Commissioner ended the press release by acknowledging the “steady leadership, remarkable foresight and perseverance...” of De Pa. Oh God! We know all that. But with a policy like this, the implementation of which was postponed at least three times, any such “appearance of deviation” by a very senior government official must be taken seriously. We are taking it seriously in the context of national policy formulation and implementation.
CHRISTIANA RETURNS TO THE NATIONAL STAGE HAHAHAHA!
Now we've got the answer to the question we've been asking since last year. What do electoral commissioners do after conducting two elections and retiring from that job? Well, especially the ones who invalidated hundreds of thousands of votes and then told the people who complained to visit a police station.
Now we know that our lovely Sister of Cluny was still ready to be in public life doing something else. The tragedy of Sierra Leone is that people in public life are recycled all the time, giving very little space for young people to break through - the same names, the same faces, the same ideas and the same worldview. So we have the same Sierra Leone. State House says our lady “will be responsible for the day to day management, administration and coordination of all activities and interventions [relative to the re-opening of schools] and be answerable through the steering committee to his Excellency the president”. By the way is the Minister of Education still on seat?
We would love to have details about this new assignment for our lady. For example, for how long will it last? How many hours a day will she work? How much will she be paid? As citizens of Sierra Leone, these are very important questions. In other words and how much of the poor taxpayers’ money will be pumped into that? She will be paid from our taxes. And that's crucial. Please let nobody tell us to “go police”.
Our lady has some experience in the education sector so she might be at some ease doing this new job from De Pa. But once again, feathers have been plucked from Bra Minks. This is a job he could easily have done. Anyway, nar so De Pa say.
COMPENSATION PACKAGE FOR TRAFFIC WARDEN: AGBA KHOLIFA MUST PAY
We expect the SLRSA to press their demand for compensation and a public apology from Agba Kholifa on behalf of their staff, the TRAFFIC WARDEN, Musa Kamara. In fact at this point we expect their lawyers to forward a compensation package to Agba Kholifa and then make it public because the whole nation is with them on this matter. But we are still waiting.
We warn the SLRSA that we will not accept any behind-the-scene deals. The full force of the law should be brought to bear on Agba Kholifa over his handling of this matter. But for now, here's how we think the nation can achieve closure:
1. The driver who was in that vehicle with expired insurance cover – Agba Kholifa or someone else – should be charged for that offence. Many ordinary Sierra Leoneans are daily being dragged to court for the same offence. We are all Sierra Leoneans. Let's not create a two-tier justice system in this country.
2. Since Agba Kholifa didn't come to court to press his case, he must compensate the Traffic Warden for the three nights he spent in jail. It's TWENTY MILLION LEONES a night. Because the Traffic Warden was taken off the road for three days, Agba Kholifa must pay money for loss of earnings. We know how much Traffic Wardens collect on the streets with or without their chains. Hahahahahaha!!! TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND LEONES a day is a realistic figure. We leave it now to Agba Kholifa to issue the cheque and he has just a week to do that.
Agba Kholifa thought we would be distracted by his plans to increase the cost of passports. No way! The Traffic Warden will surely get justice.
SLFA ROAD SHOW IN KENEMA: IS THE EMERGENCY OVER?
Our reporters were hard at work in the past few days covering the road show organised by the SLFA with the queen in attendance. There were a few other strange and somewhat odd looking fellows around. When we watched a video of the events in Kenema, the body language among the SLFA people told a different story to what the SLFA hacks are putting out on their Facebook wall.
We read that wall only to get their own narratives which never fail to capture the feelings of the queen alone. So here now are some bits and pieces we took from their recording of events in Kenema.
SLFA – “More than a thousand football loving fans from all walks of life, last Friday trooped to the Kenema City town field to welcome the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) president, Madam Isha Johansen and her entourage as they seek to unite the football family and raise the game in Sierra Leone.”
POLITICO – So “more than a thousand” people were mobilised for that visit? This is according to the SLFA. Why then did Munu and his men not move in and arrest the SLFA bunch like they did to less than 40 real football stakeholders who merely conducted a teleconference to impeach the queen? They are all members of the same organisation; they are all Sierra Leoneans subject to the emergency laws now in force in Sierra Leone.
SLFA – “Addressing the enthusiastic gathering, the FA President said she was pleased with the way the football family in Kenema received her. She described her visit as a ‘real home coming’”
POLITICO – “real homecoming”? Is that correct? Homecoming to Kenema for the queen? We still remember what happened when Kamboi Eagles came to town for some award ceremony. Those were the days when Ebola was doing havoc in Kenema. Now we hear about homecoming. When is the congress again please?
This was more of a political speech filled with triumphalism, and certainly not an attempt to address those who matter in football administration. We shall see.
© Politico 10/02/15
