ARE WE THROWING THE ACC BABY OUT WITH THE BATHWATER?
For the first time since he took over the Anti-Corruption Commission, Afro Boy has felt the full weight of public opinion on the conduct of his job. We suspect he was sleepless all night on Tuesday this week after Principal came out and told the nation that the strategy of public parading to shame suspects was wrong and outside the law. Actually, we thought that was some scare tactic being acted out under the historic Cotton Tree to warn people against stealing from their own grandchildren including further ruining the country’s education sector. As it turned out, this was the real thing. Damn!
On radio and tv stations the following day Afro Boy said “sorry” in all but name, but not quite. But we don’t want to read too much into his apparent decision to hold back.
Now let’s throw in our own few words on this issue and the presidential apology that appears to have downgraded hurricane PUBLIC OUTCRY to a weak tropical storm.
1. We believe Principal was forced to make that apology after Afro Boy failed to kill the situation with an apology on breakfast shows that morning. Principal must have waited and waited, to no avail, for an apology from the man who gave the directive to parade the suspects. So he acted. And there was calm.
2. Their rights may have been violated but we still need to talk to those teachers who were caught cheating. Let them have their day in court and the judges will follow the evidence. All this publicity may pose some problems but we trust our judges.
3. Yes we have a problem with the way Afro Boy treated the suspects but in the interest of our next generation we cannot let them off the hook just because of the Cotton Tree incident which we all believe was equivalent to Afro Boy scoring an unbelievable own goal in the final seconds of a match he looked set to win with a clean sheet.
4. Some of those people who were kicking Afro Boy the other day did so for many different reasons bordering entirely on CORRUPTION FIGHTNG BACK. We know that. Anti-Corruption Commissioners are not supposed to be popular with everybody anyway.
5. So Hurricane PUBLIC OUTCRY has passed over the ACC office and destroyed a few things, but the core strategy remains intact and many Sierra Leoneans support Afro Boy for his overall performance so far. There should be no mistake about that. Let him continue in office. Full Stop!!
PRINCIPAL PLEASE CREATE A MINISTRY FOR LAW AND ORDER
On behalf the decent and hardworking people of Sierra Leone we call on Principal to hurriedly create a MINISTRY for LAW and ORDER. Whether he does that as part of a wider reshuffle of government or not is not our primary concern. We’ve been hearing a lot about a coming reshuffle but while he thinks about that, Principal must make a big statement about his commitment to end lawlessness in this country by creating this ministry right now.
Principal, you must have been hearing a lot about acts of lawlessness and soon people will begin to blame you for failing to take action when criminals are flagrantly encroaching on their civil liberties. It may surprise you to know that there are parts of Freetown now where gangs have taken over. They are NO GO areas at certain points of the day. Principal, you cannot allow that to happen on you watch. Here’s our idea of what this ministry will look like.
1. First of all restructure what we now call MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS as it doesn’t seem to be working at all the way it is. Create a department to handle immigration, NCRA and that antidrug agency with a Director General in charge. The new LAW and ORDER ministry will take the police and other security units and concentrate on them.
2. We have a lot of questions for the man now running the current Internal Affairs ministry. Our questions are about specific incidents in which we believe he failed to prove himself worthy of – let alone ready for – the job. Remember what happened to Justice Biobele and John Tambi in just a few days? And those are just the tip of the iceberg.
3. The new ministry will be very well funded to recruit the best people and train them well so well that we will have very little or no complaints about police tactics against peaceful Sierra Leoneans.
4. The day the new minister takes office there will be a meeting in the criminal underworld. At the end of that meeting some of those criminals in attendance will resign and become normal people again.
5. The new ministry will build another so-called maximum security prison. We will bang criminals up there for long periods and make our streets safe again.
THERE ARE HOLES IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR CITY ROADS O, RED MAYOR
Good morning Lady Mayor of the Sun. We wish to invite you to drive with us around your city. We will not use your normal sanitized route to and from work. We will determine the route and pay for the ride. We want you to see just a few places then you will get a feel of what those ordinary folks who stood out in long queues not too long ago to get you into office go through daily.
From your office we will drive over King Jimmy Bridge which was built in the days of your predecessor Bababode. In the middle of that bridge there is raw sewerage flowing freely. It has been there for as long as we can remember. We have been calling your attention to that mess very close to the main hospital but you believe the best thing to do is to ignore this crazy troublesome journalists.
Next place will be Siaka Stevens Street at the intersection of Charlotte Street. There is a mighty hole right there and all we can see is a long stick and some rotten tyre used to warn people of the danger on the spot. That is only effective during the day. Is our Lady Red Mayor telling us she hasn’t seen this for the last two weeks – even though it is almost opposite her office right down the street?
Now let’s move to Fergusson Street – Dillet Street and Pike Street intersection. There is total chaos there right now. Please don’t tell us about the rain. Have a look and see what your people go through all the time. Again tyres capping on some sticks have colonized the place
Our final destination for today is Bai Bureh Road in the east of your city. Look at that area near the Chinese industrial zone and see what those shipping container-carrier vehicles or trailers are doing there. Inevitably, we terminate today’s drive at Bormeh on the same road. This is a real shame. Again you inherited this problem but we can’t see what you have done about it. Please tell us. Next time you do those sleek photos for social media please use Bormeh in the background just to portray the reality of today.
Hope you’ve had a nice ride ma’am. It’s an all-expenses-paid trip. See you next time.
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