CHIEF SOMANOH NEEDS SOME LESSONS IN POLITICAL COMMUNICATION
The chief from Mambolo who is chairman and leader of the Green Movement was on 98.1 FM radio the other day to explain how he came to expel Ali Bangura from the movement. That appearance made great breakfast radio. But, we think that at crucial points of that unnecessarily long and boring interview, the chief failed to communicate probably. In fact he wasn't communicating at all. He didn't know who his audience were. And that's the most basic consideration to make before accepting to go on air. Let's see who could have been listening to the guy on that day:
1. Red Movement people who absolutely hate the Green Movement because any gains for Somanoh would mean loss of power, relevance and income for them.
2. Green Movement people who believe it was a big mistake for something that could be settled in-house to have been taken to a radio programme.
3. Ordinary Sierra Leoneans who wanted to get the facts out of the propaganda that both sides were involved in.
4. People who are absolutely sick to death with the unending civil war in the Green Movement
On the crucial issue of CENSUS before ELECTIONS, the chief used the draught imagery to explain how their interaction with NEC went. That was a very big blunder. The imagery of a draught or checkers? The chief is a yesterday's man leading a political party looking for power in the 21st century.
Chief, the voters who could take you to State House know nothing about draught these days. You weren't talking to them. Draught is a dead game in Sierra Leone. De Pa used football in 2012 and it helped because the young people are into that. But please, chief Somanoh don't try to use football next time because our experience with Messi is not very good. We've been dribbled more than we bargained for in the last seven years. Look for help with political communication.
SLRSA IN FREETOWN BUT STILL SLRTA IN KENEMA. POUR QUOI?
Another Road Safety Week has come and gone. There were many speeches and sloganeering all over the country. As it is always with such programmes, the key actors have all gone back to sleep on that issue to wake up same time next year with another theme for another Road Safety Week. We will not ask about the budget for this year's activities.
The only thing we want to know is whether the cost of the fuel for Logus Koroma's ministerial vehicle was captured in that budget. We ask because his vehicle was switched on throughout his stay at Mary Kingsley Auditorium. We suppose he wanted to keep the vehicle cool. But at what cost and whose expense? Anyway!
We also notice that the rebranding from SLRTA to SLRSA is still not complete. Have we run short of cash? Well, we don't want to believe so because why embark on a rebranding exercise when there's not enough cash for that. Weeks after the fanfare at Bank Lodge Kingtom and some facelift at the Freetown Headquarter of SLRSA the office at 84 Blama Road in Kenema is still known by the old name. It is still the SLRTA.
Maybe we don't understand what's happening at SLRSA. Is this rebranding only about Freetown? It certainly isn't. Please, get in touch with your contractor so that the whole nation is clear that the new name is SLRSA. This may look small but it's not. Identity is a serious issue.
THE LUNGI-TAGRIN ROAD IS IN DECLINE LIKE THE WORKS MINISTRY
Can the sleepy old Ministry of Works please tell the nation what the PLAN is for the Tagrin-Lungi road? This is the first road that most important visitors to this country come into contact with yet it's wearing out daily. This is happening even at the time De Pa says the whole nation is a works yard considering his infrastructure projects. In fact Petito was sacked as Minister of Works because he was thought to be too slow, even unable to deliver De Pa's vision in the area of infrastructure. So what's happening now for Lungi-Tagrin? Roads are being constructed, re-constructed, resurfaced, and all that.
The point is the Mamamah airport is a long way away let's not therefore be ungrateful to Lungi International Airport. We need the Lungi -Tagrin job done very quickly. Because the day Mamamah comes into operation (and we have no idea when that will be), Lungi will be finished.
One of these days we checked out Lungi town. It's normally a dead place starting from early evening. Now with the State of Emergency, it's worse. We have found one more reason why our civil liberties must be restored NOW. The Ebola struggle, yes. But Liberia lifted the State of Emergency long before they defeated Ebola. Maybe it's their motto - The Love of Liberty Brought Us Here
AND JUST A LITTLE ADVICE FOR ECOBANK. NO FEES PLEASE
Next time the business managers of Ecobank Sierra Leone meet, they should consider putting an ATM facility outside the Lungi airport. There's nothing wrong having two ATM points serving Lungi town – one inside the airport and the other outside. If on the other hand Ecobank can only afford one, it should be placed outside the airport. Here's why: Imagine how many people in Lungi wanting to cash out some money fast are denied access because they are not passengers traveling by air.
Maybe the ATM idea in Lungi came about only because of the airport. Not a bad one but come on, you guys are losing business and failing to service your not-so-affluent customers. Lungi people deserve this service. Please don't pay us a penny for this advice. We witnessed a lot of grumbling about this the other day and we thought we could pass on what the people told us. That's our job.
STEEP RISE IN PRICE OF PASSPORT BUT THE PASSPORT IS NOT AVAILABLE
Now it's half a million leones for a Sierra Leone passport - that's serious business. That's the government approved monthly minimum wage for the average worker in Sierra Leone. The people are very concerned and we shall make those concerns known to the government in due course. But for now, the issue is that the immigration department is just not able to deliver passports on time. Why?
We were told that by last Thursday, SEVEN HUNDRED people had paid the big money for their passports but only FIVE were prepared as promised. Upon inquiry, we were also told that only Agba Kholifa can approve production. Well we don't necessarily have problems with that but at the rate of FIVE passports a week, we may soon have a human rights problem on our hands.
There are many students traveling abroad for studies, there are many others there wanting to renew their travelling documents and of course the many businesspeople flying all over the world. Any delay in their movement when they are not subject to any criminal sanction is illegal and if we stretch it a little, it could constitute a human rights abuse.
Our immigration system should be run like any immigration service anywhere else in the world. If Agba Kholifa and his people have any problems, they should come back to us, the people, who pay their salaries and explain. But to create a bureaucratic gridlock that looks completely avoidable is totally unacceptable. Long live the good people of Mama Salone. Soon we will get down to the 400 percent increase in cost under the fig leaf of BIOMETRIC. What has our passport been all these years? In fact what’s the definition of BIOMETRIC? We shall return to that soon.
© Politico 13/05/15
