FINANCE MINISTRY IN GO SLOW MOTION: NO GOVERNMENT VOUCHERS
We are still trying to convince ourselves that we are living in the real world. That the situation at the Ministry of Finance under the leadership of Commonwealth Marah is not a kind of Alice in Wonderland story. Let the Commonwealth man please explain how his ministry arrived at the point where there are no vouchers for Ministries, Departments and Agencies to be able to access funds to do their businesses of the day.
When he went to parliament and allocated those monies to the MDAs, he should have made adequate arrangements for vouchers to be available for the MDAs to collect their cash. But things have gone very bad under his watch. Simply put, there are no vouchers and some MDAs are virtually closing down. Salaries get paid but other services are now nonexistent. Please don't take our word for it, check it out yourself. At this stage we are not identifying any MDAs but if the Commonwealth Man challenges us on this, we shall oblige.
Could it be that this so-called voucher shortage is a ploy to divert attention from the real truth that there is no money in the system? It's one thing to go to a World Bank meeting and return home celebrating a $ 7 million package for...well...eh eh eh... call it Poverty-Reduction Projects. But it is another to convince even the World Bank that there will be vouchers in time to execute the projects.
When we listened to the Minister of Youth at the recent seminar facilitated by the Commonwealth Secretariat, it was clear there was real WAHALA in the finance ministry. We shall publish, in full, what he said to help our people understand what's happening at the Ministry of Finance. It's approaching a week since he made those comments and the Ministry of Finance has not reacted. We understand why. OOS KAIN KONTRI DI BAAAAA!
POLICE AND SOJA DISOBEY REGENT - GRAFTON ROAD BAN
This idea that police and soldiers, particularly the latter, are above the law stands uncomfortably with our aspirations to build a society where the RULE of LAW operates to the letter. We mean a society in which the security forces are subject to civilian democratic control. We know that people have had to bend backwards to accommodate them but it's really getting on our nerves and people will soon take action to demonstrate that soldiers and police are not above the law.
When De Pa commissioned the $ 30 million Regent-Grafton road recently, he banned heavy vehicles from the road. We believe he acted on the advice of the engineers who constructed the road. But now, we have evidence that heavy trucks belonging to the police and soldiers, particularly soldiers, are busy bulldozing their way through with careless abandon.
In one instance, a military truck was challenged by a police patrol. The soldiers misbehaved very badly and threatened to attack the police officers. We definitely have the details of that vehicle even though the policeman on duty there refused to talk to us on record about the issue.
We have to stop this attempt to create a two-tier society in which soldiers and to some extent police behave above the law while the rest of us are made to behave like slaves.
The law must apply to all and sundry - it doesn't matter if the offenders are soldiers or ministers. Never mind ministers. DEN YON NA GOD GO PAY DEM.
If the police pretend they don't know what is happening on that road, then we call on them to be ready for the consequences should a disaster involving those heavy duty trucks occur on that road. Let De Pa know that his banning order is being totally violated.
FROM KEYNOTE ADDRESS TO VOTE OF THANKS: THE BIG WOMAN WAS VERY LATE
How is it that a senior State House official who was supposed to give a Keynote Address at a workshop in Magburaka on Tuesday, ended up giving a vote of thanks yesterday because she only arrived there as the curtain was being brought down. Ok we will accept arguments about force majeure that might well have been, but the participants were given no such excuses by the presidential latecomer. Her journey from Kenema to Magburaka lasted two days. Great journey eh? HAHAH!
Minister Alhaji Sheikh Rev Emmanuel Moijueh Kaikai had announced to participants at a workshop on the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), that De Pa's Gender Point woman would be making the big statement. Obviously she was going to reflect De Pa's views. The people waited and waited and waited - end of day one.
Our Gender Point woman finally arrived in Magburaka (well, the venue itself was interesting) as participants prepared to receive their normal per diems to depart. Her role was quickly changed. She gave the vote of thanks. Some of the journalists had taxis waiting for them as the madam spoke. Her vote of thanks lasted 20 minutes. Welcome to Sierra Leone in the 21st century.
SO-CALLED BOB MARLEY NIGHT: SALONE WEEPS MORE THAN JAMAICA
Congratulations to all those living around Saint John and Brookfields for witnessing another so-called Bob Marley Night without being attacked and robbed by rampaging youths under the pretext of commemorating the death of the late King of Reggae. This year many people formed vigilante groups and Neighbourhood Watch patrols, armed with clubs to defend themselves in case those JAJA BOYS came around again.
This year we tried to find out how many other countries really observe what we in Sierra Leone call BOB MARLEY NIGHT. We can say authoritatively that it is only in Sierra Leone that the so-called BOB MARLEY NIGHT is observed with the late man's music being played throughout the day on all radio stations backed by reckless GANJA-smoking openly along the streets. Not even in his home country, Jamaica. Of course he is widely respected there but boy oh boy, SALONE MAN TOO PASS MARK.
We believe that young people, obviously seeking escape from the harsh economic realities, deliberately invented the so-called BOB MARLEY NIGHT, as a free-for-all GANJA-smoking day. That's what it is. Other unscrupulous elements have entered the game with the sole aim of undertaking criminal activities.
We will write a feature article on BOB MARLEY NIGHT in Sierra Leone and get our friends in Jamaica to publish it there, and then we will analyse the reaction of Jamaicans.
We asked some Zimbabweans whom Bob Marley helped liberate whether they observe anything like Bob Marley Night. Those we chatted with were absolutely shocked that such a thing was happening here. The truth is that Marley was more than just a lover of GANJA. He was a prophet too. We call on our people here to commemorate his death by reading and meditating on his words. We could allow a bit of GANJA-smoking like we do for those Benghazi Boys inside Youyi Building, but let's meditate and meditate first.
BORING WEEKENDS BACK AS ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE ENDS
Except for Manchester United fans (who were fed up with being whipped by just about every EPL team), many other fans of the English Premier League have told us they are sad the season has ended and we congratulate SOULESS MANCHESTER CITY for winning the league because a Sheikh from Dubai invested some oil money in them.
Local fans have told us their weekends would for the next month or so be very boring. We agree with them but why can't they go to the national stadium to watch our own Premier League? Hahhahahahaha! Salone league eh? Kikikiki.
People are telling us that our league under De Madam is in high gear. Let football fans go to the stadium and enjoy themselves until the World Cup begins. Long live the Salone Premier League!
But we warn them to watch out for the following things:
1. Those with cars should be prepared to spend some money on criminal boys inside the stadium who hang around pretending to be cleaning cars and providing security. If you don't pay them, more often than not, you will come out of the stadium to find your car tyres deflated or some of its parts missing.
2. Please don't eat or drink too much while you are inside the stadium. The toilets are worse than those at the football academy at Kingtom. We hope you saw them on TV the other day. This includes the toilets at the presidential pavilion.
3. There is nothing presidential about the presidential pavilion anymore. There are always fights, unnecessary use of expletives and intolerant fanatical behaviour. You will be surprised at those who engage in such anti-social behaviours.
4. To the football itself: don't expect much. It's all a joke. In other words, don't watch with your normal English Premiership eyes. The teams are weak, players are poor, over-hyped and rude.
5. Some of the referees try to do their best and you will understand their limitations but a good many others are arrogant, corrupt and incompetent.
6. Finally, be on your guard as violence could break out at any time particularly outside the so-called presidential pavilion. Welcome to the Salone Premier League at the national stadium. If you decide to go to the other kitchen football fields like the one at the academy, be careful because even De Madam can swing a right upper cut slap and blow that could floor Floyd Mayweather Jr. We put Mohamed Kallon forward as our STAR WITNESS.
(C) Politico 15/05/14
