ARE WE REALLY SERIOUS ABOUT FIGHTING CORRUPTION?
Ask De Pa about his commitment to the fight against corruption in high places and he will be very happy to talk to you about his "toughest" anti-corruption legislation in the world; the fact that the ACC can now prosecute their own cases and indeed the arrest and trial of some of his friends. That's not bad, is it?
But the very idea that locking people up alone will solve the problem of corruption, is the biggest weakness in this effort. Even those court cases can be properly scritunised because the really big ones, when they have gone through the courts, such has not always favoured the people. Some have been in the courts since Pedro Da Cintra left this place. What about the 50th anniversary case? Does De Pa really think we have no idea what is happening? How about the NASSIT ferry compromise if only to protect one man. Meanwhile small time police officers and teachers are in jail for corruption. The 50th anniversary people are roaming free. And the NASSIT ferry people are apparently enjoying their loot.
As citizens of Sierra Leone, we ask: what's happening to that 50th case, please? We want a press releases on this issue NOW.
Many Sierra Leoneans are wondering how it became possible that people indicted for corruption were able to rent a crowd to jubilate on the streets when they were released on bail the other day? The same crowd who grumble about this country being too corrupt and tough. Yeahhhhh! People are so poor, they can do anything to get food. Instead of booing those accused of stealing from their grandchildren all the way to their homes, they lined the route and sang songs of praises to the most high. It reminds us of the way they celebrated the relatively lenient sentence handed down against the former Freetown mayor, Morgan Heritage for corruption. Or how cases are questionably lost at the Appeals Court.
We may lock up many people, but this country is not ready for this anti-corruption thing. This is not something we should hide.
200 GHANAIANS FOR ASYLUM IN BRAZIL: HOW MANY SIERRA LEONEANS FOR ASYLUM IN SCOTLAND?
200, possibly 1,000 Ghanaians have stayed behind in Brazil asking for asylum on grounds of religious persecution back home. As Sierra Leoneans, we are familiar with our sports people going abroad for international games and seeking asylum there. A whole junior football team stayed back in Finland in early SLPP days, boxers, sprinters and even officials have stayed back in Australia, United Kingdom and other places but we find Brazil an interesting destination for our friends from Ghana.
Yes, the country is rich and the people are proud of their country and culture but we hear of harsh conditions in the Favellas or slum settlements. We hear about violence and crime. So what have those Ghanaians discovered in Brazil? World Cup fever? That will pass off very soon. Ghanaians back home are angry at the behaviour of their people. Could it be that not all that glitters in Ghana is gold? What if those Ghanaians are rejected and put on a plane back to Accra, how would they be received?
Now those granting visas for the Commonwealth Games in Scotland are on alert. Very high alert. How many Sierra Leoneans are planning to do like those Ghanaians? Some should be very angry we are putting this on paper but we have a sacred mission to stop people giving their countries a bad name to satisfy their selfish desire to run away from their problems at home and go to countries which other people have toiled to build.
Scotland is a fantastic destination and the Commonwealth Games a great opportunity. But please don't try any tricks. By the way Sctotland may soon become independent and they will kick out all illegal immigrants including all those Sierra Leoneans who may want to stay after the Commonwealth Games.
We want the ministry of sports to publish the names of all our potential athletes. Some of us will help the visa consuls determine the outcome of those applications. We are fed up with lies for asylum.
MOBILE PHONE BILLS IN LEONES: WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES THAT MAKE?
If NATCOM and the mobile phone companies can allow us to breathe for just a day, we will be very happy. Apart from all those unsolicited text messages that we really hate, the mobile phone operators are now talking about billing us in leones. Is this really what we care about? It makes absolutely no difference - leones, dollars, Yen, Pound Sterling, please just go on printing money. We are now hooked to mobile phones, so we just have to carry on.
So here are our real concerns: the quality of service is very poor and pretty expensive. When the companies undertake corporate social responsibility it's all just lip service. They do some bogus, feel-good nonsense and call in SLBC cameras to make a big show of it. We are also concerned that the regulator falls asleep a bit too often and for long times. It is in those circumstances that the companies make quick cash. So this whole billing system makes no sense to us.
But in the same spirit of paying for services in leones, we ask, how is it that some Sierra Leoneans employed by the government of Sierra Leone have their salaries quoted in US dollars? That's the privileged few. The rest of us are not so blessed. Ordinary people's salaries depreciate every time the flip-flopping leone goes off tangent but the privileged few are safe from such highs and lows. Do you now understand why we say we couldn't care less? Give us units and cents or leones and whatever, we do not care!
LUNGI FERRY BLOWN OFF COURSE AGAIN BUT THANK GOD JILL BIDEN IS GONE
Just the other day we were celebrating the cleanliness of a Lungi ferry if only for a day. Now, this:
We imagine there was confusion onboard one of the Lungi ferries last weekend as the vessel was blown off course in bad weather. In fact we heard an SOS call on one of our local radio stations saying the ferry was drifting towards Kanikay of all places.
We immediately thanked God the weather didn't play such havoc when Dr Jill Biden was here. In case you do not know she is the wife of the US Vice President - or Second Lady as Sierra Leoneans prefer. It would have been difficult to convince the Americans that Al-Shabbab was not behind it. We would have seen marines landing in Freetown like they did in the war years to evacuate Americans from Mammy Yoko inaptly named Radisson something.
We know Jill had a nice time in Freetown. Next time she visits during the rains, we plead with the Americans to deploy one of their helicopters to take her across to Lungi.
We congratulate those people who cleaned the ferry up during Jill's visit like they've never done. Can we now maintain that standard? Before Jill came, we visited the toilet on that ferry and found it in worse shape than those at Bomeh. Thank you Jill. God bless America!
SALONE UNDER 17 FAIL M.R.I. SCAN: WHAT WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY?
Let's have some information on the result of the MRI scan that our footballers were subjected to recently, please. We know that many failed as Under-17 players but we want to hear it from De Madam herself. The SLFA are quick to put pictures of bogus meetings with FIFA officials on Facebook, so let them please tell us the complete results of the MRI scan. Are they Under-17 players or Under-30s?
We remember a Sierra Leonean player being interviewed on a local radio station as he was about to travel abroad for a lucrative contract. The player was asked this question: "How old are you?" He replied: "Me football age nar 20 but me oder age nar...". Then the interviewer put down his fader to save the nation and the young man. In other words, he was actually older than his documents showed. This is Sierra Leone for you, where you can obtain your death certificate even when you are alive.
The presenter almost collapsed. By the way that contract didn't go through. We can't say for sure that it was because of that gaffe but we knew the guy was simply not intelligent enough with this age thing like Yakubu Ayegbeni and Obafemi Martins. Do these guys read Politico at all. Oga dem we beg O!
(C) Politico 15/07/14
