DID MEDICAL STUDENTS REALLY CHEAT IN THEIR EXAMS?
So we saw letters on social media addressed to students of COMAHS inviting them to a disciplinary hearing on allegations that they cheated in their exams. These days all documents land on social media. Even people given letters of appointment to big national positions in the confidentiality of State House, somehow find it useful to display such offer letters on WhatsApp for the whole world to see. These COMAHS letters were obviously leaked. But the fact that people put things on social media all the time is not our concern now. It’s about the idea that students at COMAHS manage to either cheat or create the condition around them to the extent of being accused of cheating.
We know cheating takes place across the school system – from 12-year old children being assisted to cheat in the NPSE exams by their parents, to high school pupils who end up in our universities. But COMAHS is the last place where we expect students to try that rubbish because of where that may land a lot of ordinary citizens who may meet those cheating medical practitioners in the future.
With respect to other courses of study, if a history student cheats their way through college and so misrepresents historical facts, we will simply correct them and move on. If a journalism graduate does a bad piece of journalism, hardly does anyone get killed for that. But imagine somebody graduating as a gynecologist through cheating and your wife ends up in their theatre for a C-section, and imagine a colleague of that cheat tells you half way through the process that your gynecologist was among the cheats in college. Do you now understand why we are so concerned about integrity issues at COMAHS?
We do not approve of cheating anywhere but if students have to cheat by all means let them stay out of COMAHS.
WAITING FOR THE HARVEST OF PRINCIPAL’S FARM
Principal was on his farm over the holiday apparently checking things up with the usual hangers on in tow, either taking pictures and or pretending to be explaining something for the benefit of the camera and social media. We know a lot of people would feel privileged to be seen around the president but please if you are a minister of something totally unrelated to agriculture, unless you can prove that Principal actually asked for you to be around, please stay in your office, at home with your family or go to your own farm. We have complained a lot about this attitude of ministers going after the president all over the place and for a time we thought the New Direction would change things. But some ministers have failed to read our mood.
We hope Principal will invite us to the harvest that we believe will take place any time from now. Having said that can Principal now tell us how many of his ministers and other appointees have farms? Wasn’t that a condition for them continuing in office after one year? We ask now because once again we are hearing some noises about ministerial merry-go-round movements, even sackings. We would not be surprised if some ministers were sacked because they already dug their own graves.
On behalf of the good people of Sierra Leone we declare the week starting 19th August as Farm Declaration Week. We want all ministers to step forward and invite the media to visit their farms. Please don’t rent farms and claim them to be yours. We will investigate. Thanks our dear ministers.
SLFA AND SPORTS MINISTRY AT DAGGERS DRAWN, AGAIN
Why Sierra Leone is always like this we cannot say but think about what happened when in Paul Kamara’s days as minister, this country had two sets of coaches training the same national team – one team appointed by the Football Association another by Paul Kamara, Minister of Sports. So now a few years forward we are heading down the same road. The Queen of football has reappointed her own coach in the person of Ghanaian Sellas Tetteh. He is no stranger to our game but this time he is likely to swim in real hot water because many people are against the appointment of a foreign coach in the first place.
Sierra Leone has just finished a fantastic league with one of the local coaches, John Keister proving yet again that it is very possible for a team to go through an entire two-round league undefeated. Apart from Keister other local coaches produced some miracles on the field that many fans appreciated. So if the Ministry of Sports thinks the process of appointing Tetteh is flawed and would prefer a local guy, it is precisely for that reason and indeed because many people believe the whole interview process was a cheap charade. As tax payers we have the following questions to ask:
1. Is that SLFA panel actually telling us that John Keister came LAST in that interview? We hold no brief for him but this outcome is very questionable and we call on the ministry to turn all the documents from that interview over to the ACC for a forensic audit.
2. What message is the SLFA trying to send to the world with this appointment against the overwhelming wish of the good people of Sierra Leone? If they don’t send us a statement explaining that within the next 24 hours, we will be left with no alternative but to draw our own conclusions.
3. Who will actually pay Tetteh’s salary and other benefits? We care because it is possible our taxes will soon be at play.
4. Does the SLFA believe we will ever take them seriously after looking at the list of players invited recently for training for the national side?
5. Now the ministry and the SLFA are in the ring with gloves on. Where will it all end?
JAY JAY BLOOD SOMMERSAULTS ON RADIO AGAIN
Principal’s man at the finance ministry is in a huge mess of his own making right now. How he came to perform the way he did on radio the other day is something we find difficult to understand. In fact some people in the Green Camp have told us quietly that they were very embarrassed at that performance.
Now, we assume that the Saffanomics man went to the studio with the full knowledge of what awaited him. This was not some ambush interview conducted while the guy was out jogging on the beach. We believe he actually put a few things on paper and rehearsed some lines on his way to the studio as every interviewee is likely to do. So there were zero surprises.
The Saffanomist is also very familiar with that studio and some of the presenters. So we credit that performance to arrogance, poor media education and that deadly mistake that many politicians make at the height of their power – talking down on those who elected them.
Those people who elected Principal knew things would get worse before improving so how come the Saffanomist felt so much under siege in that familiar studio that he lost his cool and landed himself in this fine mess?
We don’t believe this is a sack-able offence but who are now looking at the skies over the Treasury Building and all we can see are vultures hovering around.
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