THE EBOLA WAR: THE NEXT STEPS
Well, well, well, look what we have – an official government report on the use of huge amounts of money in the fight against the deadly Ebola disease that has claimed the lives of thousands of our compatriots. In this situation, the last thing anybody wants is to open big arguments about possible corruption in the management of those funds. But the nation has been alerted to a coming washing of dirty linens on the streets. State House says those found to have cooked the books will pay for their iniquity. Good talk.
De Pa warned many times against people trying to steal “blood money”. We are looking forward to what parliament will do. It should be very interesting. We suggest the following:
1. Let's bring back Justice Semega Janneh to preside over a new inquiry. The previous enquiry on the Ministry of Education of the previous government produced nothing. There's a lot to deal with in this report.
2. Or let's appoint a credible Sierra Leonean Judge to lead this new inquiry. We want answers!
3. Let's tell the ACC to stay out of this. We don't want this report to go the way of the 50th anniversary case that only the media now remember.
4. Let's appoint a private prosecutor and ask him to make sure nobody escapes
5. We may well decide that in the memory of those who have died, let's not wrangle over how monies were spent. Let's sweep this under the carpet. Dis nar Salone.
WHAT ELSE ARE WE GOING TO HAND OVER TO NASSIT?
So Mayor Bababode has finally succeeded is passing on that Lazarus project called Sewa Grounds Rehabilitation to the National Social Security and Insurance Scheme, NASSIT. The Creoles have a proverb that goes thus: ROTTEN BODY BLANT JESUS. It holds absolutely true here. After that bogus investment initiative from Azerbaijan of all places and the disgrace of flying corrugated iron sheets in the middle of our city, Victoria Park has been handed back to the people of Sierra Leone. We say so because NASSIT is spending our savings, bailing out failing hotels and poultry farms without necessarily consulting us directly.
Now let's see what Sewa Grounds would look like by Christmas 2015. We will soon apply to the Access to Information Commission for the agreement between the FCC and NASSIT over Sewa Grounds. By the way, is that commission in business now?
We have an idea: let's hand over Freetown's many slums to NASSIT, starting with Kroo Bay. They will work the NASSIT magic like King Midas and turn those places to Beverly Hills and Malibu within weeks. Next we will pass on the City Hall project to them, forget about that feel-good Korean pipe dream for which Golley was appointed ambassador and a large government further enlarged. Eventually the management of the Freetown City Council itself will come under NASSIT control. What's the point of having an elected council that keeps outsourcing all its traditional services from collecting taxes to waste disposal and the management of parks and open spaces?
Meanwhile, NASSIT's own transport terminal project in Bo is a total wreck – worse than Sewa Grounds. Its Plaza in Kenema is a flop. It Plaza in Makeni is a mess. The people of Sierra Leone have told us they will be very clever in front of the ballot box in 2017.
FIGHTING EBOLA WITH A YELLOW RIBBON: LONG LIVE SLAJ
An opposition MP took issue with De Pa the other day, for not personally mentioning the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists in his State of the Nation address to parliament. In his defence, one ruling party MP agreed that SLAJ was not mentioned in the speech, but that De Pa had his journalists in mind. We believe that to be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But it will be great next time if SLAJ is mentioned publicly.
Let De Pa now speak proudly about this masterstroke of a Yellow Ribbon Campaign, designed to fire up an increasingly complacent anti-Ebola war.
Or SLAJ should behave like the lizard that jumps from the Iroko tree – praise yourself if no one else does. You guys have newspapers, radio stations, a lot of you spend hours on social media making one comment or the other. Just use those platforms and say LONG LIVE SLAJ.
Some journalists were so scared that the release of the Auditor General's report on the use of Ebola funds and the noise that accompanied its damning findings would overshadow the launch of the campaign. In the end, it was only a marginal issue at the campaign launch. What's the next step please?
LET LOGUS PUT HIS HANDS UP AND ACCEPT DEFEAT NOW
We don't think there is anybody in this country who honestly believed De Pa's government was going to be strong enough to push through this ban on Right Hand Drive vehicles without the ghost of Operation WID haunting the process. This is now the 4th time the flip-flopping Logus Koroma is deferring the implementation of a very good policy and which his ministry consulted widely on and remained very patient with throughout. He widely publicised the issue and has overwhelming public support.
SLRSA statistics show that Right Hand Drive transport vehicles have caused major accidents leading to deaths on our roads. Just when we thought flip-flopping Logus had held his political nerve to implement this policy came another of his long-winded press releases that are totally not media friendly. Here we quote a few lines from the press release.
LOGUS KOROMA – “While waiting for their turn for conversion, they have further appealed that they be allowed to operate in Freetown and the provinces with such vehicles clearly identified with the authorised Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority stickers.”
POLITICO - Hmmmmmm. Where do we start? This was never about Right Hand Drive vehicles not "clearly identified". It was and has always been about illegal vehicles on our roads. That's all. On the issue of you having "consultations with higher authorities", we get that. That's just a conscious decision on your part to avoid using the words we have had to live with, in the last seven years - ORDERS FROM ABOVE.
LOGUS KOROMA – “The Ministry of Transport and Aviation, the Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority and stakeholders, after consultations with higher authorities, have agreed on the following: 1. That within 7 months (i.e. 15th February - 30th September 2015), all registered Right Hand Drive vehicles in the country must have been converted to Left Hand Drive vehicles.”
POLITICO - Do you honestly believe anybody in Sierra Leone trusts this new Operation WID kind of deadline? The best thing to do is forget about trying to take Right Hand Drive vehicles off the roads. As transport minister, continue with other kinds of paperwork with your Permanent Secretary and being passenger-loading master at the ceaseless queues of people struggling for transport throughout town.
A handful of people with vehicles they should never have been able to bring into this country are effectively holding the nation in one place for purely political reasons. If this was how all policies were implemented we would get nothing done. Why didn't we allow people with pirated CDs to sell all the rogue ones before enacting a law against piracy? Why didn't we allow private schools to process their fake WASSCE students through the system before Bra Minks blocked them? Some cows are truly really very sacred.
FOR GOOD ENTERTAINMENT PLEASE VISIT DR. ORMAN'S PUB
Wise Dr. Orman had his retirement plan well worked out before De Pa gave him a new four year lease of life. That was very clever bro. We spent a few hours at your pub somewhere close to Sanders Street the other day and we found it, weeeelllllll, no bad. Honestly.
And it seems as if some of your staff are using their frequent visits to the place to ingratiate themselves with you because we hear that some people who you thought were behind the moves to throw you out of office are being tossed around from their normal frontline duties. We saw them laughing out loudly and spending good cash. Please go back to your cash register for two Wednesdays back and see that you had good business on that day.
We will continue to visit your place, under heavy disguise of course. Just to be absolutely safe. When real night life begins, it will be a good idea to do Saturday Night Live programmes on TV. That's easy. You have all the logistics to pull that off – after all the TV is yours. Good luck bro.
© Politico 17/02/15
