IN "EXTRA TIME" ROCKING ROBIN SCORES INCREDIBLE OWN GOAL
Ask Robin the son of Fallay how he is doing today, he will tell you he is doing great. He has every reason to feel good about himself - he has just flown a huge political kite on behalf of some faceless characters walking the corridors of power. He has proposed "Extra Time" for De Pa. In effect, another five years of De Pa. So Rocking Robin has made an unbelievable nuisance of himself, following the footsteps of Logus, the TRAFFIC WARDEN. Here's what we predict will happen in the coming days, weeks and months:
a. State House will issue some bland statement saying the president is not interested in either a third-term or a two-year extension which Rocking Robin is proposing under his stupid "Extra Time" project. But yet the APC party he serves as an executive member will not kick him out. So you know whose ventriloquist he is.
b. Rocking Robin will continue making his "Extra Time" noise, and even launch something in opposition heartland, in the same way "De Pa E Yai" was being run from Bo.
c. Rocking Robin will eventually be made minister of something and he will go quiet on the "Extra Time" project and enjoy his pay like Logus Koroma, the minister who personally launched a simple telephone hotline with a fanfare befitting visiting Head of State.
Somebody encouraged us to ignore the pranks of Robin the son of Fallay. We were tempted to, but on second thought, we decided to let him know we've heard him. When the Red Movement is in power, the most serious government policies are said in jest on Abacha Street. We are treating Rocking Robin's kite flying seriously. We remain ceased of this matter.
CONCERN IN REGENT AS KONGO DAM DRIES UP
The people of Regent and the surrounding areas are facing hard times these days. The dam that serves their community has dried up and they have returned to those primitive methods of accessing water that we see all over Freetown. We have always complained about the lack of water in many places in this our PROSPERITY NATION but the authorities have always ignored us. Now we have Regent and the other areas, including parts of Hill Station joining the list of places without water. SALWACO is doing well up country but Guma is in peril in the Western Area.
It's not as if the government doesn't know why this is happening. We re-state our ideas once again. People are busy stealing land and cutting trees in all the catchment areas near the dam to construct dwellings. This cannot be allowed to continue. Look at that former NPRC minister who has managed to take a whole area bigger than Kambia district as his own. What is happening to this country?
The government announced a ban on construction work along the new Regent - Grafton road recently but we don't believe anybody takes that seriously because we know those who are building houses there.
Lack of water could destabilise this country. De Pa should take us seriously. He drove past Kongo Dam the other day to make a political point about the new road, can he now drive to Kongo Dam to make a statement about his concern for the REAL PEOPLE?
MARGAI ON THE AIRWAVES AGAIN: BUT FOR HOW MUCH LONGER?
We have to be very honest with The Dalai Lama of the PMDC, his latest appearance of breakfast radio looked like the final nail in his political coffin. The man sounded exhausted and deserted as State House remains his holy grail. He was celebrating the 8th anniversary of what is left of the PMDC - if anything that is. The only thing new in all he said was that he was back on level terms with De Pa after his Slater Terrace experience. Salone Police oyei!!! An effective political tool you fellas are!!! But D true go las!
Anyway...We believe The Dalai Lama didn't get the message sent by the electorate in the last elections. Let's attempt to capture exactly what the people said to what was left of the PMDC. Here we go:
a. The PMDC will never take State House through the ballot box.
b. Even the few people who supported the party because of the charisma of The Dalai Lama are very confused by the mixed messages from their leader - one minute they have a relationship with the Red Movement, the other moment "I am sorry to have taken you into a marriage that was bound to fail on the altar of tribalism and corruption". Where art thy judgment O The Dalai Lama? We know our mobile phone companies sometimes send calls astray and keep messages for days. But these ones form the DALAI LAMA came through correctly and on time.
c. The final message is that the people now want a new generation of leaders in Sierra Leone. Simple.
We hold no brief for Christiana Sister of Cluny, but it really now makes no sense to be still crying all over the place about rigged ballots in the second year of a five year mandate, especially when your party didn't file a complaint challenging those results even in your own backyard. Up with YOUNG BLOOD POLITICIANS NOW!
CHECKPOINTS OR COLLECTION POINTS: SPEAK UP FRANCIS MUNU
We humbly plead with Francis Munu to address the vexed question of his people collecting money from drivers and passengers at what they call CHECKPOINTS on some of the main roads in our country. Senior police officers have argued that people who offer bribes are the ones corrupting his men. We accept that. But we want the police boss to face reality. The corruption at police "checkpoints" is so organised that we will take serious issue with those who suggest that a few rogue police officers are responsible.
Last weekend, we saw a fair-complexioned superintendent of police who looked well fed, actually collecting money from drivers at a "checkpoint" outside Freetown. We urge Munu to investigate our claim. We have given enough clues.
The trouble is, instead of acknowledging that the image of his organisation has suffered badly from the corruption (allegations) put at their door steps, Munu and most of his senior officers are in denial. This is certainly not helping the situation.
Some of these so-called checkpoints are totally unnecessary - they should be scrapped immediately. We have nothing against the police. In fact we consider them victims of a system that pays them just over a hundred dollars despite all the Vuvuzela.
THEO NICOL THROWS HUMILITY OVER KING JIMMY BRIDGE
What a good time Theo Nicol is having in government. He is more in the air than in his office. The guy is always travelling abroad, earning himself the name, Gulliver's Travels. We can confirm that this is how his staff refer to him in the corridors of the 8th floor.
Not only that. We have opened a file on him about his alleged misuse of Government Vehicles, and his dealings with a Senegalese company about some telecoms business. We have some document we are passing by our lawyers first.
This, despite his puritanical posture that led him to deride journalists - unwarrantedly - recently. Theo Nicol turned his fire on journalists. He roundly abused us recently at a ceremony called to launch a report on the highs and lows of the media in 2013. Instead of doing what his other colleagues would ideally have done, Theo Nicol told journalists (both male and female) they "smell like raw fish" and should consider buying "cheap deodorant" all the time. Well, he said a great deal more.
Here's what we have done now: we have passed on an electronic copy of Theo Nicol's diatribe to the executive of our association - Sierra Leone Association of Journalists, SLAJ - for them to listen for themselves and decide their next course of action because, we believe that as it was with the Bar Association, so shall it be with Theo Nicol.
We have come a long way building our reputation and our profession and should therefore not allow a man who claims he was in Nigeria helping to improve their journalism to take such liberty with our credibility just because he is now a minister. And we know how he got there.
We still have a secret recording of a meeting that took place at a location we will not disclose at this time. At that meeting, the issue of who became the ruling party candidate in the last mayoral election in Freetown was discussed. Interesting stuff! We don't want to be compelled to pass it on to some people like we have now done with that speech at the SDI launch. It's explosive. Probably also exclusive. Don't throw stones if you live in a glass house.
We repeat our warning that if SLAJ refuses to act, we shall bring a motion to the floor of the SLAJ AGM in Makeni in June. This is no threat. It's just what people who are passionate about their profession would do when it's attacked in this way.
(C) Politico 17/04/14
