EBOLA WAR: "A BUMPY ROAD TO ZERO". WHY IS IT SO?
We don't know if this thing about us having a "bumpy road to zero" in this Ebola war is news anymore. Anyway, just because people in NERC continue talking about it, newspapers have an excuse to also write about it all the time. As far as we know, Liberia had just one major bump in the road leading to their own zero. In fact, the politicians there are already warning their people to only come over to Sierra Leone when it's absolutely essential. That's good neighbourliness, right?
So why do we still have bumps on Ebola road? Well in practical terms, it's the road running from Gbere Junction through Portloko on to Kambia, on our border with Guinea. Let's try and answer this question and then see if we can clear the bumps.
1. The number of people breaking out of quarantined homes is as alarming as the messages NERC sends out on social media for people to help capture them. We still need some explanation from NERC as to why so many people are easily leaving quarantined homes to continue spreading Ebola or the risk of it.
2. The right thing to do in that north-west area is to close our border with Guinea for TWENTY-ONE days and clean up the place. We can't understand why Sierra Leone finds it so hard to take such actions against our neighbours. They have done it many times, particularly Guinea - sometimes without explanation.
3. Let's deploy all these rogues OSD officers who think that killing civilians is what they were employed for at so-called quarantined homes to stop people breaking out. One of such police officers is said to be on the run after killing an innocent young man less than a week ago.
4. There will continue to be bumps in the road to zero, as long as many people working on the Ebola response aren't guaranteed regular incomes post-Ebola. They depend on Ebola response money for survival. May be they can't do anything physically to erect the bumps but God answers prayers. GIVE US THIS DAY OR DAILY BREAD. Daily Bread will have to come from Ebola response money.
STRUGGLING KENEMA BACK TO STONE AGE CONDITIONS
If parliament doesn't release the money needed to run the local government in Kenema before the end of June, nobody should be surprised if the so-called city deteriorates to the extent that the most basic of services were no longer available to the people of that town. We are talking about cleaning wells, emptying toilets and clearing rubbish from the streets. Let's not talk about certain categories of council workers who will not get their salaries.
We are sitting in Freetown pretending Kenema was just some idea we could wish away, when in fact the population of the town is growing beyond recognition. But for Ebola burial teams, we would have added the possibility of dead bodies being left unburied in morgues or on the streets. It's as serious as that. Services are grinding to a halt in Kenema.
In this fight to establish superiority, we are standing on the side of the innocent people of Kenema who are suffering in silence. We believe that basic service of a whole city administration should not be made to suffer even with the ACC or parliament investigating suspicions of corruption or flippant talk.
When we recently visited the place, we saw all the roads in extremely poor shape. With all the rains in the last two weeks or so, things could only get worse. We know of many councils that have had problems with their budgets before but we cannot put fingers on anyone that had its budget frozen for six months. Why Kenema? Even in Morgan Heritage times, Freetown continued to be served. In Mansaray's days in Makeni when the Red Movement was in opposition, that city wasn't starved.
It is the place of the newspaper to reflect the view of the people particularly in situations like this. No media house can afford to be silent when nearly a million people in Kenema are going without basic services because, we suspect, their mayor said or did something that was under investigation. This collective punishment might backfire soon. In typical UN speak, WE REMAIN CEASED OF THIS MATTER. Long live the people of Kenema.
LOW KEY DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD OBSERVANCE IN SALONE
We can't really talk for countries throughout Africa but we are absolutely sure that observing the Day of the African Child on such a low key scale in good on Sierra Leone, was a great thing. In years gone by, we saw children on the streets performing adult roles, like controlling traffic. Some police officers didn't like that because incomes were affected at least for a day. Some of the children pretended to be presidents. In NPRC days, we saw the young Strassers and Musas of this world. Hmmmmmmmmm!
Here's why we are happy that no elaborate programs were planned all over the place as before.
1. The cost of all the activities was becoming totally unbearable for hard-pressed parents. It made unnecessary addition to the cost of education and may well have contributed to sending some of our children out of school.
2. Teachers had devised all kinds of tricks to drill money out of the pockets of poor parents. They are still doing it with report cards and all that but this was a big day to chop.
3. Frankly, with Mandela dead, ANC squabbling among themselves and shameless xenophobic violence against mainly black Africans down south now a yearly reality, the romance around the South African story is fading fast. What's the point of all this Day of the Africa Child stuff if we are going to wake up a few hours after the lavish celebration to hear that African people were being killed in South Africa just because they were from other African countries?
4. To bring us back in line, let's start singing Nkosi Sikele Africa alongside our own national anthem. Otherwise, by this time next year, nobody will be talking about June 16.
THE MOTHER OF ALL WARDROBE ALLOWANCES FOR SENATORS
We are still waiting for confirmation but international media organisations are full of reports that recently elected senators in the African giant called Nigeria is asking for ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS each as wardrobe allowance. Wardrobe allowance? This is already beginning to look like the most important and lucrative job in the world.
We hope this never happens because the Nigerian situation will become a potent example that our own MPs would refer to when they come to talk about their own wardrobes. By all accounts, Nigeria is a much more powerful and prosperous country but even they cannot afford to have such things happening in a country with significant levels of poverty. If our MPs ask the treasury for even half of the Nigerian money, they would all lose their seats at the next election. No doubt about that.
In this country, we have a lot of things to do with money - rebuilding our healthcare system, building toilets in all over schools and ending needless deaths in maternity hospitals. These are all more important than MPs asking for wardrobe money. OK, let's hold back a bit and wait, in case our MPs decide to consider the Nigerian example.
We wish the people of Nigeria VICTORY against those senators who have flown this huge and expensive kite. It will never land.
(C) Politico 18/06/15
