MAGUFULIFYING SIERRA LEONE'S 55th INDEPENDENCE CELEBRATION
In about a week's time, Sierra Leone would be 55 years old as an independent country. A lot of people are calling for a deep reflection on what has happened to our country since the British left. Check all credible international development indicators and see how badly this country is doing - education is down, healthcare totally basic and problematic, many Sierra Leoneans are hopeless and are looking for every opportunity to flee to so-called greener pastures. Only a few guys have all the toys. This is a deeply unequal society.
Independence Day celebrations are normally big in Sierra Leone with people getting national honours and then a state banquet followed by several other smaller parties. There's really nothing wrong with that but after 55 years and the vicious and grinding nature of poverty in this country, we absolutely doubt whether we should continue along that path. And we've been looking carefully at the way the president of Tanzania, John Magufuli, has been doing things since he came to power. Against that background we want to suggest that our 55th independence anniversary be fully MAGUFULIFIED for the following reasons:
1. Five years ago when we attempted to do so-called LEGACY PROJECTS, the whole 50th anniversary secretariat ended in the investigation room of the Anti-Corruption Commission. Some were charged to court but as we write, the case is still somewhere inside the law courts building. The ACC is not saying a word about it. Other cases have come and gone. In fact the ACC wants us to forget about it. No way! We don't want any other case out of the 55th anniversary.
2. MAGUFULI scrapped the whole big money celebrations and spent the money on new hospital beds. Let's do the same here. Our satellite hospitals that serve the poor need more beds. They also need help to kill those giant rats threatening to overrun those hospitals.
3. Let's spend the money on all the municipal schools that are in very bad shape. Those schools cater for the poorest of the poor. Please, in doing so, let's ban certain contractors from bidding for the jobs. We know why we are making this point.
4. Let's use that money to set up a FUND for the TRANSFORMATION of SLUM SETTLEMENTS in Freetown. Hundreds of thousands of people would benefit.
5. Or we can buy more RED buses from China. Where are those ones Logus paraded in Freetown recently? This time we will handle all procurement issues with great care in TRUE MAGUFULI FASHION.
PARLIAMENT MUST INVESTIGATE THOSE DEGREE CERTIFICATES
We have said in the past that parliament must investigate all those certificates presented by all recently approved ministers. The ministers may be in their cosy state offices right now but that doesn't stop the necessary parliamentary committees from investigating to establish that they were not lied to or deliberately misled by those to whom much is given. No nation accepts people lying on oath. So given that so many questions were raised by the MPs themselves about some of those documents, we hold the whole parliament responsible to come back to the nation to announce the final outcome of their investigation, one way or the other. Very soon please.
Parliament must know that there are other people who feel so bad about some of those certificates, that they have started doing some work on them. We have seen some interesting findings that a civil society organisation has now produced on behalf of the good people of Sierra Leone. And in one of the cases we've seen, the NGO people merely went to the secretariat of the University of Sierra Leone and then spoke to classmates of somebody making certain academic claims to discover the truth. Very interesting indeed.
We urge parliament to do its own investigation. This matter should not be laid to rest whether people withdraw their documents now or not. Many Sierra Leoneans believe they've been lied to by people who had no reason to. It has never been a requirement for people to have University degrees to become ministers but if they make that claim on oath, they should prove it or face the consequences. Nobody should take the people for granted.
MUNU POLICE CALL FOR OKADA BAN IN FREETOWN: ARE THEY REALLY SURE?
God Moves in a Mysterious Way. Is it really true that MUNU BOYS are calling for Okada Riders to be banned from operating in Freetown? We don't know what has suddenly happened to MUNU BOYS because the rest of the country has been complaining about this for years now. Anyway, we welcome them to this cry for sanity in Freetown in particular. We warn them however that we do not believe their statement would make any difference. In fact, we make bold to describe their call as hypocritical. Here's why:
1. You know that this country has a very bad record trying to fight lawlessness in Freetown. Think about how many times we have tried and failed to take right-hand drive vehicles off our roads - meeting after meeting, press release after press release. The vehicles are still on the road and we believe more are coming through the ports.
2. MUNU BOYS should also consider their spectacular failures with Operation Free Flow and all those other operations. Street traders have multiplied and are daily conquering new parts of Freetown. Look at what has happened to the Hill Side Bye-Pass Road. Forget it guys.
3. Let's be honest, how many times have Okada Riders been banned from the Central Business District? As soon as they begin to make noise about voting against the RED MOVEMENT in 2018, things return to normal and we all go away to live happily ever after. Political action guys, political action!
4. A lot of those bikes are owned by the very MUNU BOYS so how can they seriously call for their own bikes to be banned? Every MUNU BOY who comes from peacekeeping mission with a few dollars in hand think they should invest in motor-cycle taxis. So what's this hypocrisy all about? We are not impressed.
5. How about the little things some MUNU BOYS collect from the Okada Riders as BOOKING FEES daily? That is so important that they will never allow anybody to cut off that lifeline. So this is downright hypocrisy.
SLFA'S MATCH-FIXING INQUIRY: WOULD THOSE INDICTED GET JUSTICE?
We are settling now into a familiar pattern with this match-fixing nonsense that the SLFA has been talking about again recently. We note that every time people talk about SLFA going to congress and the possibility of the totally unpopular Isha Johansen being impeached and thrown out of office, we hear about match-fixing and the banning of football stakeholders from attending the congress.
Here we go again with all this talk about Match fixing. We understand that even FIFA has become so fed up with SLFA's refusal to go to congress that they have given an ultimatum for the congress to go ahead in June. We have no reason to believe the congress would hold. Not too long ago in Makeni after huge money being spent to organise the event, SLFA operatives went there and deliberately caused the program to be abandoned.
We have the transcript of a speech Isha Johansen made to parliament on this match-fixing business. We hold that to be true because she was speaking to the people's representatives. That's why we are concerned that after such a speech, she could go all over the place to put this witch-hunt dressed up as an independent investigation in place.
We believe that those drawn into this SLFA fishing expedition will not get justice. We hear that some of them would certainly ignore the hearings. It's only in a FIFA supported organisation that a president would hold office for three years without meeting her members to give account of her stewardship and have her budget approved. Many other organisations would have removed such a president two years ago.
Those stakeholders who were so committed to the defeat of a particular candidate to the extent that they ended up with this system now should go and have a nice clean up in the River Jordan. Next time they should never forget to act in a rational way.
(C) Politico 19/04/16
