BETWEEN MARGAI AND FRANK KARGBO: WE DON'T FIND IT FUNNY AT ALL
An extraordinary row in the shape of a sharp exchange of letters has just ended between the nation's Attorney General and the leader of one of our many COMPOSITION PARTIES. We can understand the emotional undercurrents so evident in the exchanges. In these days of social media, it was great fun for many. We didn't find it funny anyway and we demand an unreserved apology from both men but particularly from the one whose salary and other living expenses we pay with our taxes.
We are not interested in how the whole thing started. We are also completely not interested in the idea of them meeting and shaking hands again after an unnecessarily destructive exchange that frankly shamed Sierra Leone. We should let Frank Kargbo know that he didn't do what he did in our name so he should never have used our country's letterhead. As far as we are concerned, this was just a little sophisticated than what Sherrington and Minister Kamara did the other day.
What should a minister really do to cause his sacking in this country? Reading the letters, a few things came to our minds:
1. That Margai would surely now further regret the day he decided to help the Red Movement take power.
2. With a recent report showing so many people in jail for years without trial, the Attorney General ought to use his time in a better way; getting those people out of prison instead of fighting this damaging war of words.
3. The delays in our courts are now totally unbearable. On radio the other day, ordinary people gave the JUDICIARY an unbelievable kicking. We want our Justice Minister to keep his eyes on that.
4. With the opposition block so devastated, Margai has a lot to do to bring his party back to 2007 days. He asked a question any citizen would ask an expect answers but he should have moved on long ago. This is Sierra Leone.
5. While all these letters were flying all over the place, the rest of society were suffering from hunger, disease and general hopelessness. Long Live Sierra Leone!
ROAD TRANSPORT BUSES CAN'T GO TO CERTAIN DISTRICTS. REALLY?
The Sierra Leone Road Transport Corporation has now formally told the people of a handful of districts and towns that they wouldn't be served by any of their buses until the roads leading to those places were constructed. Like Wilkinson Road? We can understand why the SLRTC which only recently rose from the dead with those 100 or 85 Chinese buses wants to cut off our people in this way. They care more for their buses than the livelihood of our people who actually own the buses in the first place.
The ordinary people of Sierra Leone have suffered for too long through no fault of theirs. It's like setting up an Attitudinal Change Secretariat which constantly blames the people for all their woes even when the people have never really been in the driving seat of anything in this country. The politicians who have brought us to where we are today are the ones being hailed as the CROCODILES OF RIVER ROKEL.
So using this SLRTC standard, when would any government bus return to those places? At the RAPTURE?
We can only encourage the people in the affected areas to do the following while they wait for their roads to be fixed.
1. Please VOTE OUT all politicians and parties that you believe are responsible for your marginalisation at the next opportunity. Forget about instant cash and food that come once every five years.
2. If you live close to a river, use your canoe to go places. Please watch the tide because we don't want politicians pretending to be crying in front of TV cameras.
3. Do not sell anything you produce to people in Freetown and other big towns. That includes charcoal which many of them use to cook their food. Those who are in areas covered by SLRTC would eventually go to your villages in search of foo-foo and palm-oil.
4. Write a letter to the SLRTC asking them why they continue using that old, rotten and thieves-infested death trap they call bus terminal in central Freetown despite all those challenges?
5. Ask the SLRTC whether they consider you to be Sierra Leoneans or not.
GREEN MOVEMENT PRESIDENTIAL DARK HORSE EMERGES FROM THE SHADOWS
Reading some newspapers and listening to radio stations, you get the feeling that only two people can realistically take the leadership of the Green Movement. Now the dark horse in the coming campaign has emerged. It's the Trade Unionist and former minster Alpha Timbo. The guy is not new to the game and he could take everyone by surprise especially as the general assumption remains that the race is for Osuofia in particular, to lose. But we have a few questions for Timbo:
1. When are you going to actually hit the ground? Campaigning in the air is not likely to help a lot ahead of the convention. What do you think?
2. With a northern candidate in the shape of KKY supposedly doing well now, how would you handle that as a HOME BOY?
3. We know NASSIT came on stream on your watch, what do you think about it today? Please consider the fact that they've been bailing out hotels and banks and buying lands that do not exist with our investment? In a typical examination you will be given three hours for this question but we give you one week.
4. Are you having discussions with the candidates from the northern flank with a view to presenting one NORTHERN STAR?
5. Is your manifesto done? We don't know how much that would count in future with all the examples we have in front of us but let's still have something to talk about.
SIERRA LEONE FOOTBALL ON A KNIFE'S EDGE AGAIN
We are getting indications that The Queen of Salone Football is beginning to have a re-think about cooperating with De Pa to end the impasse in Salone Football. The Queen came out of a meeting with De Pa a few days ago with the understand that she should nominate three people to join three others from the main faction of SLFA and one person from the ministry to prepare the way for the coming of corrupt FIFA to clear the mess in the nation's game.
Our information is that the guys on the other side have already submitted their names but the Queen is holding back waiting for FIFA to rule De Pa off-side. This is an interesting development and it's looking increasingly like we would once again tell De Pa that we told him so.
This more than any other time in the life of the SLFA is the last chance to rescue the game and Sierra Leone's reputation as a serious country where presidential directives in particular are taken given the consideration they deserve. We shall see who actually rules Sierra Leone: between a corrupt bunch called FIFA and the elected government of Sierra Leone.
We hate being negative about our country but what's this idea of advertising for a coach, setting a date for interviews and while waiting for that, we wake up one morning to be told a Ghanaian coach had been sent here on loan for three months to become a modern day KING MIDAS? We have nothing against Tetteh. He is a true professional. But he's been set an impossible task that he may end up regretting.
The Queen has been going up and down the world, clocking air miles but after two years in office, all we have is a badly-produced glossy magazine. Is that fair on the people? Now it appears the president's attempt to resolve the impasse in our name is being challenged. We are following this issue with keen interest.
(C) Politico 19/08/15
