BRA MINKS WOBBLES AGAIN AS POLYTECHNIC STRIKE BACK ON
The crisis in the education system in this country is reaching epidemic proportions. It’s not anything to hide anymore. Bra Minks lost his way in that place from the start but De Pa thinks he is fine and he is continuing to stand by him.
From the fiasco of the so-called ghost teachers fishing expedition to the unprecedented suspension of the last NPSE and the recurrent strike by university and polytechnic lecturers, nothing, it seems, can move Bra Minks. In fact, we can make the safest bet in the world by saying that Bra Minks will be in this government to the end. He is totally unshakable. How strange!
Be that as it may, the ordinary people of Sierra Leone are fed up with the way things are going in the education sector. We have good reason to believe that university lecturers are coming closely behind with another industrial action. We are hearing that the authorities there are likely to default on an agreement they signed recently to end another crippling strike action that almost wrecked the year at FBC.
When we come to write the history of education in Sierra Leone, this period will be very difficult to read. We have never had it so bad.
Strike actions happen everywhere. Even in highly industrialised countries. But after nearly NINE years in the same place, Bra Minks continuously encounters the same problems. He still hasn’t found the formula. That formula is easy – when you promise things, deliver on them. IF YOU DON’T HAVE IT, TELL THE PEOPLE THE TRUTH.
HONOURABLE OR NOT: THE NON-ISSUE MADE AN ISSUE
For the last few weeks we have had to endure a totally pointless debate about who should or shouldn't be referred to HONOURABLE in this great republic. Of COURSE WE AT POLITICO ARE ALL HONOURABLE PEOPLE, FULL STOP! But our understanding is that the latest non-issue issue started with a comment made by the Clerk of Parliament. According to what we know so far, he made that comment in a radio interview. Now the whole thing has snowballed and taken a life of its own, and poor Sierra Leone is now consumed by it. Millions of Sierra Leoneans up and down this country could not care less about who is called what. All they care about is putting food on the table.
There are few other things we see around that really mean nothing to us but our politicians appear to think they can’t do without them. Here we go:
1. Look at the vehicle license plates of our MPs, Ministers and other big office holders. We don’t recognise who is who anymore. This display of power hurts the ordinary people so much. We are the ones who pay for all that. Why not have normal license plates guys? Abnormal abnormality!
2. Some politicians have their own mini convoys that accompany them to work daily and they sometimes have no respect for basic traffic rules. Westin dis ba!
3. There is this other thing about politicians covering up their vehicle license plates and getting away with it. Ordinary mortals like us will be arrested and thrown into prison. Animal Farm, indeed!
4. Again, we must also mention how their faces glow with pride when street boys turn up at their gates looking for food and some small cash to get along. Why young people still feel they must always go begging for their survival is something we can’t understand.
5. We are living in a country where our politicians always want more and more of everything. Even titles that mean nothing other than a show of power, they struggle about and bicker over. God save us!
RETIREMENT HAMMER STRIKES SALONE CIVIL SERVICE
Civil Servants have been sent home to retirement in droves. We still don’t know what this full package of austerity is and we suspect these retirements are part of it. We know at least two people who have been retired three years early. The Head of the Civil Service who should have been long retired, is telling us that those retired will be paid their full benefits of cash and other incentives. Not bad at all but why retire them early in the first place?
We know a man who was sent home two years early but is being called up now and then by the same office to do some technical job. What is that?! Is there nothing the Civil Service boss could have done to keep that man in post? Now, they are using their own staff by the back door. It is like hiding from your mother-in-law to spend the night with your wife.
We can’t really shed tears for some of these Civil Servants because we believe some of them ought to have been sacked for inefficiency and laziness. They are always late for work and they do very little work while in the office. That’s why they never complain about being badly paid or their living quarters for the most part being dilapidated. They like MASS MASS or those corrupt payments they collect to facilitate work.
Simply retiring people from the service will not change anything. We need a total overhaul of the institution to reform their attitude to work and their sense of productivity. Otherwise, this is all window-dressing.
DANGER LOOMS WITH ROTTEN TAXIS ON MODEL – LEICESTER ROAD
The other day we boarded a taxi coming down from Mount Aureol. Once we got to Model, we asked the driver to continue the journey and land us at Saint John. The driver refused saying his tyres were very bad and he risked being arrested by the police if he drove into the centre of town. We offered to pay a crazy amount of money because we were running late, but the driver wouldn’t be bothered. He turned his vehicle, picked up five passengers heading for Leicester and off he went.
So, we ask this question: is there no law on the road to Leicester from Model Junction destuff a police presence on FBC campus? We always knew this but this was the day we came face-to-face with absolute lawlessness. Since then, we have taken a really good look at the taxis on that route and observed the following:
1. The drivers constantly overload their rickety cars with both human beings and goods
2. None of their vehicles will pass a roadworthiness test anywhere else in the world.
3. They drivers have no license and a good number of those vehicles as not registered
4. They have absolutely zero respect for their passengers and it can be dangerous driving with them at certain times in the evening on that stretch between Model and Lumley.
5. Model is just a lawless place. We don’t believe the authorities know what to do about the place.
ON THE BRINK AT SLFA, THURSDAY IS D-DAY
When SLFA Executive Committee members meet tomorrow, Thursday, they will have a simple decision to make. They will have to decide to either go ahead and sack somebody in their secretariat or continue taking the beleaguered organisation down the slippery slope - the path of inefficiency and confusion. It’s a very easy decision to make but we know how last-minute shifting of positions can lead to poor decision-making.
We have received a copy of the report of an internal investigation into certain issues at the FA that makes very damning conclusions about certain people in that secretariat. We are holding on to that report until the Executive Committee takes its decision on Thursday. We can find documents anywhere on behalf of our people.
The people of this country have endured this paralysis at the SLFA for far too long. One of the greatest stumbling blocks to peace and progress in the SLFA has to be removed this Thursday. Long live sound reasoning and a complete change in SLFA. Nobody is indispensable.
(C) Politico 22/06/16
