ABSENT WHEN IT MATTERED: HEALTH MINISTRY STUMBLES AGAIN
De Pa likens his cabinet to the Brazilian football team. He hasn't revised that comparison even after the recent disastrous performance by the South American side - the worst by any Brazilian football team in living memory. They were thrown out of the World Cup in their own backyard. Could De Pa's Red Movement be thrown out in similar manner in 2017? This is the second time we are asking this question.
Imagine the latest display by Sarah Palin aka Fernandino in the context of the Brazilian cabinet in Sierra Leone. She lost another ball in a very dangerous position in the midfield last week. She ended up scoring an incredible own goal and we have no idea if Sierra Leone can come back from where we are now. Here's how it happened: The American embassy, of all institutions, went to the military hospital at Wilberforce to donate badly-needed hospital equipment and supplies and Sarah Palin was absent. The highest-ranking officer in the US embassy presented the goodies herself. Not a soul was there to represent the ministry.
Where on earth was Sarah Palin and all those doctors who, instead of spending time with patients in the wards, are busy trying to run projects at Youyi Building? Anyway we can understand why both ministers were not there - that was more than just a coincidence. And as for the other health officials, well...they were probably fighting Ebola. HAHAHA. Was this a snub for the Greatest Nation on this planet?
Sometimes we want to be positive about what Sarah Palin in particular is doing in that ministry but such treatment of people who genuinely want to help is not at all making any case in her favour. Sarah Palin is completely out of her depth in that place but De Pa keeps her there for God knows what. If she was on an Ebola trip, she should have rescheduled the donation so she would be present. I am sure the US embassy would not have minded.
We expected her to have received the Chargé on that day but she was completely missing in action. Has this donation upset some procurement request somebody was going to make? Hahahahahaha. This is an interesting country.
WHY IS NRA UNDER SUCH PRESSURE TO FIND MORE AND MORE MONEY?
NRA is so desperate for money these day that if we are not careful, tax collectors would soon be all over the place with receipt books in hand and armed policemen to collect money from us for simply saying HELLO to people we meet on the streets. NRA's Corporate Affairs man was very blunt on radio the other day. He said something to the effect that the government wanted money and the NRA would squeeze it out of anywhere they can get it. Phew!
We have no problem with the government collecting taxes. In fact we firmly believe in giving unto Caesar what is Caesar's. We note however that throughout the history of Sierra Leone it's the poor people who pay taxes to keep the rich happy. The rich people are the ones in government. Their children are in the best schools abroad. They will return home someday to take over from their parents. Our children will then work for them under the same circumstances and would only break through the wall of oppression by magic. That's the game!
So how could this government spend the billions that the NRA is about to collect?
1. Pallo Conteh has about half a dozen cars in his absolutely unnecessary convoy of vehicles. They attract huge fuel and maintenance cost, you know. Consider all travel allowances for his bodyguards when they travel out of Freetown. If Pallo were the defence minister of Iraq, how many soldiers would be in his convoy?
2. When De Pa travels he has to take along a lot of Red Movement people to compensate them for their active support for his government and indeed for the job ahead - the ill-fated Third Term project. De Pa leaves soon for a meeting with Obama. That should be interesting in the context of After U nar U. The delegation from this country will be big. We hope they publish the official list for our people to see. We have applied for a visa for our reporter. We hope he gets it. We intend to fully cover the visit. The first story will be on the hotel the official delegation will be staying in. Watch out for Politico. And the non-state aka Red Movement delegates who will be in attendance.
3. De Pa has the biggest cabinet ever in the history of this country. He also has many, many advisers paid unbelievable wages and all those useless commissions. They all drain money from the NRA tax money. Our bureaucracy is a burden on our head. And it's so inefficient - USELESS if you like.
4. The tax collectors also need to corruptly enrich themselves. We warn them that the ECOBANK route is closed forever.
ANY HELPING HAND? COMIUM HQ BADLY NEEDS PAINTING
We shall soon launch a trust fund to save the mobile phone company, COMIUM. You see, when Comium started operations in Sierra Leone, they gave us free airtime for three months. We talked, talked and talked. Absolutely ridiculous things were being discussed on Comium network. Once, a lady called her boyfriend who was very busy at work. The guy thought it was some emergency at home. "Where are you?" he asked. "I am in the toilet", came the reply. It was as crazy as that.
Now Comium has fallen on hard times and we have all abandoned them. We even hear that some big politician is helping fuel the downward slide so that his shadowy consortium would eventually buy it over. As we say in journalism, we are watching that space.
But for now, those of us who are very grateful to Comium, are finalising plans for the launch of our COMIUM REVIVAL FOUNDATION. We plan to raise one billion US dollars to turn the company into a first class mobile phone company. We want no government bailout.
The first we will do is to paint the company's headquarters all over again. It looks very bad these days. We don't even want to see the bank balance. We know the kitty is empty by just looking at that building. But the staff, particularly the ladies, look very good. But where are the uniforms? Thanks for keeping up appearances anyway despite the hard times. O comium! does thou lie so low?
FIGHTING EBOLA IN RED AND WHITE WITH SONG AND DANCE
We plead with De Pa to call his Red Army back to the barracks and not unleash them any further in this fight against Ebola. What we saw along Wilkinson Road at the weekend was very bad and distasteful: A group of ruling party women in Red and White carrying De Pa's photographs, a sort of campaign rally made to look like a campaign against Ebola.
We know that everything in Sierra Leone, including our preference for soft drinks, is made to represent our political choices - Vimto is the Red Movement. Sprite is the squabbling Green Movement, while Fanta is the comatose Tangerine Movement. May be Kamarainba's party will be Coca-Cola. Hahahahahahahaha!
What's the point of branding ourselves as political activists to fight Ebola? The obvious intent of that charade was to score political points. Red Movement people are consumed by their love of political power and what it brings along. So much so that they have become bigots.
If the squabbling Green Movement were to organise their own Ebola sensitisation parade in Freetown, dressed in their party uniform, Munu will send in his boys to wash them with tear gas. That's a fact. Did he not stop all counter After U, nar U slogans? We would like to be present the day Munu meets his maker. The toughest question he will have to answer will be his definition of being democratic and even-handed.
LEONE STARS WIN BUT COULD THEY HAVE BURIED THE SEYCHELLES?
Let's not take anything from our national football team, they had a good victory over The Seychelles national team in Freetown. Should they fail to reach the groups stages by completing the victory in Victoria in two weeks we should note that as the day we stopped being of any relevance in international football.
We don't want to sound negative in this atmosphere but we have to say that Leone Stars ought to have ended the challenge of the Pirates in Freetown with a bag full of goals. The visitors played very negative football, defending very deep, hoping to survive any onslaught over 90 minutes. They held up nicely in the first half but collapsed in the second. Leone Stars were hardly impressive. But for now, we congratulate them.
Please, we don't want to hear any talk of match-fixing after that away match. We are not the only country playing football. Go Leone Stars!
(C) Politico 22/07/14
