POPE JOHN PAUL ENTRAPPED IN SLFA SOCIAL MEDIA PLOT
Some cruel manipulators who are hiding behind the anonymity provided by social media are congratulating themselves in the hope that they have seriously embarrassed Pope John Paul and the government to the extent that De Pa would sack the pope instantly from his job of running the Sport Ministry. People like us can see through that rubbish easily.
Our phones have been buzzing with an audio clip of a heated exchange between the so-called caretaker coach of the national team and Pope John Paul. We have carefully analysed the stuff and we beg to significantly differ from all those calling for the head of the Pope. We are not known to be defenders of the Pope but this latest on the guy is absolutely disgraceful. In fact, we believe that Mr. Caretaker and those cruel manipulators at the SLFA should resign immediately. Here's why:
1. The clip now making the rounds was deliberately leaked by those who recorded it to justify the Pope's sacking in these days of an expected cabinet shake up. That conversation took place last October so why was it leaked only now?
2. The Pope was clearly entrapped by those who initiated the call. There were at least three different voices in the background as the Caretaker Coach unleashed his volleys. They could clearly be heard giggling. Why didn't they stop that bad tempered exchange? They must have been fanning the flames.
3. We can bet our last penny that the actual recording was done on a sophisticated phone belonging to one of those who organised the entrapment. We have a good idea of the kind of phone that coach uses. And why would he record such a conversation anyway? He probably didn't know the whole thing was being recorded. He probably only asked one of the manipulators for help to make a quick call.
4. Mr. Caretaker Coach refused to comment on the issue when asked last weekend during a radio interview. The only reason he did that was because he was thoroughly betrayed and embarrassed by those manipulators who leaked that recording.
5. In the next few weeks, we will find out that the audio clip was leaked to muddy the waters so that those big jobs hanging around in the SLFA would land in some hands. Stay with us on this.
AIG FUK DABOH MUST SHOW SOME RESPECT TO THE PEOPLE
We have a lot of respect for AIG FUK Daboh. We believe that with the departure of somebody like Chris Charley, Daboh and a few others were capable of making the SLP a force for good in practice. But we were badly let down by his last appearance on 98.1 breakfast programme on Monday this week to talk about the death of a young man who is alleged to have met his death as he fled from the police who had gone on one of their many raids in Portloko.
We have absolutely no problem with police officers raiding places where they believe criminals hide out. That's their job. In fact, we believe FUK Daboh and his officers in that region have done really well arresting criminals who stole everything from rail lines to fuel from the defunct African Minerals company. They also did a good job with that MP who after receiving money from the public purse to help fight Ebola, was himself allegedly caught undertaking an unsafe burial. That case is still in court. But we believe FUK Daboh did well to stand up to authority in a country where people are so scared to act.
But how can FUK Daboh go on nationwide radio and tell the people of this country it's not his business if somebody runs to his death as a result of a raid carried out by his men? Come on AIG, the least you could have done was to express regret that anybody died as a consequence of that raid. Look at the serious law and order problems that followed that death. It was so serious that our AIG was forced to declare a curfew. Even criminals are Sierra Leoneans and they have a right to be alive.
On behalf of the people of Sierra Leone, we demand an urgent independent inquiry into the young man's death. It's our business. That's the line we are pursuing.
US REPUBLICANS ARE LOOKING LIKE THE GREEN MOVEMENT IN SALONE
Let's say from the outset that this is a very bad job we are attempting to do. But freedom of the media includes the freedom to do a bad job like trying to pick out a small similarity between the Republican party or GOP in the US and our own GOP here, otherwise known as the Green Movement. So let's exercise that freedom. Actually, we should have gone for the differences and the whole edition of Politico would be taken over by just that topic.
The first thing we would have picked out is the fact that for parties out there, not just the GOP, presidential candidates have their own campaign headquarters. They are not allowed to use the party headquarters. Here, the Green Movement, like the others, use the same facility. And even when the candidate loses the election, his larger-than-life portrait continues to dominate all party offices with hired men standing by to take out anybody who attempts to make commonsense arguments about removing those portraits to give other candidates an equal chance at the leadership crown. We suppose that's what was meant by "continuing to provide political leadership." Well, Green Movement style.
Anyway, the similarity we have noticed is that the GOP in the United States has as many potential presidential candidates as the Green Movement in Sierra Leone. May be we should be expecting one declaration every week. The two parties are hoping, even dreaming of re-taking power after two terms in opposition. Both face a tough fight but are sounding confident. That's all we can find by way of similarities.
We can't end without noting this vast difference too. No GOP man would dare take their own party to court in the way some of the Green Movement people behave in Sierra Leone. At every turn they are ready to file papers in court where the cases last donkey's years while the party bleeds.
LIVING IN FREETOWN'S MANY SLUMS IN JULY AND AUGUST
Those who live in comfortable housing on the hills overlooking Freetown should spare a thought for their countrymen and women who have to make do with the worse dwellings in the world, in places like Kroo Bay and Susan's Bay. Life is tough in those places. The last time we checked, there were nine of such places along the Freetown Bay and just below the hills of Freetown.
It's only when people visit those places that they realise how unequal a society like Sierra Leone is; how poor and hopeless many people are.
But for the big guys, they couldn't care less. Otherwise they would have done something about Kroo Bay. All they do is wait for five years and flood the place with cash, bags of rice and cheap alcohol. Next minute the people deliver the votes and dance all day and night. They then wake up in the morning to discover that all the politicians are gone for another five years. When will these people teach lying politicians a serious lesson at the polls?
Even in normal times, Kroo Bay people are busy fighting for living space with the pigs. All the rubbish in Freetown is emptied at Kroo Bay. All kinds of anti-social activities and crimes are common in places like Kroo Bay. How come nobody is doing something about that?
The NGOs too are getting in on the action. They pretend that their job is to end poverty but in reality they need the Kroo Bays of this world so that they can continue writing project proposals about this and that to get money from unsuspecting groups abroad. We know where much of that cash goes. Long Live Sierra Leone! Maybe we should start our own NGO. OK, let's call it HUMANITARIANS FOR A BETTER WORLD. Sounds great eh?
(C) Politico 23/06/15
