CAN OKADA-RIDING SURVIVE PALO’S AXE?
We certainly don’t know what the ‘Okada’ guys think about recent movesto restrict their operation to a few areas of Freetown. But manypeople in this great city think the actions Palo has now put in placeare long overdue. It’s a fact that ‘Okadas’ serve a very useful purpose– they transport our people to parts of the city that are completelycut off by non-existent roads - the result of many years of politicalneglect of the worst kind.Let’s confront the truth here, there are many reasons why we think‘Okadas’ must face even more restrictions or be banned totally from thestreets of Freetown in particular. We understand the other argumentabout the young people doing the business feeding their families fromOkada riding but we believe the vast majority of the people have astrong case against this line of business.
1. There’s simply too much recklessness in the Okada-riding business.Somehow the boys feel they are above the law. We must put an end tothat.
2. ‘Okada’ riders are very rude. It’s almost as if that is part of thetraining. They can insult anybody at any time.
3. Let’s check how many people have gone through the wards of theemergency at Goderich and other facilities because of ‘Odaka’recklessness. There are risks from all other means of transport but‘OKADA’ TOO PASS MARK
4. How much do the riders really make to pay their masters and feedtheir families? We make this romantic argument about Okadas havingcreated jobs for young people all the time. Frankly, is Okada-ridingwhat you call a job? That’s complete waste of youthful energy.
5. Let’s see what else is there for these Okada riders to do. If theycan’t find any, we urge them to join us in our next edition as we comeup with a few suggestions. We charge no fees.
AFTER FALLAY-INSPIRED APOLOGY TO DE PA, IS KENEMA BETTER OFF TODAY?
So weeks after Robin the son of Fallay brought five councilors toState House to APOLOGISE to De Pa for God knows what, we’ve beentrying to find out what has happened to the eastern headquarter townas a whole and those councilors individually. We know that when peopleapologise for a particular wrongdoing and are pardoned, many thingsflow from that. They will get all what they deserve and perhaps more,for their humility. But is that the case in Kenema?We passed through the place in the last few hours and found Kenema townworse than it was before the FIVE WISE COUNCILORS brought tidings ofgreat joy to State House. As far as the councilors are concerned, wefound interesting things to talk about. The details will come inanother form in this newspaper but for now consider the following:
1. Was that trip to State House really about apologising to De Pa?Yes, we read something in a press release but let’s talk like SierraLeoneans, what was that visit really about? In fact, we want Robin theson of Fallay to answer this question.
2. Kenema remains a very sorry place. All the roads are bad,electricity is zero, and public morale is down the drains, criminalityand prostitution on the increase. They have a very clueless Mayor whohas no control over his council. He spends all his time fighting pettybattles within his own party.
3. We left the place with the feeling, almost total conviction, thatall FIVE councilors and their Mayor would be thrown out of office atthe next local election.
4. These days the councilors are completely isolated in GREEN Kenema.It’s like sitting on death row waiting for the day you are hanged.
5. Meanwhile Robin the son of Fallay is on a roll. He went back homeafter that meeting feeling good about himself. He believes with theCORRECT LOGISTICS, he could land the Mayor himself at State House inthe next fortnight. O that would be joyful! Long live Robin the son ofFallay.
BLACKOUT TAKES HOLD IN THE SEAT OF POWER
Hmmmmmm Makeni is looking very dark these days. And the people aren’treally used to it. They say Bumbuna has gone down for maintenance andwould be in that condition for about two weeks. The truth is thatthere is nothing wrong with that particularly for people like usliving in Freetown where power supply is ERRATIC. Those in Makeni havea different take. A brutal load-shedding programme means that largeparts of the city are without electricity for the better part of theday.In Freetown, the little electricity we experience is very bad. Inthree hours, the lights would go off and on NINE TIMES. For some of usthis happens daily between 20: 30 PM and Midnight. EDSA can’t reallycare about what happens to electrical appliances in our homes and wecan’t take them to court.Back in the SEAT OF POWER, the people are grumbling. Is there is wayto save someof the power generated during the season of plenty sothat in times like these they will fall back on their reserves? Pleasedon’t blame us because we are not engineers. We are ordinary citizensasking silly questions.
If full electricity does not return to the SEAT OF POWER soon, theservice sector will suffer badly. In fact, we are cancelling ourfour-week weekend booking for now until we are clear about the returnof power. See you soon all our Friends in the SEAT OF POWER.
ON AIR WITH PROF. MARCO OF RADIO MANKNEH ONCE AGAIN
One thing we will badly miss during our time away from the SEAT OFPOWER is the inimitable voice of a guy called Prof Marco. He does hisstuff on Radio Mankneh on Saturday evenings. In style and content,Prof. Marco’s program sounds like David Tam-Baryoh’s Monologue. Not anexact imitation but something very close to that. Yes.
Prof. Marco voice is something we have to comment. He doesn’t exactlyneed voice training at Ballanta Academy but his voice needs a littletuning. We don’t know who will do that and when. The next thing is,the guy doesn’t appear to know how to control his sound levels. Weknow he works from a self-operated studio. So with a voice ashigh-pitched as that mixed with bad sound levels creates a not sopleasant output. Put simply Prof. YOUR OUTPUT BLASTS ALL THE TIME.Stay out of the RED ZONE PLEASE.
When all is said and done, we LOVE Prof. Marco. He takes on the bigissues. He plays absolutely fantastic OLDIES. He transports us to thedays when MEN were MEN. Keep it up Prof. Marco. You encouraged us lastweekend not to read too much into the blackout in the SEAT OF POWERbecause it was due to Bumbuna. No problem. We merely highlighted theissue because all journalists are told on their first day in classthat UNUSUAL happenings make news. Blackout is UNUSUAL in the SEAT OFPOWER so it’s news Prof. You are part of us and you know that.
(C) Politico 24/05/16
