BURIED IN PARLIAMENT OR NOT: WOULD KABBAH BE BOTHERED?
In the end the man who restored peace to Sierra Leone and re-established and improved the country's institutions after a brutal and disgraceful civil war, one party dictatorship and military coups that last decades was buried at Kissy Road Cemetery over the weekend. First of all we should all congratulate ourselves as Sierra Leoneans for coming together despite all odds to pay our respect to a fallen HERO.
We also sympathise with the family and thank them for standing by the late man during those very difficult days in this country. He could not have made it without the support of his family. God bless them.
However, we see no reason why Alhaji Kabbah was not buried beside the other fallen leaders if not from a political tit-for-tat on behalf of JS Momoh whose ascension to the presidency in the first place was suspect. But come to think of it Kabbah couldn't care less about the whole political project to have him buried in a public cemetery. Left with him alone, he would have preferred a private family burial in Kailahun or Kambia, the two districts where his parents hailed from.
This was a very modest president whose office was as bare as a prison cell. We know what the same place he operated from looks like today. In fact we still remember a report in Africa Confidential on how the President Lodge came to be what it is now, in complete contravention of the ACC Act which obliges public disclosure of all gifts to public officials. But that is for another day.
In the early days in office, Kabbah didn't receive a salary, he returned the daily State House spending money to the treasury, his ministers were not allowed to fly all over the world to attend this and that meeting. When he traveled abroad, he never stayed in the Waldorf Astoria and only absolutely essential people were on those trips. Alhaji Kabbah didn't run a government as big and expensive as the one we have now and he is the only president to have publicly declared huge money given to him by the late Colonel Ghadaffi and have it paid into the consolidated fund.
Thank you Dear Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. Kissy Road Cemetery would soon become a place to pray for peace in Sierra Leone.
The family would do the late man proud by setting up THE TEJAN KABBAH FOUNDATION FOR PEACE EDUCATION. We shall contribute our WIDOW'S MITE to get it going.
HELLO CHIEF SIDIKIE: WHO OWNS PAPA'S LAND IN KONO?
The troubles of Chief Sidikie continue. It's almost as if he can do nothing right these days. We understand that an EXECUTIVE ORDER issued by De Pa has overruled Sidikie's claim to a plot of land and a privately-owned holding medical facility project on it will now go ahead. This order was issued in the presence of Sidikie and other people - LONG LIVE DIANA, PRINCESS OF KONOLAND.
From what we know, the weight of the evidence was in favour of Sidikie who produced original documents prepared before he and De Pa came to power. The other side produced papers hurriedly prepared yesterday. Hahahahaha. We tire o, this country! But even if Sidikie needed to be asked to backtrack should that have been done before people whose presence would ridicule him! Should De Pa not have called him for a pep talk instead of summoning the whole of Kono to humiliate him? Why did De Pa not call the Conference on Kono to build the promised university there? Why did he not call the conference to build the most neglected road in the country? The post is long.
Let's be honest, Sidikie is looking vulnerable day by day. And the so-called stakeholders of Konoland appear to have deserted him. It's time for this guy to start looking for friends beyond the borders of Konoland. He is in a very tight corner now and he has two options - surrender or fight to death - hahahahahaha. That's very serious eh? How else can we put it? This a very public loss of face that people in his position should never have to suffer. Go easy man. By the way, in political terms 2017/18 - OR MAY BE ADD TWO MORE YEARS - is just around the corner, you know. Would you lose face again?
MEDICAL STORES FIRE: THE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
We know that Sarah Palin of our health ministry must be very angry that we are raising this matter again at a time when the nation appears to have moved on. In fact, the mess in her ministry was buried in the bad news of Alhaji Tejan Kabbah's death and all that followed. But not so fast, because Minister Palin's handling of that very serious incident has left us very disappointed. But she continues in office purely because De Pa is pretending not to have heard what the people are saying. We sorry oh!!
Before we continue with Medical Stores just some lamentations over this FIRE IN OFFICES syndrome. In just a few months, Bank of Salone, Post Office, Youth Commission, etc. Phony investigations, farcical outcomes.
Miatta would want us believe that the destruction of parts of the Medical Stores full of drugs should be behind us by now. We disagree because we still have some questions for you to shed light on. Here we go. Please pretend you are under oath as you reply:
a. Were you saying the truth when you suggested that an electrical fault was the cause of the fire?
b. Was it right for you to say that before the so-called investigations ended? That is called PREJUDICE, madam!
c. Were you saying the truth when you told a news conference that the store was full of expired drugs?
d. How is it that at a time when people are complaining about lack of drugs in hospitals, you allowed bundles of drugs, plenty enough to fill a room, to expire on the shelves?
e. Isn't it the case that the fire was caused by a joint criminal enterprise gone bad? SPECIAL COURT GET READY TO HAVE YOUR MANDATE EXTENDED!
f. Assuming even that your talk about expired drugs is correct, don't you think the way your PR operation handled the whole affair left much to be desired? And don't you also think that the way you addressed the people through the media was a little disrespectful? Gosh! Why do these accidental determiners of our destiny talk to us like this baaaah!
Now that Kabbah has been buried can we return to where we were on this issue please? Running a government ministry as important as that cannot be done like any bling bling showbiz parade. We will return on this again soon.
GATE-CRASHING and TIFFY-TIFFY At MIATTA CONFERENCE CENTER
People are beginning to run away from the Miatta Conference Center as a place for serious business and for decent people - be it for seminars or meetings. We must take this issue seriously because we cannot have a national conference center named after the mother of a former president where marauding criminals roam freely, stealing from people attending conferences and seminars and even brazenly queuing up for food as if they were participants. What is happening to this country?
Those who attended a recent University of Sierra Leone conference there were told of how bags and cameras were stolen while delegates were in the lobby having lunch. At one of the meetings of the Constitutional Review Committee, an iPad belonging to one of the delegates, was stolen inside the meeting room. This cannot be allowed to continue.
There are, usually, police officers all over the place. While we wouldn't now accuse them of colluding with the thieves, we ask Munu to explain why his people are sitting there, if thieves, with their bra-you-borbor-dae-yar mentality can pose as delegates at all meetings and steal from the real delegates.
What then stops an Al-Qaeda operative from posing as a delegate to an international conference only to end up killing our guests. All the attempts the police make to check cars entering the place is done at the FSSG gate while the Old Railway Line gate that leads to the same building is usually left wide open. So much for high quality policing by the "force for good".
PREMIER LEAGUE: GOING, GOING, GOING, GONE AGAIN!
The Sierra Leone Premier League did not resume last week as promised. Den say na for seka Alhaji Kabbah e berin! Hmmm. According to our very reliable sources, the sport betting company, Mercury International has so far refused to put money into the competition. We understand their action.
Why should the SLFA expect even a penny from Mercury after all they did and said to destroy their business? The SLFA constantly attacked people associated with Mercury, even as remotely as recommending someone to be an agent with Mercury.
The SLFA has given the nation one excuse after the other but the reality on the ground is that there is no money to run the game. Hiding this from the public is very bad. Football is a game we love but until those who run it are prepared to admit their limitations and build a solid foundation - devoid of hate, racism and borku bad heart - the real heartache is yet to come. We will not believe any other dates until teams turn up at the venues and play. Well even at that, we will hold our breath until the last game. Hahahahahahaha!
(C) Politico 25/03/14
