CCSL ON "RISING VIOLENCE" AND FAILING POLITICAL WILL
CCSL PRESS RELEASE - "The equitable, fair and just continuation of the WID initiative in a non-selective manner without fear or favour. We are made to believe the stalling of the WID initiative is due to lack of political will. It is not right in the sight of God that the Abacha Street traders seemed to be under special consideration and were allowed to continue their businesses while other traders were removed from their places of business..."
POLITICO COMMENT- Well, forgive us people of God, it would appear as if since you gave De Pa's administration that huge political legitimacy by brokering a fragile peace with defeated Osuofia, you were so overwhelmed with your "success" that you disengaged from the public arena. The country has changed while you were busy with pastoral work.
It's not only Abacha Street women that enjoy preferential treatment these days. How come you guys failed to say something about the dangerous balkanisation of the country that has been happening with extreme vigour in the last three years. By the way you should have been a little more specific to say Hurricane Musa Tarawallie blew over far-away Kenema town in the name of Operation WID and caused havoc. Anyway here are a few more issues:
1. Your brother in the Catholic Church Bishop Aruna has been prevented from taking up his post as Bishop of Makeni even after the Vatican ordained him. The rebel priests in the diocese say he is a MENDE man from the East of Sierra Leone. They wouldn't mind having a Bishop from Tororo in Uganda. How about that?
2. Those musicians who were involved in that shooting and killing at Lumley Beach who should be sweating it out in jail by now, were made PEACE AMBASSADORS by De Pa and granted a meeting and photo-op with him. Would it be right "in the sight of God" to suggest that such gestures send the wrong signal leading to the "Rising Violence and Indiscipline in Society" you talk about?
3. People who were indicted by legally constituted Commissions of Inquiry set up by their own government for acts of violence and mayhem have today passed parliamentary scrutiny and are serving as ministers of government in this land that we love. Short Live Sheares Moses Commission Report. What do you think about the parliament, especially a woman named BERNADETTE LAHAI, the most inept leader of the opposition anywhere on planet earth. How about absenteeism in the House. Is it "right in the sight of God" for them to collect salaries for September?
We shall be pointing out a few more SACRED COWS in our next edition. By the Special of God.
SLBS SHOWS LACK OF LEADERSHIP, AGAIN!
BREAKING TWEET: We may not be surprised by it, as people who watch society, but we are absolutely shocked and scandalised by it! Not for the first time, the SLBC Big Man has let down his own staff if only to please his political paymasters, again! If he is not a marionette someone please tell us what he is! Now, yesterday PRESS REVIEW looked at a story carried by a local newspaper on the reported disappointment of the Speaker of Parliament at his HONOURABLES and their absenteeism. Who did not now that anyway! Next minute, someone in the House was not pleased and made a representation at New England. Next minute, the presenter of the programme was taken off air UNTIL JESUS RETURNS. Sickening! Here is a boss who never stands by his staff. Like someone hiding something, the slightest pressure from government makes him betray those who should protect – the workers and the masses. He did it in December 2011 with another staff. He did it with the victims of the King Jimmy bridge collapse by concentrating on visit of De Pa and not the deceased or the cause of their untimely death. Worse than all his predecessors under the unprotected SLBC. This is a gross violation of the rights of journalists. Worse than the more direct one by politicians! What’s in the name, someone just asked. Just call it SLBS. We will return to this soon.
STANDBY FOR A MASSIVE SHAKE-UP OF THE CABINET OF MAMA SALONE
We can authoritatively reveal that De Pa will soon announce major sackings and ministerial movements in his cabinet. There will be big surprises and the cabinet changes will signal De Pa's attitude to governance and his succession plan as he runs the last leg of his ten year race. And perhaps prove that he is back in charge after apparently losing control.
Already we have received a list of ministers who are definitely out of government and there are some upstarts who are about to enter the game. We don't like speculating but we would be very surprised if some extremely under-performing ministers and deputies remained in the government, not to talk about their ministries.
We urge De Pa to be very brutal in the interest of the good people of Sierra Leone. For now we shall only point out areas of the government where we think the winds of change must blow.
This wind of change must blow away the crisis in the education sector - A Gbamanja Commission situation that has completely messed up the school system, Verification, Verification, re-verification and more re-re-verification, a sex-for-scholarship case in our courts, a disillusioned teaching workforce and two ministerial press conferences in six years and more.
What about the area of sports? Administrative incompetence and ministerial interference, a national football team that failed because they conceded goals in extra time every time they played and a crudely rigged SLFA election. With the crisis in the SLFA deepening, De Pa asks gamesome defence minister to solve the problem. Where is the Pope? Who will protect Sierra Leone if Al-Shabbab come knocking.
Works and Housing - A simple drive around Freetown and our provincial towns is enough to hang the man. Let's leave it at that.
Trade? We don't even know what's happening there except that the ministry played a key role in helping Abacha Street defeat Operation WID.
Agriculture? The apparent presidential ambition of an otherwise effective minister has taken a heavy toll on his focus and drive.
Attorney General - He takes FULL RESPONSIBILITY for the disgrace around Ibrahim Balde. He thinks if he is not in town he must reverse whatever decision of the Law Officers department on his return. So let De Pa cleanse the land.
See you on Tuesday with more because the MATORMA will surely dance on a Friday.
THAT BO DISTRICT COUNCIL HALL GIMMICK, PLEASE STOP THAT NOW
Look at this box and tell us what the Bo District Council is trying to achieve by putting it at the entrance to their hall on Sewa Road. On the face of it this should be read as a good attempt by the local council politicians to get feedback from their people relating to development priorities in the district.
We were reminded of the so-called suggestion boxes the NPRC regime put in public places throughout the country for the same reason in the early to mid 90s. It was only a façade to hide the real mess that the regime plunged the country into. Is that what the district council is planning to do?
We are not ORDINARILY RESIDENT in Bo but we visit the second city often so let's put this "Development Box" initiative to test with our suggestions.
a. The toilets need massive cleaning with some of the strongest detergents in the world. When we last visited, we were ashamed about what we saw.
b. The power system in the hall is simply disgraceful. All the plugs and connecting points are off and we could hardly find somebody to talk to when we needed help. The only people around were those in the bar.
c. Too many beggars, second hand clothes sellers and vagrants hang around the place all the time. They could even end up robbing visitors.
d. Please get another generator. We will not even begin to describe how the present one behaves.
We will report to our readers after one month whether our belief that this box is a façade is proved correct.
MAYOR BABABODE TURNS TO PUBLIC FLOGGING TO CLEAN FREETOWN
Our Mayor gave a very lively interview to a journalist from Culture Radio the other day praising his new cleaning initiative in the 17 or so slum dwellings in Freetown - ANOTHER MAYOR, ANOTHER CLEANING INITIATIVE. But we know it remains what it is, an INITIATIVE.
Mayor BABABODE made a statement during that interview which we want our people to keep in mind. He told the reporter he was prepared to introduce flogging if the people refused to keep their communities clean. We understand Bababode's zeal to make Freetown the cleanest city in West Africa. We understand his frustrations with the paralysis over Operation WID but we cannot imagine that Bababode seriously thinks he will order his badly-trained and rude Metropolitan police to flog Freetown people over his cleaning initiative that is bound to fail.
Before Bababode starts flogging people around here let him first explain to us how much money he is using for this new SLUM CLEANING business he is starting and how ordinary citizens like us can monitor the whole thing because some of our councillors are simply pathetic.
Let Bababode also tell us how much money he has collected as local tax and how he is going to use it. Let Bababode tell us why Victoria Park is in the sorry state in which it is at the moment. We could go on and on. We warn him not to get us started.
If Bababode thinks we are living in Yemen, we have no alternative but to ask him to wake up because he should be ready for real action on the streets. We will introduce our own public flogging for failed Mayors who can't even provide basic parking space for their people. We will introduce public flogging for Mayors who can't take petty criminals off the street because they are banking on them to get re-elected. FLOGGING GALORE!
© Politico 26/09/13
