RAF PLANE TO PICK UP ONE CITIZEN: GOD SAVE THE QUEEN
It's very crazy to attempt to compare Great Britain to Sierra Leone in terms of anything but we must be excused for admiring how much the government and people in countries like Great Britain care for each other. And also the extent to which they go to secure the lives of every citizen of that country. We feel absolutely jealous that we have never had it so good in this country.
While our own health workers are struggling to get basic protective gear to help save lives, the Great Britain sent a whole RAF plane to pick up one of its citizens to be given home treatment for Ebola. This is simply out of this world. We pray that they succeed with the treatment as with those Americans who have now been re-united with their families.
We have countless examples of Sierra Leoneans in prisons in Guinea, Liberia and The Gambia who have never seen a consular officer from our embassies. It's not easy or cheap but we have to be able to show that we are Sierra Leoneans and our country cares for us. Look at those Sierra Leoneans who were recently trafficked and dumped in the Libyan desert. Bringing them home was a monumental struggle that brought in many international bodies following a newspaper campaign.
In fact, we have just witnessed another big 419 project on home soil called Power Rangers Solutions in which criminals stole millions from our people on the obviously bogus promise of giving them jobs in Canada. We don't even know how far the police have gone with their "investigation" of this case. Never mind the so-called Wealth Builders and their syndicate to rip off our people.
We pray that one day Sierra Leone will be as powerful as Great Britain and will fight for the safety and security of Sierra Leoneans all over the world. Amen! We also pray that if at that time one Sierra Leonean is caught up in conflict in, say Gaza, the RSLAF Air Force would land a C130 plane in Gaza and extract that Sierra Leonean, rockets or no rockets. Amen!
A young man who was visiting our office as we discussed this issue asked us to add that to get to that position, TAX EVASION AND CORRUPTION MUST END. TRIBALISM AND FAVOURATISM MUST VANISH. That's it.
AFTER THE BAGS OF RICE, OSUOFIA PLOTS HIS NEXT MOVE
So after the mild triumphalism that accompanied Osuofia's donation of food to people affected by Ebola comes a very serious question. What next dear Osuofia? You see, we know you are here until Christmas unless a special flight bails you out - there is a lockdown. And it may be a politically naive move to leave quickly anyway. You can be sure boss Osuofia that those US$ 25, 000 people in Kenema would use that as a good trump card to show how "insensitive" you are. So stick around, man, especially so because your party is in dire straits.
What's your next move sir? This bag of rice thing in this country is turning into something else. We have no idea if or when this cynical link between a bag of rice and political success would be broken in Sierra Leone. It goes all the way back to Siaka Stevens, perfected by De Pa.
Rice is good but maybe you should consider setting up an Education Trust Fund for the surviving children of those who have been killed by Ebola. How about that?
You can put in US $ 10, 000 as seed money and appeal to those who funded your failed campaign to put some more money in as well.
We don't know when schools will reopen. The government needs all the time in the world to defeat Ebola so we are waiting. That should give Osuofia good time to plan an Ebola Education Trust. Sir this is just some mad idea we are putting forward. Feel free to reject it with contempt. It's just that we believe people need something more than bags of rice laden with political undertones. Den taya wit de govment en d opozition.
Ebola has hit other parts of the country hard so when will Osuofia go to a place like Lunsar? Please don't mind us, we are just curious. We want him to spread his tentacles across.
Sir, we know this is Ebola war time but don't tell us you haven't heard about those US $ 25, 000 people in the east of the country who are busy destroying your political base. You may wake up in November to find that the Emperor is naked. Please don't take us seriously, we apologise .
NO PROBLEM WITH Ebola CHECKPOINTS BUT PLEASE LET'S NOTE THIS
We have said before and we are saying again that we support every measure taken by the government in fighting Ebola. Some of the measures have implications for our civil liberties but 60 to 90 days should be fine considering the health of the nation. And that includes the Ebola checkpoints on the road to Makeni and other places.
But we plead with Munu to make these checkpoints a bit friendly to the traveling public. And do we really need six of such checkpoints on the short road between Freetown and Makeni? Again, not wanting to rock the boat, we will not say all what we observed as we passed through some of them on Sunday evening but some of the personnel behaved as if this was Bandama checkpoint after a rebel attack on Kenema in the war years.
Please Munu, make some calls tonight and tell your people that they are our servants and that they are looking for sick people, not criminals on the run. Thank you sir.
HILLSIDE BY-PASS ROAD AND THOSE ABANDONED CARS
Even before Ebola came through our doors, the Hillside by-pass road project was in peril. It had come to an abrupt halt. We can only guess why that happened because we have not been given any official reasons. Some people told us that the construction company doing the road, CSE, recalled their expatriate staff home for Ramadan. Now it seems they would have an extended Ramadan because that country has told the world that it wants to have nothing to do with an Ebola-infested Sierra Leone.
The other reasons were that government hadn't put in all the money it should or that CSE simply had too much work to do in Sierra Leone and are very overstretched. May be a combination of all three reasons make a little sense.
But our issue now is that all along the road, starting from Winner's Chapel, people have abandoned their rotten vehicles on the roadside. It's not causing any traffic hold-ups but those rotten vehicles absolutely make the new road look extremely old and abandoned. SLRTA cannot tell us they have no answer to such careless behaviour. They have to make people take responsibility for their rotten cars.
If we are not careful roadside garages would soon appear on that road. We are willing to bet our last cent on that. At that point, it will be difficult to move them because of the flimsy normal argument that people can do what they like as long as they can say that's how they feed their families.
And we are willing to bet too, that politicians would come out and support them. SLRTA, please clear the place now. Let's have exclusive areas. We should never allow people to create a Berwick Street out of all our roads.
ALGERIAN FOOTBALL MADNESS TAKES CAMEROONIAN LIFE
The supreme body for football in Africa called CAF has a big job to do apart from organising or rescheduling tournaments for Ebola-hit countries. How would CAF deal with the situation in which fans of a nondescript Algerian football team stoned a Cameroonian footballer to death just because they lost a football match in which the man actually scored a consolation goal? If CAF pulls back from making Algeria pay a heavy price for the crude behaviour of hooligans then we should just give up on confederation.
If we decided to emulate those Algerian fans in dealing with our national team, then there will be no player left in our national team, Leone Stars. We would have killed all of them each time they let slip a lead in Freetown or even lose a match away.
We are waiting for CAF to act. In fact why is it taking so long? Political considerations should never influence the CAF decision. Absolute nonsense!
(C) Politico 26/08/14
