"I AM MOVING INTO A NEW POLITICAL ROLE" ...ORBANGU SPEAKS
If all went according to plans, Orbangu should have completed his "consultations" with his party members across the country by now. In the last ten days or so, Orbangu has been going from one radio station to the other, telling the world about his next political move. He gave very clear hints - clear to the extent that many people know where the guy is headed already. In fact there are no surprises.
Be that as it may, we want to concentrate on his performance on 98.1 breakfast programme on this issue. We can't help but pick up a few points with him.
1. We may be wrong but the so-called consultative meetings Orbangu should have undertaken by now are totally pointless. His mind is made up already. What he should watch out for now is the reaction of some of his militants, who would feel used and abandoned by a man they trusted. Anyway, that is a matter for them.
2. In that same interview, Orbangu appeared to see very little wrong in how criminals in Nigeria go about spending money they scrape from unsuspecting people. He said in Nigeria, 419ers are celebrated but in Salone, people criticise a lot. First, it was wrong to stereotype Nigeria in that way. The activities of a few criminals do not qualify Nigeria for such portrayal. Second, Orbangu should remember how Nigerian largesse almost closed his party down because his members were chasing the cash from the purse of Goodluck Jonathan.
3. Orbangu should know that we have our own criminals all over this country. Look at those guys who dupe people using fake gold and diamond. How about those fake US visa deals that we read about daily? And those criminals who call our phones offering us deals with mining companies or jobs with MSF? Can we now use those few people as a basis on which to describe Sierra Leone as a 419 state? Be careful bro.
4. Orbangu should know that to make such comments about Nigeria while looking for serious political office in this region is a blunder we cannot even begin to calculate. Nigeria is the greatest country in West Africa.
ORBANGU THE GREAT POLITICAL LOBBYIST AT WORK
A few other things caught our attention from Orbangu's presentation on the same radio. He was very clear that as a politician, the only way he could satisfy his supporters - in terms of jobs, money and other favours - is to work FOR or WITH the government while still telling the world you were an opposition member. We have to be very honest with our readers, nothing surprises us anymore about the way politics is conducted in this country. The day the nation decides to act against COMPOSITION PARTIES, they will do so. For now, we have to live with them.
Having said that, let's take just one line out of Orbangu's achievements from his close working relationship with the Red Movement. He told the world that he had successfully lobbied the Ministry of Information for Grants-in-Aid on behalf of certain students. Somehow, we suspected all the while that the grants were always not given to those who actually deserved them.
We are talking about both local and international scholarships. So what about people who don't have access to Orbangu for him to make a case on their behalf? Some are more equal than others. So completing application forms, taking interviews and all that are just window-dressing? We now know what to do.
Against this background, we want to make the following requests to Orbangu:
1. Since he was briefly associated with the media, can he now LOBBY De Pa for him to finally fulfill his 2007 promise to expunge the criminal and seditious libel laws from the Public Order Act? Just before winning his second term, he promised to do that. He spoke at a news conference at State House. With just over two years to go, now is the time.
2. The situation at Kroo Bay and other slums is getting very desperate. The Ebola outbreak has brought the issue home to the world in ways never envisaged. Orbangu can LOBBY State House for something to be done about slums.
3. The number of ladies of the night hanging around Lumley Beach and Garrison Street is growing daily. Orbangu please LOBBY State House to give them a decent living standard. We shall point out many more areas needing Orbangu's urgent intervention and lobbying power.
LEONES STARS ELIMINATED FROM A CONTINENTAL COMPETITION AGAIN
We've been pushing issues around our national football team Leone Stars for quite a long time now but as usual those who are supposed to act have basically ignored us. We're used to being ignored but the idea that our national team continues to lose match after match in countries as obscure as Mauritania is reaching worrying dimensions.
We also note that because of Ebola, we cannot host any international match so our teams continue to play what is supposed to be their home matches in countries that host them during first leg matches. And worse still, we understand those countries spend their cash to keep us afloat while we wait for second leg matches in their countries. We can't understand why that is so. If anybody describes the fact that we have gone on to lose all those matches as evidence of match-fixing, we will not pick up any fight with them on behalf of Sierra Leone.
We urge De Pa to clarify his government's position on this issue: DID THE GOVERNMENT ORDER THE NATIONAL SQUAD TO WITHDRAW FROM ALL INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS OR NOT? We ask because the Sports Ministry issued that order but the Football Association has simply ignored them. What is the position? One of those State House press releases would do.
SLFA officials are so concerned about traveling and per diem that they are prepared to do anything including defying ministerial directive while believing that Sepp Blatter was the most important person in world football. No government should allow its directive to be so flouted.
THE GREEN MOVEMENT AND THE YUMKELLA FACTOR
The Green Movement is facing a serious challenge yet again that could test its level of political tolerance. They are playing around with the Kandeh Yumkella factor believing they can kick the guy off the presidential leadership race by TECHNICAL KNOCK-OUT and get away with it. We believe they have mis-calculated badly again and the answer they are likely to get is at least another FIVE YEARS in opposition, possibly they could never see the inside walls of State House again.
Denying Yumkella a run at the leadership of the party over the question of registration or not, will not work. The guy has gathered a lot of support from key Green Movement people and constituencies over the last year or so. Those people are only going to accept defeat at a CLEAN DELEGATES' conference, not by means of a letter or press release from a clearly biased party headquarter.
The Green Movement must stop this business of eliminating people to make way for their preferred choice. The same people who manipulated Charles Margai out of the Green Movement are at work again. How easily and quickly they've forgotten how they came to be thrown out of State House. We remind them of what happened in court, in Makeni and subsequently all over the country.
(C) Politico 28/07/15
