YELLOW RIBBON CAMPAIGN RUNS INTO IG MUNU'S SCARE TACTICS
As far as Munu and his Blue Boys are concerned, any public expression of citizen's viewpoints by way of demonstrations on our own streets that is not sanctioned by the GOVERNMENT is illegal and would be used by people to cause trouble. For them there are people hanging in the wings all the time, waiting for something even as well-intentioned and peaceful as a Yellow Ribbon Campaign to end Ebola to strike violence and destruction.
For Munu to imagine that nobody understands why they are doing all this is a great disservice to his own conscience and life after the police force. The people of Sierra Leone will not accept Munu saying in the future that he was under political pressure. He should take full responsibility for his actions now and in the future.
The bulk of the people in the Yellow Ribbon Campaign are journalists, UN people and some private citizens and foreigners who believe that complacency is dangerous for our current war against Ebola and therefore wholeheartedly endorse the SLAJ initiative to organise the campaign to get the nation in shape for the final showdown. What is wrong with them marching peacefully along the main streets of Freetown to try and win more support for the campaign? Does Munu really believe that suddenly those people would allow small time criminals to infiltrate their ranks and loot shops? Munu must apologise for blocking the Independence Day March. He has to.
We don't want to go over these lines again but many other public events have taken place recently that, by Munu's assessment was more prone to being hijacked by criminals than a march by very decent and patriotic Sierra Leoneans. Throughout the Ebola war, SLAJ has done its best to help. It's not been easy. Munu's action has killed the momentum around that particular even but the Yellow Ribbon Campaign lives on.
SLAJ will be here long after Munu is sacked. We were here when Acha Kamara made his famous Operation Pay Yourself Speech a few months before he was sacked.
ELECTRICITY IN TROUBLE BUT POWER RETURNS TO SIAKA STEVEN STREET
We got calls from some business houses on Siaka Steven Street on Tuesday morning telling us that electricity finally peeped through their windows in the morning after nearly a month. That's amazing! The first call came in as we met to analyse a statement by ASO ROCK on the state of Electricity supply in the country. Let's not hide this behind any partisan political facade, things are now as bad as the days leading up to the general elections in 2007. The failure of the government then to provide electricity was among the reasons that led to them being thrown out of State House. Déjà Vous?
We will continue analysing the ASO ROCK statement in subsequent editions but this talk about EMERGENCY POWER supply in that statement is causing us some uneasiness. This government started its fight against darkness in Sierra Leone with a controversial EMERGENCY POWER programme that ended with an ACC indictment and political careers in limbo.
Seven years on, we are still hearing about EMERGENCY POWER. Do you now understand why some people doubt we are making progress in Sierra Leone?
Emergency Power, Emergency Rule, Emergency everything. We have to devise a new way of eating our emergency cookery stuff - put it in a plastic bad on way to work...get things done quickly. It's EMERGENCY TIME. Quick, Quick - 2017 is approaching.
SLFA WANTS A COACH FOR SALONE: BUT A FEW ISSUES PLEASE
Now, if all goes well, we should have a national football coach pretty soon. And we do not mean nine months. That's what most Sierra Leone think when they hear people say "pretty soon." We say if all goes well, because we really can't tell for how much longer, the Johansen group would be in office. We understand that following the Makeni debacle, her impeachment which was suspended because of pressure from State House could be re-instated soon. But that's for another day.
We've been looking at the qualifications needed for those wishing to take over the poisoned chalice that is the job of being coach of Leone Stars - now only a group of boys or men who are highly over-rated at home, playing in nondescript football leagues in Europe and constantly bringing nothing home to compensate us for the big money we spend on the national game.
We picked out the following requirements from the SLFA advertisement we found online. We have made them bold. Our comments appear below each point. As usual it's up to you to decide where this is going.
SLFA - Must have a high level football coaching degree (the highest in the country for local coaches)
POLITICO - So when Johansen says the highest in the country, which one is that? Is she talking about those LEVEL SOMETHING programmes at SLFA secretariat? All those who've graduated from the LEVEL SOMETHING classes have no ideas what to do with a football team. The few who have tried their hands at coaching the national teams have proved themselves absolutely clueless. So what's this point about looking for the highest in the country among the same people?
SLFA - Must have a wealth of international experience
POLITICO - Which of the local coaches has any international experience? Please, coaching some hapless Sunday league boys in Guinea or Camberwell is totally unacceptable for this. The SLFA must stop being politically correct and say they want a foreigner to take over the team. The local content policy mantra has failed in this sector.
SLFA - Must have a huge capacity, integrity and an aptitude to work in a team
POLITICO - This is a very tricky one friends. "HUGE"? Do you really mean "HUGE"? OK leave the others to one side and concentrate on integrity. We have a local coach who was given ten balls for training. He came to work one morning and reported that all the balls were missing. He couldn't even explain himself for sane people to understand things. Where are those balls? Still put your finger on the word INTEGRITY.
We also hear that some foreign-based players bribe their way into the national side. We are talking about small cash, trainer boots and even track suits. Please, let's be serious about this coach affair.
SLFA - Must be fluent in English
POLITICO - Hmmmmmmm. Why didn't the SLFA define what fluency in English means for local coaches? We are beginning to experience some headache already. By the way, does this fluency in English mean the kind of English spoken in south London? We slightly believe this thing is being tailored to suit a particular person. We hope we are dead wrong on this. For once we will be happy to be declared wrong, wrong and wrong.
SLFA - To have a huge knowledge about African Football is another advantage
POLITICO - What do you mean by African Football? And what's the matter between you and the word HUGE? For you everything must be HUGE. Right, we suspect African football is about visiting referees at night so that you win all your home matches and allowing yourself to be walloped by other teams because you discover you can't qualify for a particular tournament. Is that it? We hope it's about other things like the pain of travelling to African destinations, sleeping in sub-standard hotels and being badly treated by your hosts. Long live African Football!
THE INFRARED THERMOMETERS IN SALONE'S FIGHT AGAINST EBOLA
Next time an Ebola prevention worker stops you at one of our many checkpoints out of Freetown to take your body temperature, make sure they show you the reading. Please don't believe what they tell you all the time. Sometimes, the figures they give are incredible. Imagine somebody taking your body temperature and then telling you 28 or 34 or even 24. Imagine that person also praising you for being very healthy.
A body temperature at 24, 28 or even 34, should be somewhere very cold, probably waiting for a visit from Owiz Koroma. If these people can't operate these thermometers, they should simply clear the streets and let the people roll by.
To make things easy consider buying cold water for the police. That's what Kenyans call Kitu Kidogo
© Politico 29/04/15
