UDM LEADER IS VERY ANGRY WITH POLITICO: LET'S GO SLOWLY
LOL….We got a call from the UDM leader on Tuesday, who felt he was the ORBANGU we had referred to in our Twitter column of yesterday 28 July, 2015. He was very angry because, according to him, we misquoted what he said on radio the other day about Nigerians and all that. At Politico, we take great care in such matters because we do not want to unnecessarily cause harm. That's our pledge. The UDM leader asked for clarification on the issue. We have always acknowledged people’s rights under IMC rules.
Let’s agree for argument’s sake that he was right to have claimed the ORBANGU reference in our newspaper, we humbly refer him to other publications. In another newspaper published on the same day, we saw a lengthy article dealing with the same issue. So we cross-referenced that with what we published. The result is on record. However, and like always, we sent our reporter over to see the leader and chairman and we now reproduce what he told the reporter.
“I have evidence to prove that was false. I did not say that. I said on 98.1 Radio program that Nigerians and Ghanaians, whenever they go out, they make money and bring back the money to their country to
invest,” Bangura said. He went further that the Independent Media Commission and Radio Democracy 98.1 have evidence of his interview in the form of transcript to prove the said allegation.
“Your publications are malicious and intended to portray my reputation at the international community badly,” the UDM leader said.
Bangura said he was going to take a legal action against Politico Newspaper if the editor failed to comply with his demands, which were to “apologise and retract the false statement” made on its Twitter Column
about what he had said on Radio Democracy.
“In 48 hours if Politico do not set the record straight…l will take a legal action.”
So that was what he told our reporter. We repeat for the sake of clarity that in all we do at Politico we try very hard not to unnecessarily harm anyone. Under our Right of Reply obligation in the IMC Code, we have now published the UDM leader's reaction to our comment.
By the way we look forward to a good working relationship with the leader in his new political role.
MONEY IN THE BAG: LONG LIVE THE STRUGGLING PEOPLE OF KENEMA
Looks like the suffering of the people of Kenema has come to an end with their budgetary allocation restored. We argued more than once in this column that holding on to money belonging to nearly a million people just because their managers allegedly failed to prepare proper accounts, amounted to collective punishment. We suggested that an inquiry ought to have been set up to investigate any suspected misbehaviour but the money should never have been cut off.
While the budget was suspended Kenema deteriorated badly and the morale of the people plummeted. All the roads in Kenema are now littered with potholes as big as graves. Many services like garbage collection suffered.
While we completely disagree with Parliament over the way they treated the people of Kenema, we also have to look at the character of the Mayor of that city. We believe he provided the opportunity for parliament to deal with Kenema in the way they did. All the MPs from that district witnessed what happened with their eyes wide open. Their own day of reckoning is nigh.
1. Mayor Kelfala enjoys talking all the time. Maybe it's his background at the Sierra Leone Football Association where they talk more than winning matches.
2. How is it that as Mayor, he gave reasons for parliament to pick holes in his budget document on at least three occasions? If his finances are not good enough, he should hire professionals from outside to get the job done.
3. Kelfala should know that sometimes it pays to be very quiet in the face of certain demands even when you are refusing to be pushed, than to go all over the media as a cry baby. There are nineteen councils in this country for God's sake.
4. So what's his priority now? How is he going to spend the money so that the people of that city feel an immediate impact? Let him explain.
5. Kelfala should not let his guard down. He should be very aware that the MPs would soon turn up to inspect his works and check his books. Long live the people of Kenema.
HOW MANY MORE LIVES SHOULD BE LOST ON THE ROADS IN ACCIDENTS?
We know that the SLRSA and the police are doing a lot of work to drastically reduce road accidents throughout the country. We commend them for that. There may well have been a reduction in the number of Sierra Leoneans killed on our roads but we believe the figures are still high and some extra work must be done without any further delay.
We are not experts in such matter but as ordinary Sierra Leoneans, we are simply concerned at the appalling loss of life. We are writing after speaking to a woman whose husband died in a road accident along the Freetown - Bo road. Accidents are bound to happen but let's fight and reduce the number of such unnecessary loss of life. Here's what we think should be considered:
1. Let's be very strict about the roadworthiness of all vehicles in this country. That would never be a perfect job but if the programme is well implemented, we would succeed in taking a lot of obviously very bad vehicles off the roads.
2. Let's have effective police highway patrol officers monitoring speed limits and driving conditions on all major roads. We are not talking about those checkpoints where we all know different things happen.
3. Let's pay special attention to heavy vehicles transporting goods to places outside Freetown. They are a real nuisance on the roads.
4. Let's employ more wardens and train them properly. We should also establish a disciplinary mechanism so robust that it could easily detect corruption among those wardens and deal with it quickly.
5. Otherwise let's continue counting as our people continue to die in preventable road accidents
IS YENGA REALLY FREE? THE MINISTER SAYS....eheheehehe, NOT QUITE.
Somehow we knew that the situation in Yenga, in the far eastern corner of Sierra Leone, was not fully resolved in our favour as we were made to believe. But there's marked improvement in the place, in the sense that there is no immediate threat of hostilities between Sierra Leone and Guinea. So that’s good news at least. But it still remains a fact that a small part of Sierra Leone is being claimed by Guinea. We need every inch of this country.
The Minister of Internal Affairs told the nation about the situation in Yenga on radio. Many callers drew his attention to the pre-election 2012 rhetoric on Yenga, advanced principally by Kothor I.B. We don't wish to re-open those things now since Kothor himself has disappeared from the media scene. Where is he now? Kothor, we are still waiting for ADVISORY NOTE NUMBER 8. Any word?
We shall soon publish a thesis title YENGA SHALL BE FREE. We believe the Red Movement government would find it useful in further developing our national strategy to re-claim Yenga. Watch out for that.
(C) Politico 29/07/15
