RIOTOUS MASK DEVILS CAN PARADE BUT SCHOOL MARCHES ARE BANNED
Mask Devils and their tens of thousands of mostly unruly supporters were out in force on our streets on Monday after being cleared to parade by the Great IGP Munu. It's so easy for people who've been watching the political scene in Sierra Leone to ask Munu how he reconciled denying ordinary citizens their right to peacefully protest against government action and his decision to unleash such crowds on the streets at the slightest opportunity if only they can hail De Pa. The only answer we can bring up is that MUNU is sitting in the office pretending to be the big man, but actually, his words and actions are remotely controlled by POLITICIANS. And MUNU wanting to continue in office, plays along like an obedient servant.
In fact, this year Bra Minks from the Education Kingdom actually banned school activities like thanksgiving services that always conclude with a march past and prize-giving ceremony where deserving students are recognised and honoured. We understand his reason is that because of what Ebola did to the school calendar, his kingdom could afford no further disruptions of normal school work. That sounds clever. But here's our take:
1. Thanksgiving programmes are normally held at weekends. How is that a problem for normal school work? Look at the sheer number of people in the mask devil parade on Monday - including school-going children anyway. Was that not a fertile soil on which another round of Ebola could easily germinate?
2. How can the same Bra Minks help create a situation at FBC where a school was suspended for three weeks? His Kingdom owes the college billions of leones in paper tuition grants that the college could hardly run itself. He makes a big announcement in the media about government paying tuition fees without actually putting money in FBC accounts. Political point-scoring all over the place. It reminds one of Eric Donaldson singing: IN TIMES LIKE THESE WHEN SURVIVAL IS THE GAME…
3. We know that school thanksgiving programmes are not very political. Mask devil parades are all about politics. In fact some of them are funded and actively patronised by politicians to harvest votes. We pray for the day the young people of this country would come to the realisation that they've been screwed for so long that now they look permanently screwed.
4. The government couldn't care less about the disruption of our lives during those mask devil parades and all the criminality that always accompanies it. They are only interested in creating the impression that they care about young people.
5. This argument about the kind of mask devils we have today being part of OUR CULTURE is weak and unsustainable. We will not even listen to that any more, until the criminal element is eliminated and mask devil parades are isolated to certain parts of the country where only those interested can go to. The rest of us should be allowed to get on with our lives as normal as possible?
COMMERCIAL BANK HQ BUILDING NEEDS URGENT ATTENTION
For some time now we've been observing the entrance to the headquarters of the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank because it seems the tiles on the building are falling off with nobody taking notice or giving a hoot. We've been praying quietly for the senior people in that bank to act without being urged to do so on the pages of a newspaper.
We are talking about the main entrance to the country's main commercial bank. A very old bank that should give a good impression of itself right from the entrance to any of its buildings, not least its headquarters.
As Sierra Leoneans, some of us loyal customers are prepared to contribute to a fund for the rehabilitation of the bank's headquarters. The managers can go ahead, open an account and make the number available to us. No amount of money should be considered too small for this effort. Long Live the great bank.
MINISTER AL-ORSANKS PLEASE TAKE SOME RESPONSIBILITY
We are still looking out for anybody, outside the immediate family circle of Pope John Paul who was surprised that the Pope was sacked or actually shed tears that he was sent packing. Please if you set eyes on any such person, inform our headquarters immediately. We are offering something very nice.
That said, we have to call Deputy Sport Minister OrSanks to order and warn him to stop creating the impression that the Pope was responsible for all the unpopular decisions and actions of that ministry. His utterances read like a class Shakespearean play on some Greek political betrayal.
OrSanks is talking too much - we mean “too much” in the Nigerian sense of the expression. It was really strange to hear OrSanks commenting on the sacking of his boss on radio only hours after that late Sunday night massacre. We didn't hear any other Deputy Minister comment on the sacking of their boss. It's completely out of protocol.
Some of the noises coming out of that ministry these days absolutely reinforce our view that things move extremely fast in politics. Not so long ago, OrSanks and the Pope appeared in front of a large crowd at the national stadium to officially open the Stakeholders' league. We have a recording of what both guys said. We also have a lot of materials we recorded from sport programmes all over Sierra Leone featuring OrSanks. Now we notice very clearly that he is giving the impression he was a good guy and the Pope was the problem in that ministry. We learn a lot about human nature daily, especially in today’s Sierra Leone.
We advise OrSanks thus:
1. Just keep quiet and wait for your new boss to run the ministry in his own way. Why do you think De Pa didn't move you up one step?
2. Even the people you appear to be moving towards so quickly now trust you not. They smile when you are around and as soon as you leave they engage the reverse gear.
3. We are not the only ones who can't understand why De Pa didn't do a clean sweep of the sport ministry. Pretending now to have been carrying the orders of the Pope at all times is disingenuous. In fact very WRONG.
4. Yesterday the SLFA was supposed to pay One Hundred and Something million leones to use the stadium on your watch. Today, you declare that they can have it for free. Is that how government policies are made?
5. One prominent Football Stakeholder told us the other day that they had entered a period of uncertainty judging from your public statement after the sacking of the Pope. We agree with him. But your boss Kanu is a steady hand, we assure you.
SMOULDERING RUBBISH ON MAIN WELLINGTON ROAD
When this thing about Sierra Leone importing waste from Lebanon came up the other day, we were pleasantly surprised that no Sierra Leonean actually agreed to discuss such a thing in the first place. In typical Sierra Leone style, the CID rushed into the matter, took Kothor to the CID for a friendly chat lasting about one hour and asked him to go home and enjoy family life. Even as we write, Munu Boys have not come back to the public to talk about their findings. They think they don't owe us who pay their salaries, any explanation. We are used to that, guys.
Anyway, who is really in charge of clearing rubbish off the streets of Freetown? Look at all the smouldering rubbish on both sides of the main road running through Wellington in the eastern suburbs of Freetown. We've been observing that for months now. We can't really imagine what the air quality is like in that densely populated part of our city.
The last time we called attention to a mound of rubbish developing near the Chinese hospital at Jui. Nothing has been done about that. How can we allow the area surrounding a hospital to be that filthy?
Please before we start talking about importing rubbish from Lebanon or Cambodia, for this or that manure, let's first make proper use of the mounds of rubbish in different corners throughout our city.
(C) Politico 30/03/16
