Hypocrisy, Intrigue and Football Genocide at SLFA: Are We a Democracy?
The worst-kept secret is finally out. Rodney Michael and all those candidates allied to him in the SLFA's SELECTION process are NOT ELIGIBLE to be considered. In fact, they cannot have anything to do with football administration in Sierra Leone until the day aliens become leaders of the LAND THAT WE LOVE.
Michael and his team are a very tough lot. From the outset, all the odds were stacked against them. We are talking about a very, very hostile Secretariat, implacably opposed to Rodney's candidature, also absolutely committed to his downfall as a person; then there was the openly racist and unbelievably meddlesome Sport Minister, who said more than one hundred times on radio that his government's policy was to stop a "WHITE SIERRA LEONEAN" from becoming SLFA president. And finally, there was that undemocratic Normalisation Committee which everybody knew from day one was completely incapable of being fair to Michael and his team.
We can't understand why anybody thought there was going to be a contest of any kind. The strategy of the anti-Michael forces was very clear – stop Michael and his people from contesting by any means, including a disgracefully rigged so-called screening process organised by a heavily politicised and compromised Secretariat. Then the MANUFACTURED CANDIDATE will emerge as the GREAT LEADER of Sierra Leone Football. The unaccountable and politically-influenced ABNORMAL COMMITTEE is at the heart of it all. This is what the civil war in Sierra Leone Football was all about.
We also can't understand how people can organise such GENOCIDE without being driven to suicide by their own consciences. Bob Marley says "LIFE IS ONE BIG ROAD WITH LOTS OF SIGNS". We will never be surprised what happens to people who have definitely chosen the wrong road with their Macbethan Logic – kill, kill and kill.
By the way, we have fully investigated all that happened in dark places, from Cape Verde to Regent. We shall publish the story of this TRUE "DAYLIGHT ROBBERY" and BLATANT INJUSTICE in the interest of our children. Trust Politico! This is a VERY DARK DAY in the history of anything remotely close to democracy. IF YOU CAN’T BEAT THEM, DISQUALIFY THEM.
How Independent is COWAN in the CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW PROCESS?
We have no doubt in his intellectual capacity in such matters but we doubt Justice Edmond Cowan will be able to hold the balance among all the forces that are part of the committee and will be pursuing their core interests as we review our constitution.
We believe that COWAN hates the media. He is among those who believe that journalists should be locked up anytime they hit authorities hard. For example, there is the proclivity that he will take us to prison as we point out here that his Ombudsman's office in the regions are dead zones.
Cowan demonstrated his hatred for the media recently during a speech at the Bar Association Congress. He followed it up with an appearance on radio.
He told the nation that he could understand why our association named our meeting hall at SLAJ headquarters after Harry Yansaneh whose death, COWAN's own court said, was accelerated by the most greedy landlords anywhere on earth. Isn't that our business? Why should that bother a judge – retired or still serving?
In fact we are appalled that SLAJ has still not expressed disappointment that of all Sierra Leoneans, De Pa has chosen COWAN to lead this process. SLAJ is sending a representative to the committee but we have no confidence he will be able to secure our core interests with COWAN as chairman. We call on all our colleagues not to expect much from this whole process in terms of our CORE INTERESTS as journalists. Sorry guys! Better luck after another 20 years.
So Let’s Say Transparency International Was Wrong
The government wants us to believe that Transparency International is dead wrong to have concluded in a perception survey that Sierra Leone is the country with the greasiest palms on earth. And to be honest, we are prepared to listen to the government. And we've been waiting all this while. All, we've heard are bad-tempered denunciations of a credible world body like TI and conspiracy theorists postulating including even deadwoods like Statistics Sierra Leone.
While we wait for our government to properly engage the issues raised by TI, let’s also assume that we are the ACC and we have decided to road-test the TI report to prove the alleged fly-by-night researchers wrong.
Our test is running for an initial period of two weeks.
Week One – Police Officers and Wardens were easily picked up for corruption on the streets of Freetown and charged to court. Please note that our work was isolated to only a small area of Freetown. You can be sure that by the time our people take in all checkpoints on the northern and western flanks out of the city, there will be more than 100 police officers and some soldiers in jail for corruption.
Week Two – School authorities were also easily arrested because we asked our investigators to behave like parents collecting their children's report cards. The teachers were openly collecting cash. If we pressed this further, all schools would be closed down because it's a nation-wide issue.
Keep in mind that we have convicted a Mayor, Ministers – some very powerful ones – the entire leadership of the ministry of health is on trial, so are senior bankers, NRA workers and some permanent secretaries. If State House did not have SACRED COWS, many working there would have been indicted and convicted.
So even after this road show, is the government still adamant that TI lied about our position on the bribery index? Kan Kan Kan should try something else.
Agenda for Prosperity Document Out at Last
De Pa launched his Agenda for Prosperity about three weeks ago and like its predecessor, the Agenda for Change, it promises a lot. Not one of those documents was prepared with ordinary people like us having a say. It's De Pa's governance plan and we accept it as such.
The other day we attended a wedding reception where a government minister was asked to propose a toast. We thought it would be a very brief affair but he went on and on about "De Pa's development programmes" and bizarrely, he suggested to the crowd that for young people to be married, it was thanks to and a part of De Pa's agenda for prosperity.
Now, we too feel compelled to add a few more things that we believe are integral parts of the Agenda for Prosperity with more to follow.
- The section of the media that is resisting the Tsunami of De Pa’s freebies must be respected
- Stopping the deliberate harassment of journalists
- Democratic Elections in the SLFA with only 47 voters – But alas!
- University of Sierra Leone fulfilling the agreement on salary increment due in October
- Drastic Reduction in the size of the government
- Ministers desisting from covering the registration plates of their official vehicles.
- Hiring and firing people based on their party loyalty.
- Awarding contracts to Palladio Restaurant for appeasement.
- Spreading insurance premium payments to other insurance companies and not the obvious one.
- Cleaning the city regularly without two companies approved by the same government fighting
Statistics Sierra Leone under Investigation
We have heard from usually reliable sources that an inquiry into the workings of Statistics Sierra Leone will soon begin. We fervently believe that corruption and infighting have conspired to bring an otherwise great institution to its knees to the extent that they felt compelled to challenge Transparency International after the bribery index report. That inquiry will never be complete if it didn't make the following findings:
- Houses are going up in different parts of the country in the name of key staff members at the senior management level
- There is a general drop in staff morale
- The organisation was making belated attempts at ingratiating themselves to government by attacking Transparency International to prevent any inquiry
- Most people in Sierra Leone do not believe Statistics Sierra Leone has the ability to manage the coming census
- The credibility of any statistical information they produce is non-existent and the current senior staff must be sacked without further delay
- The Mike Pepper report into Statistics Sierra Leone must be used as baseline. © Politico 30/07/13
