MAY BE THE AUTHORITIES HAVEN’T SEEN THIS AT WATERLOO
It rained in the general area of Waterloo last Saturday afternoon. A few hours later we found ourselves in a gridlock on our way to Waterloo from one of the Peninsula villages. It stretched more than a mile and we stayed there for half an hour. We saw this absolute mess in the pictures and we couldn’t believe our eyes. We returned the next day and it was the same.
We know the Waterloo Rural District Council collects dues in that place. It runs into millions of Leones. So at the very least they have a responsibility to do something about what we can clearly see in the pictures. They can mobilize local labor and clear that drainage system so the water flows freely, they can build awareness around the issue of people not pouring rubbish in that drainage. Or if they believe that is out of their responsibility, which we doubt very much, they can inform the roads authority and get them moving to solve that problem. This mess should NOT be allowed to continue.
When people pay taxes they should enjoy the services of the state.
OUR MAYOR IS MISSING IN ACTION AROUND THE COTTON TREE
We drive by the Cotton Tree daily and we have observed that the number of beggars near the historic Tree and those spreading up State Avenue leading to State House continues to grow with every passing day. It’s one of those sights we hate to see particularly in that part of Freetown. There are many reasons why we have so many of them in that area and in such locations across our major cities.
It could well be that economic conditions have forced many people to take such desperate measures to survive or among those people are hardcore ones who believe begging on the streets is easier than using their strength and talent to put food on their table.
We know that when Mayor Kemokai came to office she started a program aimed at getting the mostly disabled beggars off the streets and for a time their number was drastically reduced. Well, now we think it was a false situation because the numbers we see in this area alone tells a very bad story about how our Mayor is running this place. We’ve been looking around for information about that nine day wonder program that cleared our city center of beggars but it would appear as if nobody wants to talk to us about it. In this job we do, we are used to that kind of thing and we know why officials behave that way.
That cannot stop us from making the following points anyway:
1. We can’t have so many Sierra Leoneans coming to that place daily to beg. It’s a shame. We have to find a way to reduce that number by some carefully designed social intervention as a first step. And the FCC should lead this effort again but they should first tell the people of this country what happened to their earlier effort.
2. We have to be honest some of those people would still go to the Cotton Tree daily even if they were given accommodation at Hill Station with hot meals and small pocket money. We should be firm with that small number and make it legally impossible for them to continue begging on the streets.
3. We urge Mayor Kemokai to please always remember to send people to that Cotton Tree area daily to clean after our beggar compatriots. Many parts of this city are in a mess but let’s keep the Cotton Tree general area very CLEAN. Thank You Mayor Kemokai.
THE HANDS ARE STILL AROUND OUR GIRLS AS WE END 2021
We now know that the new sexual abuse crimes court has not succeeded in drastically reducing such crimes. Queen Fatima has travelled throughout the country shouting HANDS OFF OUR GIRLS but we keep hearing horrible stories daily. These days the Queen is distracted by internal SLPP politics.
When we come to write the history of our country, covering this period, Principal and his wife Queen Fatima will be commended for leaving no stone unturned to take on and defeat the menace that is about to blight the good reputation of Sierra Leone.
Principal has done a lot since coming to power to fight rape in particular. He has declared a State of Emergency on that, committed a lot of money to the fight, spoken out frequently about the issue and Queen Fatima has launched one initiative after the other all aimed at tackling this very serious problem but it would appear as if things are not improving in a noticeable way at all. Now having a court specifically set up to try such cases is the latest move by Principal to turn the tide against a group of men operating in small dark corners, raping our women and girls and sometimes subjecting them to other forms of abuse.
While we applaud this move – and we are quite sure millions of Sierra Leoneans are also happy about the setting up of this court, we would like to say a word or two on what we hope to see in 2022.
1. We don’t want to see delays with the court process. We hate too many adjournments to accommodate very busy lawyers who take such cases. We should also not pamper state prosecutors who repeatedly come to court to tell judges that they were busy looking for their witnesses. Is that the way to conduct things on our behalf?
2. The forensic examination report on alleged victims that is normally used in court should be above board. So let’ do a proper FORENSIC LAB right now to complement what the judiciary has just done. Manty says we should have the lab soon. How soon madam?
3. Let’s also train the FSU people who normally investigate these cases and pay them reasonably well. The training MUST include dealing with the media. Such cases have massive public interest so they should never be surprised when journalists turn up to ask questions regarding such cases.
BOOM BOX NOISY DRUGS SALES, WHAT A NUISANCE?
These days we see young men all over Freetown in particular selling medicines that they claim can cure all kinds of diseases one can think of. They traverse every street and corner with huge speakers booming out too good to be true messages about the potency and efficacy of their drugs.
It is quite shocking when you listen to the mostly misleading messages coming from their sound boxes about the curative power of their medicines and the illnesses they target. The speakers are often in full blast and quite a nuisance they are. People are importing all kinds of medicines into the country and giving them out to barely literate or even illiterate peddlers.
How many unsuspecting people, desperate for a cure are not instead purchasing substances that have gone on to affect their organs or brought on other ailments? We will never know the number of people that are dying from this unregulated selling of medicines.
Some of their messages about serious diseases are not just misleading but shockingly comical in nature. We are quite perplexed that this madness could be allowed to continue when we have the Pharmacy Board and the Medical and Dental Association, two bodies that are often quite ethically sensitive to matters about medicines. We suggest that some tough regulatory measures be put in place to curb this unhealthy merchandising of presumed health products.
Copyright © Politico Online 06/12/21
