MINISTER OF COURTESY CALLS WHEN WILL THIS END?
Our new Minister of Sports has been walked into a little trap that we believe is beginning to impact her work and may in the future complicate things a bit for her. She is an opposition politician that has carried herself with a lot of respect over the years and we believe that’s why she’s been put in this very important position. However, day after day we see pictures of her receiving one sporting association after the other in what her spin doctors describe as COURTESY CALLS.
Why in God’s name are these associations continuing to disrupt work with courtesy calls and photo-ops months after the minister came to office when she must be allowed to now proceed with work in a sector that is notorious for unnecessary squabbles? She now finds herself in a situation where she cannot stop these endless courtesy calls for fear of being accused of bias in favor of those who went in early. As far as we are concerned, taking an hour or two from normal work daily to listen to the FORTY NINE or so sporting association is a complete waste of our time. The workers in that ministry who didn’t advise the minister to call just one big meeting of these bodies in her first week in office have done her and this country a disservice.
Here’s what we have to say to the minister as ordinary citizens of this great republic:
1. There is no way to stop the time wasting courtesy calls now. All the minister can do now is finish with them quickly by taking them like two in a day. First, the minister should put a statement on her notice board that all such courtesy calls would not be tolerated beyond the end of October.
2. We don’t know what the minister has been telling them but we warn her to be extremely careful not to make any promises to those sporting disciplines. Some exist in briefcases and only begin to shout all over the place when some major games are approaching and they would like to be part of it.
3. Some of these organizations are completely undemocratic and should not have been given the opportunity to see the minister. We urge the minister to make sure that in future she deals with only those organizations that are democratic and can produce audited accounts statements.
4. We also call on the minister to warn them that the government of Sierra Leone cannot provide the cash for all organizations to take part in all kinds of activities abroad. She should be strong to withstand the media blackmail they normally resort to when money is not available.
TOO MUCH NEGATIVE VIBES ABOUT SALONE COMING FROM ABROAD
Sometimes it feels a bit like Sierra Leoneans is the only people on social media or that this is the worst country in the world where nothing works. We are not among those who say Sierra Leone is heaven, certainly not but we are among those who believe that despite all its failings there are many things to celebrate here and in any case this is home. Some of our brothers and sisters hold other nationalities but they know that this is the only place they can call HOME. In fact a good many of them fly in at the end of every year to enjoy what this country can offer at Christmas.
We wake up daily reading and listening to messages from mostly Sierra Leoneans abroad about the impending doom that would totally annihilate their own people back home just because they have political differences with those elected to run the country at a particular time.
This is not the only country where people disagree with their political leadership over one issue or the other but some of our brothers and sisters take things too far - like calling for economic sanctions, open anarchy on our streets and even civil war in a country that lost TEN years to civil war that left thousands dead or maimed.
They are sitting in the safety of Western capitals pouring negative vibes into this country by means of social media. That’s what they call free speech.
GoSL AND TOLONGBO NEGOTIATING FOR PEACE: HOW ARE THINGS SO FAR?
Suddenly things have gone quiet around the negotiation between the government of Sierra Leone and Tolongbo. The guys in RED have refused to take part in any form of governance since they were defeated in the last elections. They believe they were cheated. They even closed their office in Freetown and probably switched their phones off. They later agreed to talk to the government of Sierra Leone but only if foreigners were involved. They may not have said so in as many words but Tolongbo has reached a point now where they trust only themselves and foreigners.
The current talks are coordinated by our own Peace Commission but with the Commonwealth, the African Union and ECOWAS playing a big role. After the first meetings with so-called stakeholders including King Messi in fortress Makeni with pictures splashed across social media, the country has been in the dark about the details of what was being negotiated or things agreed on. We know that sometimes it helps to keep the public out when the real issues come on the table but by Tolongbo standards the silence is becoming worrying.
Tolongbo is definitely tired of staying out of government. They want to take their seats in parliament and run the councils they won at the last elections but to do that now they have to take something to their people. By the time parliament resumes, they should have declared some sort of victory from these talks and resume work or there is the risk that a good many of their elected MPs would abandon the boycott and join Hon. Mohamed Bangura.
The GoSL needs to have opposition voices in parliament and local councils to end the political tension and concentrate on their programs. So the people of Sierra Leone are waiting to hear from the Peace Commission and their allies. Why can’t the Peace Commission issue periodic updates on these negotiations?
ROGUES ALREADY AT WORK OVER SEWA GROUNDS MARKET
We hear that rogues are already collecting money from traders and promising to give them priority in the allocation of stalls at Sewa Grounds market while still under construction. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised at all because criminals are becoming increasingly bold these days. We have also, in the not too distant past experienced bogus get rich quick schemes that ended up impoverishing many Sierra Leoneans. The authorities realized the murky business only after people started demonstrating for their deposits. So we are not strangers to this kind of cheap trick.
We are still at a loss as to how people who should know better are giving opportunities to shady characters to steal from them. The traders know that NASSIT is handling the project and they also know where NASSIT offices are located in Freetown yet they allow people who have no business with that organization to collect cash from them for stall that would otherwise be genuinely allocated to them for far less than what we hear was being proposed by the shady characters.
Anyway, NASSIT has taken steps to warn people against falling into the wrong hands over Sewa Grounds. Let’s see how things play out. We suspect some people would end up in court because it’s possible that even before NASSIT issued that press release, something very foul had already taken place.
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