HOW MANY MPs ACTUALLY TAKE PART IN DEBATES?
The other day a respected CSO released a report in which they tried to present us a picture of what happens inside the well of parliament – in other words how many of our representatives attend sittings of parliament and the number of times they take part in debates. We don’t know why they didn’t press the area of the quality of the contributions made in debates across the House. As soon as newspapers published that only 20% of MPs attended sessions of parliament during the period under review, there was a swift attack from Tower Hill, questioning the validity of the report. We will not take part in that discussion because we know that IGR is a credible organization and their methodology is clear and open for all to see.
We now want to say a few words about the actual debates in the House; obviously only those who turn up have a chance of debating in parliament. We have to be honest with our MPs that we are not impressed with the quality of much of the debate taking place in that house. Here’s why.
1. All debates take place against the backdrop of political considerations. We know people are elected to follow the party line on issues but why can’t our MPs sometimes break out of their party ranks, at least once in a while and talk like SIERRA LEONEANS? There are laws inhibiting that but as long as such breaks do not become consistent there is no problem.
2. At different points in the life of this parliament we have checked some of the claims made in debates and found some of them either totally wrong or have just a pinch of truth. All our MPs need bright, young researchers to help them collect information for major debates in the House. Those researchers should be paid by the MPs themselves or their political parties. Not the state.
3. Anyway, we urge our people to be very careful in electing their MPs in 2023. We don’t want to have this conversation again otherwise it will be like doing the same thing and expecting different results.
CLEARING FREETOWN’S DRAINAGE SYSTEM IS BADLY DONE
It’s happening a little later than we expected but at least we are now seeing men in SLRA reflector jackets clearing the capital’s totally blocked drainage system. We are in the rainy season and flood-prone Freetown is bracing up again. Already we have experienced mini floods in the capital and going by what Met-SL is telling us we are expecting heavy downpours and winds. So we understand why it’s a must that the drainage system be cleared.
There is something disturbing about the whole exercise that we should point out so that action is taken immediately. We have noticed that all the rubbish cleared from the gutters by one set of workers is left by the roadside for days instead of being packed into a vehicle quickly to be transported to landfill sites. Crucially, as soon as it rains the rubbish is washed back into the gutters making a complete mess of the whole exercise for which we pay good money. We don’t want to believe that when contracts were being given out for this job the SLRA didn’t consider the situation described above.
SLRA contractors now have a big job to do clearing all the rubbish they’ve packed to one side of the road. We will be back after our next monitoring exercise.
LEONE STARS TO BATTLE SUPER EAGLES AGAIN
Why CAF and FIFA keep setting us up against powerhouse Nigeria all the time is something that we should investigate. Even our brothers and sisters in Naija should start asking serious questions. And it’s always the case that no book maker gives Sierra Leone a chance against our powerful relatives but they struggle to get results against us. Once again our boys are on their way to Nigeria to start and run to the next AfCON tournament.
The last time we played against them in their home, we pulled off a miraculous 4 - 4 draw much to the consternation of the world. They have a good idea now how to position themselves against us. They are a wounded side because they were knocked out of the last AfCON tournament by Tunisia. This was a tournament they were predicted to win and they were also thrown out of the World Cup by Ghana.
These are serious times in Naija football and their fans are going to be all over them. They have a new coach and he has made some statements about where he is headed.
Meanwhile we have discovered new Sierra Leonean talents all over the world to produce a young promising squad. We have seen them in action recently and we were encouraged by their performance but we are now facing Naija with some of the baggage mentioned just now. We have to be extremely careful for the following reasons:
1. Keister has always told us he was his own man and selecting his players is his business. We totally agree and we want to see what the post-Kei Kamara and Zaingellay era looks like. We expect Keister to put out our strongest side and not allow local league considerations to influence his judgment.
2. We pulled off a 4 - 4 draw the last time we met in that country. They will NEVER allow such a thing to happen to them this time. We should not dream of such a comeback should we allow ourselves to take so many goals.
3. We did well in the last AfCON so many people are treating us with a lot of respect. They will take no chances. Let’s not do that Salone Man thing that says we can beat Nigeria any day. Let’s also now stop complaining about which players were selected or dropped. We are not doing any good to the morale of our players and technical staff.
MEANWHILE LET’S START THINKING ABOUT THE NEXT SALONE LEAGUE
Bo Rangers are still celebrating their stunning win of the Salone Premier League, in fact we understand other programs are being planned to celebrate a bit more and give the people of the southern district a lot more to smile about. They have every right to do all that. They’ve been distracted a bit by the departure of some of their players and their inspirational chairman to Guinea, in transit to Nigeria for the opening match in the AfCON qualifying series.
Be that as it may, we now call on the SLFA to start thinking about the next Premier League. A key question they have to answer quickly has to do with the future of the Premier League Board, the body which organizes the league. We should be told very quickly if the mandate of the current board will be renewed or a new one will be constituted. As soon as that is done a whole range of issues will confront them. For example:
1. Would the three worst performing teams be relegated or not? If the answer is NO, as we are being told by our sources then we can move on to other things. Otherwise which teams are coming up?
2. When would the transfer window open so that certain clubs can strengthen certain departments of their game?
3. When will registration start? And would the SLFA do it so well this time so that protests against so-called ineligible players would be dealt with for good?
4. Let’s also be clear about just who will be in charge of fund raising – the SLFA or the Premier League Board. Why did the government refuse to pump money into the last league?
5. The SLFA must not come to us for the next season believing that we will accept certain playing grounds as venues for premier league matches. We have in mind the Police Field at Kingtom, Parade Grounds, Attouga Mini Stadium and Port Loko Field and Approved School. These places cannot host a serious premier league match. We have to protect fans, players and match officials from lawless fans
Copyright (c) Politico Online (03/06/22)
