SALONE MUST WIN THE WAR AGAINST KUSH
As a people our collective back is definitely up against the wall now and we must win the absolutely existential fight against drug abuse in this country. Let’s put it in the most brutal form – KUSH IS KILLING MOSTLY THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY. What started as a small over-the-fireplace joke is clearly now a national tragedy. In fact it’s a huge national security question that we should all answer - and urgently indeed.
In the last few days videos have emerged on social media showing members of the security forces high on KUSH. In true military fashion, the two soldiers were quickly sacked. Then we saw a police officer in a similar condition. We are now waiting to see how the police will react. We don’t know if any member of the security forces found in this condition will be sacked. We say so because we may well end up dismissing more than HALF of the personnel in the army and police. We know what we are talking about.
When those soldiers were sacked, the RSLAF quickly released a statement announcing the action in the hope that the outrage expressed by many Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad would die down. For the time being they have succeeded especially as the boot is now on the foot of the FORCE for GOOD. There are wider questions to answer about the situation in the armed forces and the country as a whole.
1. So if we wake up one morning and saw videos of senior military officers high on KUSH, would military law apply to them as it has for these two former soldiers? We may not get a straight answer but we really want to have something on record.
2. There are people profiting from this national misery that we must bring to book. They are driving big cars, living in big houses, traveling to great countries for holiday and even planning to run for national office in 2023. What are we doing about them? They are busy supplying the KUSH.
3. Our National Drug Law Enforcement Agency is DEAD. We say this with respect but also with a large dose of frustration. They have zero equipment and cash to do their work. In fact, they are completely missing in action. They have competent staff but they have nothing to work with. Even very powerful countries are struggling to beat suppliers. We have no choice but to invest.
4. Maybe we should hurriedly call a NATIONAL CONFERENCE on this KUSH menace and invite friends from around the world to see our situation and help. The way things are going now suggests that if we fail to deliver a devastating knockout blow to KUSH, the suppliers and their allies would soon become so powerful that we may end up producing at least THREE PABLO ESCOBARS. We are not exaggerating.
AND WE ARE APPROACHING THE FESTIVE SEASON
While on the KUSH menace, we just realized that we are approaching the festive season. If we have to signal our determination to attack and defeat the KUSH supply ring, this is our opportunity. During the festive season hundreds of our people living abroad pour into Freetown with their friends to spend a week or two and at that time it’s almost as if PUBLIC ORDER laws are suspended. There are many unauthorized street parties, those from abroad drive on our narrow roads like FORMULA ONE people and they have no respect for our police officers. These are Sierra Leoneans from countries where they wouldn’t dare look a police officer in his eyes.
During the season marijuana is smoked freely on the streets. From the look of things KUSH will dominate the whole festive agenda this year. We believe the main suppliers should be in jail before the street carnivals begin otherwise by the end of January 2023 the number of KUSH addicts would have tripled.
We call on the authorities to rally the whole nation for this fight. Drug dealers are powerful. They have powerful friends in strange places so we need to prepare for surprises. We have made the point before this is a fight we must fight and WIN.
SALONE ATTITUDE AND COMBATING DISASTERS
There is a general trend in this country in particular for people to blame the government for everything that goes wrong even within their household. They will always take personal credit when the sun shines on them. Anyway, governments get involved in a lot of things so they should be ready to accept anything. Our concern here is how we protect ourselves from disasters. We now know that we are living in a country where disaster strikes from time to time.
1. Let’s think twice about trying to build dwellings in every little corner. How can anybody explain the fact that thousands of people have migrated from their decent communities in rural Sierra Leone and settled in slums around Freetown? When rising sea levels or fire destroys those places politicians become celebrities in front of cameras donating cups of rice and soap. The affected people dance and clap and in a few days the suffering resumes.
2. Let’s also think twice about building houses on the hills on one side of Freetown. Despite several warnings people are still recklessly constructing shacks on the hills. When a government agency moves in to demolish those dangerous dwellings, we hear cries of highhandedness and bullying. When disaster strikes and people perish, the government is again blamed for not clearing the place. We can’t have it both ways guys.
3. As for our governments, this idea that to win an election in Sierra Leone a political party should help people do whatever they like – street trading, building in prohibited areas, avoiding taxes and engaging in all round lawlessness is wrong, wrong, wrong. The majority of Sierra Leoneans are getting fed up with this and soon they will be forced to make that clear at the ballot box. It will be a battle between parties that would allow anything for votes and those who would stand for something and face the consequences. The latter will win hands down.
WHERE IS THAT GUY WHO CLIMBED THE COTTON TREE THIS TIME LAST YEAR?
This time last year we saw social media pictures of a young man being taken down from the Cotton Tree in the heart of the city with hundreds of people looking on in utter surprise. We have no idea what the man told the police when he reached ground. We thank all those who helped bring the man back from the sky. As usual since that day the police have not told us what they did to the young man. Was he charged for something or cautioned and released?
From our corner, we put forward the following points to try and understand why the guy thought it was a good idea to climb the Cotton Tree.
1. The guy was totally fed up with hanging around the place begging people for food with mixed results. He wanted a quiet place of rest in very natural surroundings away from other human beings.
2. Because, then as now, we were building up to Christmas, he wanted to have a little chat with those bats that come to the Cotton Tree daily. He could have easily brought back a bag full of bats to keep him going for a few days at least.
3. He was trying to get a better view of Freetown while searching for the secret code to help him break out of the poverty trap. Somebody told him the code is hidden in that tree. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find it before the police and others disrupted his mission to find the Holy Grail.
4. Actually, he was high on KUSH and had no idea he had managed to climb the historic Cotton Tree. He only realized he had done something extremely stupid when the KUSH left his system several hours after he landed on our planet.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (04/11/22)
