PRINCIPAL WILL SOON KILL THE DEATH PENALTY IN SIERRA LEONE
Like the Criminal and Seditious Libel Law, the Death Penalty will soon be killed in Sierra Leone. We are told that Principal has directed that the necessary actions be taken to strike out the law which gives the state the power to take a life for certain crimes. Crimes like murder, robbery with aggravation and treason. International and local Human Rights groups have long campaigned for the abolition of the death penalty and it would appear as if the end of that campaign is here. The Sierra Leone Bar Association has just concluded a round of meetings with the authorities on the issue. Added to the decriminalization of journalism, this will represent a major boost for the democratic credentials of this country. We will be celebrating that enormous feat soon.
Not everybody is applauding this push to kill the Death Penalty in Sierra Leone. Some are saying it should remain in place for murder and robbery with aggravation. However, the possibility of innocent people being put through a trial process that ends with their conviction and death is what is driving the victorious side in this debate. The justice system is not perfect and can be manipulated by powerful people and governments to eliminate so-called opponents. We have seen that in treason trials in many parts of Africa. We MUST never allow any government to use the laws of this 21st century to commit murder just to remain in power. Principal thinks that is wrong and is therefore taking steps now to remove that possibility. Well done!
We believe this is the right thing to do. Great America maintains the death penalty but even there we have seen serious miscarriages of justice landing innocent people in jail for decades. It would take years of campaigning and high quality dedicated legal work to take those innocent people from death row. We can’t afford that here. Kill the Death Penalty NOW.
REMOVE OKADA TOUTS FROM FBC - MODEL JUNCTION
If you are driving to Model Junction on the Hillside bypass road heading east from Dwazark Junction you will see a group of young men to your right and dozens of motorcycles taxis behind them. Those young people are engaged in a very dangerous struggle for passengers for those OKADAS for a small commission.
It’s from what they collect on that road that they survive so we understand why they are so desperate and sometimes very reckless.
Hundreds of people from the mountain villages of Leicester, Regent and Gloucester and hundreds of FBC students assemble in that place in the morning and evening to commute to work and school and the way the OKADA touts go about getting them into their taxis or on the back of their OKADAS is dangerous. The boys operate in the middle of the main road and in some cases literally pluck people from the back of one OKADA to the other.
We hope it never happens but the day a vehicle malfunctions on approach to Model Junction from Albert Academy, we will be in for something very serious. The whole Model Junction area is becoming a totally impossible place.
We see police officers around with some Road Safety Corp but we don’t think that bringing order to that place is what they are trying to achieve. We are told FCC workers also collect dues from traders.
We’ve been calling attention to various issues around Model Junction on the Hillside bypass road. We are happy to be ignored once again because sometimes it feels really good to come back and say WE TOLD YOU SO.
SLFA ELECTIVE CONGRESS POSTPONED AGAIN
It’s difficult to believe that the SLFA elective congress will ever hold with the possibility of RODNEY MICHAEL running even after his disqualification by Johansen’s so-called Ethics Committee. Already, social media commentators are pointing to the impossibility of the congress going ahead on June 4 and 5 because the postponed match between Sierra Leone and Benin will take place around that period. In fact we can say that the elective congress will only take place when the Queen is absolutely confident of victory.
Infantino and his boy Motsepe are in town today ostensibly to promote their brand of football development in Africa. The reality is that the two men are very worried that they risk offending the football family in this country further with their unflinching support of the Queen so far. There are many people in government now that are openly hostile to the Queen as she continues to play all the tricks in the books to run two terms after being controversially elected ONCE.
She has resisted all attempts to seek a fresh mandate from her own members, relying entirely on the backing of Infantino and his General Secretary. Both of those FIFA people don’t want to listen to our football stakeholders even when they know that the Queen has not told them the whole truth about the situation in Sierra Leone.
We understand they will be meeting those football stakeholders. We plead with our visitors to listen to the people who have suffered so much owing to the Queen’s style of running the SLFA. We have not been invited but, they say walls have ears. We will get the details within minutes of that meeting coming to an end. We will pass the information on to our readers. The interest of Sierra Leone is paramount.
HOW MANY TIMES SHOULD JOSE MOURINHO BE SACKED?
News broke yesterday that Jose Mourinho has been offered another job. He will be the manager of Italian side, ROMA. We have no idea how long he will last in that job because in England alone he has been sacked by three clubs – Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham Hot Spur. He has a big reputation after taking a small team like Porto in those days to the top of European football and doing a good job with Inter Milan in Italy and Real Madrid in Spain but it would appear as if he has lost the plot and his tactics are now common and unproductive.
This is the manager who is never shy of openly criticizing his players on a bad day. After suffering with injuries that almost wrecked his career, Luke Shaw of Manchester United performed very well in one match under Mourinho. In the post-match interview, the journalist asked Mourinho to comment on the performance of his left back. He acknowledged the vast improvement on that day but concluded by saying that Shaw was on the playing but “he was playing with my head”, a clear reference to the number of times he had to come to the line to shout instructions to Shaw. That comment left many people shocked. What’s the job of a manager anyway?
At Tottenham Hot Spur he put Dele Ali and Harry Winks on the bench and restricted them to sporadic appearances and initially told Ndombele he was too FAT. The Frenchman would go on to be one of his reliable players.
The world is waiting for the next chapter in the life of this colorful character as he begins his second job in Italy.
He will first go up against the critical Italian press before taking on his players and then the opposing managers. We remember him calling Arsene Wenger “an expert in failure”.
By the way, barring any miracle, Roma are out of the Europa League after suffering a 6 – 2 hammering at Old Trafford, the former home of their new manager. Mourinho has a lot of re-building work to do.
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