NASSIT FACILITY IN BO BECOMES WATA PLAZA
They say water is life. We agree but can NASSIT please tell us something about the original plan for the plaza in Bo because the way things are going there raises a lot of concern. We have seen what is happening to a similar structure in Makeni and Kenema but the one in Bo has about five small companies selling water. The process water at the plaza, load thousands of sachets in trucks and sell them throughout the district.
We have no problem with the companies doing that vital service. We however have a lot of problems with NASSIT that allowed the original idea for which they spent such vast sums of public money to be pushed aside ending with the place becoming a water plaza. It’s never late to turn things around and give us something really decent in the heart of SWEET BO.
SIERRA LEONE TEMPLE RUNNERS DIE TRYING TO REACH GREECE
Not long ago our embassy in Turkey confirmed that EIGHT of our brothers and sisters have perished in the sea trying to reach GREECE from Turkey. In fact, we were told that they were positively identified as Sierra Leoneans by the leadership of their community in Turkey and because their bodies were found at sea days after their vessel capsized, they had to be hurriedly buried. We see people from mostly the middle east and other parts of Africa dying daily trying to reach Europe in search of what they call a better life, now the realities of that dangerous voyage has come home to Sierra Leone in a very brutal way.
We know that things are hard but this idea that heaven is just over the horizon in a place called Europe is flawed. When our late brothers and sisters are eventually identified, we should not be surprised to discover that University graduates are among them. We are talking about people who are capable of making it at home. These are people who are able to genuinely approach any embassy in the world and apply to legally travel and work abroad.
Even as we write this there are dozens of other Sierra Leoneans putting their paperwork together to go along the same route fervently believing that they will definitely reach Europe. It’s up to them.
In a few days, the rest of us will move on and the pain will be for their parents and friends.
SIERRA LEONEANS ARE A DIFFERENT BREED ON SOCIAL MEDIA
While the whole world is busy condemning the brutal killing of the police officer there are Sierra Leoneans, a good many of them living outside the country who are celebrating and threatening more killings. Some even have gone as far as claiming some responsibility for what happened with the OSD commander.
This is a country where we have made so much progress since the end of the civil war that we have recently ABOLISHED the death penalty for all crimes including murder and treason. The message the government was sending out to the world was that this was now a new country and we value HUMAN LIFE. While the world was celebrating with us Sierra Leoneans went on social media and incited their gullible brothers and sisters to attack innocent people and properties on August 10 2022, killing SIX police officers deliberately. This was after instigating violence in Makeni, Lunsar and Tombo causing serious loss of life. An official on that has just been handed over to Principal.
The nation is now waiting for a WHITE PAPER on that report. A few nights ago we went to bed with news that an OSD commander in Makeni was killed in that city by unknown individuals. We are looking forward to a speedy conclusion of the investigations. For now let’s say a thing or two about this social media thing:
1. Sierra Leoneans are always on social media using unprintable language for the most basic of reasons. A culture of decent political debate that we saw in 1996 and to some extent in 2002 is gone.
2. Middle class Sierra Leoneans that should serve as the conscience of the nation are so compromised that they have withdrawn for the democratic space for good conversation, opening up for the kind of people operating there now to take over.
3. Those who brave it out to explain things are insulted and harassed into silence. Is that what social media applications were created for? From the safety of the UK, USA, Australia, Netherlands and France, Sierra Leoneans pour threats, spread ethnic hatred and instigate raw violence on our streets. Meanwhile the so-called International Community is sending out non-committal tweets and waiting for genocide to occur before they start trying to take people to The Hague. The world has still not learnt the lessons of Rwanda.
POLITICAL TRANSFER SEASON OFFICIALLY OPENED ON APRIL 25
We have already witnessed the total surrender of the three independent candidates in this parliament to the Green Movement. A whole group of C4C councilors in Kono district and the Mayor of Koidu city has also joined the train. As we move towards the end of April, by which time parliament would have closed down, we are hearing that more politicians would be making their way to the ruling party. Clearly, the momentum is with the Green Movement. In this business, there are always surprises. The Red Movement could be planning some of their own signings to prove that June 2023 is wide open. So, as they say, it’s not over until it is over. In this case, until the results are announced and a winner declared.
KKY of NGC has also signed a so-called STRATEGIC ALLIANCE with the Green Movement vowing to use this alliance to unify and develop the country. We shall see. In fact, we are yet to see the details of this new arrangement so the jury is still out on the question of the viability of that alliance and if it would deliver the goodies for the people of Sierra Leone.
Let’s not hide this: the three independent candidates simply turned themselves in because under the Proportional Representation system it’s almost impossible for an independent candidate to hit that 11.9% threshold required to reach parliament in the two districts of Kailahun and Pujehun. So it makes a lot of sense to hand themselves in to the party machinery and get ready to be sworn in.
We are in our corner watching things unfold. As we normally say, there are interesting times just ahead.
STOP DESTROYING CAMPAIGN POSTERS IN FREETOWN
We know it’s happening in Freetown. We have seen such posters along the major streets. We have heard that it’s happening in other parts of the country and we can’t really understand why dark forces are busy destroying expensive campaign posters. Driving between Youyi Building, Brookfields and Congo Cross the other day, we counted almost two dozen posters belonging to the ruling party candidates systematically destroyed. Next day we counted an almost equal number of posters belonging to the main opposition party candidates damaged between Jomo Kenyatta Road and Hill-Cot Junction on the road to Wilberforce. What is all this about?
Why are people so intolerant? These posters are only there to introduce the main candidates to people and so put the nation in the mood for the
Coming elections but they do not necessarily swing votes one way or the other in real terms. Besides, the posters are expensive. That explains why only the two main parties that have had a taste of government are able to pay for or get their friends to pay for and erect such posters. We see a few from independent candidates but in terms of prominence, they are no match to the big guys.
The police should arrest and speedily prosecute anyone caught in this disgraceful act and widely publicize their imprisonment to deter others. Sierra Leone has been through FIVE such elections since the civil war so we should have gone beyond this crude kind of campaign.
Enough is enough!
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