ARMED ROBBERS GETTING INCREASINGLY BOLD
We want the SLP to know that we are following closely how they are handling the recent armed robbery in Kenema in which somebody was killed. There is always this tendency for them to tell people that they were busy investigating a case and for that investigation to roll on and on with no result and for all of us to either forget or give up. To be fair, no police force solves all crimes but the rate at which cases of this nature go cold in Sierra Leone, is becoming alarming and that’s UNACCEPTABLE.
In this same column in the last few weeks, we talked about an OPEN SEASON for armed robbery in Sierra Leone. Some may have called us alarmist but here we are right now. We have somebody killed in Kenema in one of the most audacious armed robberies in recent times in this country.
We called attention to the fact that during heavy rains people sleep early and help is not likely to come from neighbors. Marauding criminals with guns, machetes and other dangerous materials use that as an opportunity to attack people in their homes, especially in new communities where, mostly young professionals have constructed homes. In many of these places, the police are either not around or are in small numbers and lightly armed to face those dangerous guys.
Hardcore criminals were set free in November 2023 from the central jail in Freetown while some returned quietly, some have since committed new crimes and are back in their familiar surroundings but many others are out in our communities waiting to strike.
We are waiting for the police to signal their preparedness to keep our communities safe by setting out their plans to tackle rainy season armed robberies. The police have partnership boards around but we are not sure about the effectiveness of some of those boards and the kind of people in those boards. The police need them to provide intelligence based on their knowledge of the local terrain but some of their members play double roles. They must be quickly identified and neutralized.
Police emergency hotlines MUST work well. Advertising non-existent hotlines or those operated by incompetent people makes zero sense. The police have no choice but to arrest and prosecute those involved in that armed robbery in Kenema
We want a very quiet rainy season this year. In fact, we demand it.
WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON WITH WAEC?
Things have gone so bad now that people now have no respect for the West African Examinations Council, WAEC as an institution or their officials. It’s scary. The other day we saw that disgraceful scene at a school in Kenema district where WAEC supervisors who had turned up on official duty were physically attacked and prevented from doing their job. They resorted to shelling out long and boring social media complaints that further opened them up to ridicule.
We begin by totally condemning the violence that took place on that day. While we wait for the Ministry of Basic Education and WAEC to provide more details on how their officials came to be attacked, we congratulate WAEC for moving that examination center away from those who believe that violence was the answer to everything.
We need to urge WAEC to be serious about the way they conduct themselves in public. It starts with the quality of people they employ and how strictly they enforce their ethical principles.
The other day they cancelled their mathematics exam only a few hours before the candidates entered the hall. They gave no reason in public. We have since heard that the paper was leaked at least 48 hours before they cancelled it. In fact, some people tell us it was put on social media for all to see. WAEC wants to treat this quietly and pretend all is well. We will not allow that to happen. Their exam management system has been in our sights for long now.
So why were those WAEC supervisors attacked in Kenema? As we have stated, we don’t know but we can suggest a few points:
1. They behaved in an overzealous way, like Roman conquerors and angered the teachers and pupils in that school.
2. They were generally unprofessional in their approach to exam supervision.
3. It is possible they turned up at a time when the corrupt invigilators were busy doing their crooked jobs for which the candidates had paid reasonably good money.
4. Maybe the WAEC guys collected some bribe and were denied the balance when they arrived and they decided to mess things up.
5. Could it also be that those guys were not properly identified as WAEC supervisors? Maybe they were criminals posing as WAEC people. Please don’t hold this against us. WAEC and the ministry have refused to provide details so we are simply trying to help.
6. By the way, what happens now to that particular paper that was so badly disrupted during the violence?
INCONSISTENT CHARGES AT THE TOLLGATES
We don’t want to make a lot of noise about this for now because we are still trying to establish some more facts and patterns. We are highlighting it to alert the company running the tollgate business to wake up to the reality on the ground and stop making a fool of their own standards.
We want them to explain how it is possible for the same vehicle to pay two different charges to get through their gates. Here’s what we are talking about: Driving through Hastings gate, you are asked to pay FIVE LEONES but when you reach Songo and Masiaka, they charge you TEN LEONES for the same vehicle. Imagine producing your receipt from Hastings but they still insist on TEN LEONES. We are not making this up at all.
The people of this Land that we LOVE are now dealing with recent increase in the tollgate fees despite very loud complaints and the last thing they would now want to see is a two-tier system that makes total nonsense of their own vehicle classifications on which those fees are charged.
We announce for the benefit of the company bosses who should definitely read this that we will be on that road again in the coming weeks. We expect them to have ended their two-tier madness before we get to the Hastings tollgate at the start of our journey out of Freetown.
MORE FOOTBALL VIOLENCE ON DADDY BRIMA’S WATCH
As long as TDB has put himself in the 2025 election mood so far out from D-day itself, we should be prepared to put up with everything. This mood clearly explains why club officials and players can misbehave towards match officials without consequences and why some clubs and their owners behave like they are above the law. Lovers of the so-called beautiful game have now been sacrificed at the altar of Daddy Brima’s ambition to remain in office. How else can we explain the fact that the more we complain about unbridled violence in Sierra Leone football, the more the perpetrators expand their operation.
Brima is so scared on Babadi Kamara’s candidacy that he is prepared to make a pact with the devil to remain in office. We have a dossier on a number of issues taking place at Kingtom. We assure Brima and friends that we will publish at a time of our choosing for the records.
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