FAYIA SELLU TAKES OVER AT POLICE HEADQUARTERS
IG Sovula is well and truly now a retired police officer. Compared to some of his predecessors, Sovula didn’t stay long in office but he will be remembered for his style and the few controversies around his administration, so well documented on social media. We wish him well in his retirement. Who knows, he may soon pop up somewhere as a consultant.
Two others from his management group have been moved to desk jobs at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. We suspect that Civil Servants are still writing their ToRs and sorting out office space with some chairs and tables. They are getting used to life as ordinary people like us. The police uniforms and guards are gone. This was really not about IG Sovula alone.
Many Sierra Leoneans didn’t see the hand of Kotor Juldeh in all of this. We saw it clearly. He is head of the Police Council and while Principal may have made the final announcement, surely the recommendations came from the desk of Kotor Juldeh. Is it any wonder that the man named the deputy IG was once in the office of Kotor Juldeh?
We will return to this issue in subsequent editions but today we want to repeat those issues that IG Sovula failed to do that IG Sellu should not play around.
1. His predecessor promised and failed to withdraw his officers from traffic duties on our roads. Why make a promise that you don’t intend to keep? The activities of some of these officers are giving the SLP a bad name. There is the road safety corps to deal with traffic matters. At least drastically reduce the number of officers and send the rest into communities for beat patrol.
2. Sellu should re-organize the media and outreach division of the SLP. Bring back ASP Samuel Saio Conteh who was punished unjustly and build the media operation around him. He is a good man. Please, completely change the way you engage the media and conduct other outreach activities. Force for Good is generally out of touch with modern day communication realities.
3. Clean up your detention facilities and close down Benghazi as a place where ordinary people are detained for minor offences. High value criminals like drug traffickers and terrorists can be held there but even at that point the normal rules of detaining people should apply. It is only for its maximum security nature that we won’t call for its closure.
4. Senior officers should stop undermining their bosses with bogus social media posts and wicked media briefings. This cycle must stop.
WHAT’S THE LATEST ON THAT BLACKOUT IN PARLIAMENT?
In the middle of the much hyped debate on what is now the Public Elections Act in parliament, the lights suddenly went out in the well of the House. Meanwhile in all other parts of that sprawling complex the lights were very much on. So what really happened? As usual with Sierra Leone politics the main parties accused each other of sabotage. We are still not interested in the gory details of their accusations and counter accusations they threw around. Instead we want to say that we are tired waiting for the outcome of the investigation that was launched.
At that time we made the following comments about that disgrace in the hope that those investigating the issue would consider us as patriotic people helping them conclude the matter. We cannot say for sure that any investigation is taking place. We are prepared to be wrong.
1. The outage was just the normal run of things and we shouldn’t try to hold people accountable for anything. The same thing happens in our homes daily. It’s no big deal.
2. It could also be that somebody in the House was totally fed up with the way the debate was going because their concerns weren’t being addressed. They thought the whole debate didn’t live up to the hype and it was time to send the MPs home.
3. Maybe the guy, with a good technical brain, was scared that the debate would have gone on and on till midnight and they were not ready for such a long day. We are not sure whether when MPs normally retire for lunch in their canteen they even consider the parliamentary staff.
4. It was a criminal activity that could have resulted in a fire in that building like it happened in South Africa. That’s why the affair should be speedily investigated. Sweeping this under the carpet can only encourage people to continuously embarrass themselves and this Land that We Love.
SALONE PREMIER LEAGUE IN LIMBO?
The pre-season programs across Europe are over and in a few hours the first match of the league season in the EPL will kick off but where is our local league?
To be fair to our people here, it’s a long stretch to compare them ball for ball with the big guys in Europe – the Europeans have been doing this for a long time and they have a lot of money in their bank accounts. In fact even our players are hoping to one day enter those leagues. This doesn’t however stop us from asking serious questions regarding the organization of our own league.
It’s beginning to look like all our clubs are on holiday and the players are all over the place. When will the Sierra Leone Premier League resume? There are a few more things to consider as we wait for this key question to be answered.
1. It looks certain that we will have a new Premier League Board. This has always been the case. The SLFA has not said a word yet about that but we know this for sure. Changing personnel for the sake of it leads to mistakes and painfully wrong decisions that end up hurting the game. People are always learning on this job. There is normally no institutional memory to draw from.
2. Why can’t the SLFA now announce their new board so that they can start the learning process by meeting the old guys who struggled through the last league to get some orientation from them? The new board would then go off to look for money, register players in time and kick out some criminal match officials who are running around destroying the game.
3. The new board and the SLFA should also be very serious about deciding which venues are fit to host Sierra Leone Premier League matches. They must consider the quality of the playing surface and the very important question of SECURITY.
HILLSIDE BY-PASS ROAD IS NOT LOOKING GOOD AT ALL
We’ve been assured by people who should know that the Hillside By-pass road should be complete very soon indeed. The pace of the last mile area is such that we have reason to believe it will be no surprise if that vital link to the east of this city is open for business before Christmas 2022.
As ordinary citizens, we want the best for this country so we wish those doing the road all the best. However, we want to call the attention of the authorities to the fact that the lower end of the road, leading to Dwarzark Junction, is looking very poor. This very nice dual carriage way is beginning to look like a glorified Wilberforce Street of the western part of Freetown.
We are calling attention to all the rotten vehicles abandoned in the parking area on both sides of the road. That space is provided so that drivers can drop off passengers or park their vehicles to attend to a quick business and leave. For more than a month now we’ve been counting all the rotten vehicles parked from the area just after Winners Chapel to the Model School area. In fact people are now building ugly roadside structures to sell this and that. We have seen feeble attempts by the Sierra Leone Roads Authority to stop some of these constructions but we believe that a big state institution like that is being completely ignored by lawless people.
While all of this is happening the Mayor of the Sun is on social media telling the world of the MIRACLES she is performing in Freetown. We don’t know for sure but we believe her people are collecting market dues from the people selling in those illegal market stalls near Model School and Dwazark Junction. It’s very sad but things can only continue to go bad on that road.
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