NGC SUSPENSIONS: IS AN IMPLOSION NOW INEVITABLE?
The chairman of the National Grand Coalition Party or NGC has suspended some key members of the party in the last week or so. Chairman Brightest only stopped short of actually throwing those people out of the party because he had to respect the party constitution but it looks very clear to us in this little corner that those people are effectively dead within the NGC. Since reading those letters we have spoken to a few people including some of those trapped in that quagmire. We get the sense that they are now considering their options.
Here’s a line from the letter Brightest wrote to his party’s acting district chairman in Kenema in the east:
BRIGHTEST: “your actions have contributed to the lowering of standards and morals in the party to the extent that loyal party members offended by your machinations especially during the ongoing lower level elections are now threatening to leave the party in large numbers”.
According to Brightest those actions include “spreading of violence and unruly behavior” that is “undermining the integrity of the ongoing lower level elections”. Anyway, apart from this acting district chairman, a handful of others have also been suspended. Well done Brightest.
The point is, we are also totally against violence and unruly behavior but we have to let our readers know what some of those we spoke to told us about the potential purge of certain people from the ranks of the NGC.
1. There is a big power struggle in the NGC. Brightest is not sure about his own ability to remain as chairman so he may well be trying to clear the way as they build up to their party congress. He is facing a very strong challenge.
2. One of the suspended people told us that a good number of NGC people don’t like the direction in which Brightest is taking the party and they will resist his attempt to kick them out or at least prevent them from attending and voting for a leadership of their choice at the party convention.
3. They say Brightest ought to know that the NGC is in deep trouble even in its heartland in Kambia and that instead of consolidating what is left of their membership since 2018, he is busy trying to remove influential members and their supporters from the party.
4. Anyway, Brightest will soon set up another party because he doesn’t like being defeated in a party chairmanship election. He left the green people as soon as it became clear he was heading for defeat.
5. Our prediction is that some of those now suspended for “violence” and “anti-party activities” will soon consult lawyers and approach the courts. Green guys might well be in the background having a good laugh. By the way, where is KKY in all of this?
MAYOR KEMOKAI’S ONE MILLION US DOLLARS
So our mayor is in some legal trouble and is being grilled by the Force for Good on allegations of obstructing police work and being disorderly in a police station. At least that’s what we saw in the letter inviting the smiling lady to the CID. For obvious reasons we can’t say more than this for now. Let’s put this issue to one side and concentrate on that big announcement that was made while the smiling lady was away in New York.
It was widely reported on her favorite social media channels that she had won ONE MILLIONS DOLLARS for our city, FREETOWN. We congratulate Mayor Kemokai for that and we hope she can continue winning more money for this city.
We have not heard from the smiling lady about the cash since she returned to Freetown and we suspect it’s for two reasons: we are told she was sick and needed rest – she couldn’t even see the police last Friday when she was due to meet them and now she has to answer to hours of questions about the issues we mentioned above. So she needs time to talk about the New York JACKPOT.
As ordinary residents in Freetown, we want to suggest a few things to do with the money for her to consider:
1. Let’s use part of that money to help those garbage collectors called CLEAN SALONE to organize themselves better. Some more Russian dump trucks have landed in Freetown and our Mayor can pass a few to them. Those guys can make this city the best in West Africa, in terms of sanitation.
2. Some of that money can also be used to engage poda-poda, kekeh and drivers to tell them to constantly warn their passengers against throwing rubbish on the streets. They should be required to put trash bins around for their passengers. It’s possible.
3. Let’s also bring in some really good footballers into the Freetown City football club. We barely escaped relegation last season. If our Mayor is not going to invest good money in FCFC, then let’s sell the club. No need trying to compete with Bo Rangers and Diamond Stars when you have just two sets of jersey to play more than twenty matches a season and your best players and even the coach can abandon the team in the middle of the league in search of money.
4. We hope our smiling lady takes our humble suggestions into consideration. Whatever she decides to do with the money apart from what we have suggested here should NEVER include bringing a plane load of consultants over to study and report on how to keep Freetown clean or to service that DELIVERY TEAM at City Hall.
WAEC RESULTS AND SOCIAL MEDIA HACKS
We’ve been reading a lot of comments on social media about the WASSCE results released recently. In this column during the same period we asked the minister to say something about the growing performance gap between private and government schools. He hasn’t done that directly for the benefit of our readers but we have seen bits and pieces here and there to suggest that he is aware of our concerns. Those who did well in those private schools are also our children and we appreciate and congratulate them but what’s really going on in government-owned schools. Sure we need a comprehensive reply.
There are other people on social media who have made it a habit to openly insult our children by telling them they do not deserve the good grades they got in the exams. Those same people would be quietly celebrating their children’s success in the same exam. This is the hypocrisy and wickedness that is driving a lot of people out of such channels of communication. Apart from the rudeness that is now definitely an integral part of the interaction among Sierra Leoneans on facebook in particular.
Those who took the exams and passed should be congratulated. Those who think that because many people passed the exam the whole thing is flawed can continue being negative while the rest of us move on. When NPSE was released not too long ago, they complained and brought a big political slant to the fact that their children didn’t get the grades required for certain schools. We should make no effort to satisfy these people. Mission IMPOSSIBLE!
STILL NO ACTION ON PIKE STREET BRIDGE
Good morning again Mr. SLRA Director General. Maybe we are wrong but it’s beginning to look like you have decided to ignore us over our concerns about the deteriorating condition of PIKE STREET Bridge. This is a very important bridge linking the center of town to the relatively affluent west. We serve notice that we will refuse to be ignored over this matter because lives are at risk. Newspapers have a special mission in society and it is in fulfillment of that mission that we will continue to highlight this seriously. Please don’t allow us to say WE TOLD YOU SO.
We saw how quickly the SLRA responded to that explosive social media video about issues having to do with Mabang and Aberdeen Bridges. We have the same capacity to reproduce that pattern for PIKE STREET Bridge in a much more powerful way. Once again we are calling you attention to PIKE STREET Bridge. See you soon.
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