A FEW DAYS AFTER THE BO STADIUM INCIDENT
We praise God that none of our beautiful girls died in that incident at the Bo mini stadium last week. We understand many of them have been discharged while those seriously injured are receiving special medical attention at the Bo government hospital.
Our reporters on the ground told us even before the whole social media hysteria began that a guardrail in one of the sections of the pavilion had collapsed and obviously thrown some of the students a few feet down, injuring them and traumatizing others. It was truly sad to see all those pictures of children who had gone to the place for a really worthy exercise being loaded in vehicles and driven at top speed to a hospital.
Now, let's make some comments about the occasion itself and how as Sierra Leoneans, we conducted ourselves when our children were in pain.
1. Actually, we didn’t expect everybody to approach the issues in the same way. We expected parents in particular to panic and rush down to the hospital to see if their children were among those affected especially after the first alarming social media video alleging MASSIVE DEATHS were released.
2. The reports alleging that the whole stadium had collapsed were the most ridiculous and we really couldn’t understand why people felt they had to do those kinds of social media posts.
3. Of course we live in Sierra Leone, so we knew that the whole thing was going to receive a political slant whether the President or his wife were there or not. The presence of the first family was absolute red meat for those with the political slant and it took less than half an hour for those writings to emerge. We don’t want to bring to this column any of those political comments. What we must say however is that we were expecting those making political statements when such tragedies occur to at least acknowledge the plight of the affected people, in this case our children and the good work of the emergency services.
4. The First Lady should learn lessons from this incident and tell those organizing her public programs to prepare for all eventualities. They should never assume that things would always go as planned or intended.
5. We congratulate the emergency services for the way they handled the whole affair. The hospital workers were fantastic. The president and his wife did what was expected of them. Well done everybody. Let the sharing of sanitary pads continue.
6. The people managing that stadium should be sacked IMMEDIATELY. Those guardrails did not suddenly collapse. If they were really up to their job, they would have noticed the rot long ago. Those who failed must pay.
ANOTHER PHOTO-OP: MAYOR SUDDENLY LOVES FOOTBALL
Photos have emerged on social media of our mayor in a deep red half gown dancing with players of the Freetown City Council Football Club in her office. Apparently, Mayor Kemokai was told that FCFC pulled off a stunning victory against the great EE Lions in the on-going Sierra Leone Premier League. In English Premier League terms, it’s like Nottingham Forest beating Manchester City. There can be only one way to describe that – a real shock. It was a shock 2-0 victory for FCFC.
A few days later, a mayor who is desperate for something to celebrate on social media, called the players in and danced with them. At times like these in Sierra Leone politicians are looking for every opportunity to show how much they love people. In our mayor’s case, there’s almost nothing to point to on the streets of Freetown as she prepares to face the people soon so here was this golden opportunity. Well done Mayor Kemokai.
Now that the dancing is over we have a few words for our mayor concerning that team:
1. Please tell us, the people of Freetown, how much money you have invested in that club or municipal sports in general since you landed at City Hall more than four years ago. We shouldn’t even be asking you for this on the pages of a newspaper. The Local Government Act mandates you to proactively publish such information.
2. We pleaded with you in the past to sell this club because it has no money and it’s easy to see that from their outfit and general morale on the pitch. Now they manage a freak victory against EE Lions and our mayor abandons her job to celebrate. In the unlikely event of FCFC winning the title, it’s anybody’s guess what our mayor would do.
3. We now repeat our call for FCFC to be sold immediately. It’s impossible to think about using FCFC’s performances on the field as a campaign platform. Madam Mayor, the position of our team on the league table ought to have urged you to watch the way you celebrate one win in many matches. Beating EE like was good but winning the league is what you should be talking about.
HOW EPL PLAYERS SHOULD AVOID BEING CHARGED WITH RAPE
We can produce a long list of celebrities, including EPL players being charged with rape. It’s not a new thing but what is new is that these days the number of EPL players charged is growing and we have a reason to be concerned. It’s not our mission to create the impression that just because they are EPL player they cannot commit rape. We are saying that the outcome of some of these cases confirms our suspicion that there is something fishy about those arrests and prosecutions.
So EPL players should read this and stay out of trouble.
1. Concentrate all your energy on the field of play and of course in training. As young people you may want to hang out with friends and enjoy yourself. By all means do that but your primary focus should be on playing football and keeping fit.
2. This culture of going to clubs all the time or organizing parties of whatever type in your home should be abandoned. That’s where all the allegations or lies about rape or inappropriate contacts begin. Stay with your wife or fiancé for the duration of your playing career because that’s the time you are most vulnerable.
3. Money is at the center of all these allegations. Stop spending money like drunken sailors. There’s nothing wrong with living the good life when you can afford it but tone things down a bit. You are only attracting greedy people looking to get a big slice of your savings. They have lawyers in the background.
4. Let’s address the last point to our African brothers playing in the big leagues of Europe. Many of you are from desperately poor villages and that’s why we find it hard to believe some of the things we read about your arrogance and lifestyle once you sign those pornographic contracts. Some of you have returned and helped the less privileged in your home countries but there are many others that have turned away from their places of birth, pretending to be Europeans. You are just fooling yourselves.
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