TOLONGBO RETURNS TO THE BIG HOUSE ON TOWER HILL
The rest of the Tolongbo MPs will be in parliament this week to start representing the people who elected them in June. They will join Mohamed Bangura and Alfred Thompson who defied their party’s boycott call and took their seats. From the press gallery we will observe the body language to get a sense of what to expect when serious issues come before the House – in terms of how debates and votes would go during the life of this parliament.
All of this has been made possible as the outcome of the recent political dialogue between the government of Sierra Leone and Tolongbo. Many Sierra Leoneans are now monitoring the implementation of that agreement because the language of some of the key provisions was vague, leaving the conclusions on those issues open to interpretation and that’s not a good idea. We believe it was deliberately done but we believe that strategy will backfire at some point.
Anyway we welcome Tolongbo back to the House as we consider a few issues.
1. Many Sierra Leoneans are telling us that Tolongbo MPs have no right to ask for back pay because they didn’t turn up to take oaths after they were declared elected and it was their choice to stay away. Other Sierra Leoneans say in the spirit of coming together after all the struggle the nation should pay them and move on. Our position is whichever way we go with this sets a precedent and this will not be the last time for Sierra Leone to deal with such an issue.
2. Tolongbo has started a process of forcing Mohamed Bangura and Alfred Thompson out of the House for disobeying party orders to stay away. On the one hand they want to draw a line under their issues with the government and move on but on the other hand they are doing everything to punish their members on the same issues. We don’t believe they have any chance to throw the two guys out of parliament.
THE ERA OF VISA-FREE TRAVEL ACROSS AFRICA IS HERE
Paul Kagame has opened up his country to all Africans. People holding passports from any African country can get onboard any flight and land in Kigali and they will be allowed a free pass through the airport. Kenya has announced that by the end of this year they will do the same. A few other African countries have already opened up. We think this visa-free travel thing is a good idea and the African Union should make a declaration calling on all its member states to go down this route because it’s the sensible thing to do. Not all countries would implement at the same time but many would. Why should Africans be subject to embarrassing visa regimes to travel within the continent?
The biggest challenge to any such visa-free travel would come from those in the north. While all of this is happening, the president of Tunisia is telling his people that BLACK AFRICANS are flooding his country in an attempt to change the racial balance of Tunisia. He then set off race riots that saw BLACK AFRICANS attacked and thrown out of their homes. Students had to be hurriedly evacuated for their own safety.
Down in South Africa xenophobic attacks directed against other BLACK AFRICANS are a regular thing under the so-called operation DUDULA. The WHITE oppressors who instituted apartheid are free to do as they like in that country. So the visa-free project is bound to face serious challenges but that shouldn’t stop those countries that know the value of opening up the continent to African people from going ahead.
Let the people of Africa move around, interact, trade, work, study and set up families. We are all Africans.
BECE RESULTS OUT: ACC MEETS SCHOOL AUTHORITIES
Basic Education Examination (BECE) results are out and our children are preparing to enter senior secondary school. We congratulate those who have made it. We note however that last week the ACC called in school heads to warn them against exploiting the anxiety among parents to get placements for their children by squeezing money out of their pockets. The fact that the ACC felt compelled to do this tells a very bad story of what ordinary people are subjected to for something that should be as routine as getting placement for a pupil that passed an exam.
We are very sorry to tell the ACC that what they did in the last few days was nothing but an elaborate Public Relations exercise aimed at trying to convince us they were on top of things. We know the ACC is never going to be able to deal with the corruption in the school system especially when it comes to getting placements for children in secondary school. And they thought they succeeded in putting the fear of God in those school authorities, they should think again. Those people are masters of the game because they know the ropes very well.
As long as the schools are allowed to dictate a special grade that determines who is admitted into schools, completely ignoring the ministry’s approved pass grade, the game is open for deals. We want to tell the ACC that all school authorities, especially in our government schools are involved. In this game teachers are given admission quotas so that they can line their pockets with ridiculous amounts of money while running things for the principals. They do it openly and they are not even ashamed. If the ACC Scorpions decide to raid schools and prosecute, they will swell the numbers at Pademba road jail with teachers in no time.
Unless the ACC can convince us that they mean business with concrete action, we plead with them to spare us such meaningless exercises. We are not amused.
MAYOR KEMOKAI IS BACK AT CITY HALL
We heartily welcome our friend Mayor Kemokai back to City Hall in Freetown. She always wanted to immediately return to office on being elected but was forced to support the boycott called by King Messi through his boy Orsamu. That boycott was intended to bargain King Messi’s way out of certain difficulties.
The boycott had nothing to do with an election which they lost. In fact she was so anxious to return to office that she went abroad and signed an agreement on behalf of Freetown only for that document to be declared null and void because our dear friend had not taken the oath for her second term. We remain unconvinced by the explanation she gave but we will put that to one side for now and welcome her to City Hall as she begins her second term.
We have a few issues to call her attention to as good residents of Freetown.
1. We plead with our Mayor to take us on a conducted tour of the sites where she planted those ONE MILLION TREES. We want to be able to report that good news story to the rest of Africa and the world.
2. We are kindly asking for a big meeting at the auditorium of the FCC for our Mayor to make a presentation to us on her CABLE CAR initiative.
It was a big issue in the last election and now that she is back for another five years, let’s start with some clarity on the issue.
3. Even our Mayor accepts that she failed badly with sanitation in her first round. We need to speak to her about what we expect this time round. The truth is that parts of our city are filthy with uncontrolled street trading a contributing major factor. Madam Mayor, where are we going with this in your second term?
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