A PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH WITH A DIFFERENCE
Principal went to the hill the other day to officially begin the session of the 6th parliament of the republic of Sierra Leone. It was a great occasion as always, full of joy and celebration. We saw new MPs, some accompanied by their supporters from across the country.
The only downside to the whole thing was that the parliamentary opposition failed to show up again as they continue to boycott governance standing Trump-like on their position that the June 24th general and presidential elections were stolen from them. We would later see social media pictures of them meeting in their stronghold of Makeni. It’s easy to conclude that the meeting was set up to coincide with the state opening of parliament. It would appear as if the planners didn’t want the new MPs from the Red camp to be sitting at home watching TV. Anyway such programmes are broadcast over and over again and the repeat is the same as the first broadcast with few gaps and unnecessary camera movements edited out.
Our issue here today though is the speech. In the first term of Principal at State House, the nation became used to him speaking from that podium for hours. The shortest was almost always about two and half hours. To bring that home clearly let’s say a driver leaves Freetown just ask Principal started speaking and driving at SEVENTY MILES an hour without police officers holding them up at checkpoints to greet and ask for usual pennies they would be in Bo by the time Principal says I THANK YOU ALL FOR LISTENING. In fact most of the MPs would be half asleep and people watching at home or in the office would have turned to other things. That was then.
To start this session, the speech was short, strong and inspiring. Principal pushed towards meeting the recommendations of key Western allies following the elections and then opened up to talks with the Red camp so that they can now go to parliament. A driver heading to Makeni at the beginning of that speech would be just after Lunsar by the time the speech ended.
As you expect, we are trying to figure out what has changed. We will be back with our findings in subsequent editions of this column.
FROM FREESTYLE DANCER TO CLOSE CIRCUIT DECISION MAKER
Here’s something else that has changed dramatically since Principal took the oath of office at the start of his second term. During the election, The Lion, The Conqueror was always on stage dancing while campaigning for votes. Social media is awash with those pictures. Principal pressed the flesh freely and he had a large crowd of supporters turning up everywhere he went. He personally campaigned so hard that it became clear that he actually wanted to deliver the first round knockout he promised. Some of his appointees found time to relax or follow from a distance.
Once the dancing was over and Principal had listened to his doctors, it was now time to make key decisions. Decisions had to be made about whether to keep all his advisers at State House, who remains or leaves the cabinet, embassies and parastatals. It was time for mainstream and social media to speculate. Some of the materials were generated by people looking out for those jobs and planted in the public space by their surrogates. The cabinet is done and most of the speculations were FALSE. Close circuit decision making can never be accurately speculated about. Some guys told us that Principal carried his file close to his chest, literally.
Attention has shifted to the parastatals and embassies. There’s very little or no speculation going on. No self-respecting newspaper or blog wants to be wrong a second time.
We’re told that reaching Principal these days for a chat even by phone is impossible. Only a few guys can get him. So CVs are flying all over the place but there’s a sense of resignation in many corners. Guys, here’s what we have to say: Go get a life, allow things to roll. Jesus Christ said many are called but few are chosen. Mighty guys have fallen so anything is possible. Long live close circuit decision making.
WHY IS EVERYONE RUNNING AWAY FROM THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES?
First it was Australia and now Canada has pulled out of hosting the Commonwealth Games. They have told the games organizers that the budget is heavy and they would like to put their money into social services for their people. It’s not exact but it’s beginning to look like the same argument we are making here about removing subsidies from petroleum products so that we can take the money from the few rich guys and put it into social services. Frankly, we cannot believe what is really happening to the great Commonwealth. How can rich countries like Canada and Australia complain so much about hosting this event? Do they expect Sierra Leone to suddenly put in a bid or what?
Anyway, let’s see what this is really about:
1. They are trying to embarrass King Charles. Why are they suddenly running away from the games now just because he is on the throne?
2. They are afraid that half of the expected FOUR THOUSAND athletes would seek asylum in their countries even before the end of the tournament.
3. They want to blackmail the games organizers to pay for the games while they make money from the event. Isn’t that clever?
4. Actually, they want the UK to be the permanent home of the Commonwealth Games but they are not strong enough to stand before their Head of State and say that.
5. Maybe the standard of performance at these games is now so poor that they want the event to take a break and resume only when we produce athletes that the world wants to stay up at night to watch.
We call on King Charles to end the complaints and speculation and take the games to Newcastle in the UK. The Commonwealth Games are here to stay. Or he can ask us in Africa to host the games. Sierra Leone can host the boxing side of it. Our Chinese friends would have completed the renovation of Siaka Steven stadium. Other African countries can decide what they want to do.
TWENTY SECONDS TO FINISH A 100 METER RACE, REALLY?
Talking about standard of performance in sports, here’s this: a Somalian turns up with her official delegation for a sports meeting in China and ends up in the Guinness Book of Records for the wrong reason. She completed the 100m race after more than 20 seconds. By that time her colleagues had completed trackside interviews and were already in the shower.
We understand the official who took her there has been suspended and is being investigated. That investigation should include looking at whether there was some time trial in Mogadishu and how she came to be selected because even if while in the starting block she had assumed an Al-Shabaab fighter was chasing her, she would have won that race easily.
We also produce these weird characters in Africa. We remember the case of Eric Moussambani a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea who took part in the 2000 Summer Olympics without previously ever seeing an Olympic-sized swimming pool before going into the heat of the 100m freestyle and posted a ridiculously slow time. He gained his international fame like this 20 seconds 100m runner from Somalia.
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