SOME BOARDS STILL NOT FULLY CONSTITUTED TWO YEARS INTO NEW DIRECTION
It is hard – almost impossible – to believe that nearly two years into the New Direction administration an organization as important as the Anti-Corruption Commission still does not have a functioning Advisory Board as provided for by law. We can confirm that only two members of that board, one of them from the media, are in place. Is the New Direction telling us that they have taken their eyes off this most important ball? Principal always talks highly about the work of the ACC while pledging to do more to further improve their ability to fight corruption. But as your humble fellow Sierra Leonean citizens sir we feel compelled to ask this question: how does your commitment to sharpening the teeth of the ACC square out with the commission not having its full complement of Advisory Board members in almost two years of your administration?
Here’s what the ACC Act says about the process of selecting the Board members as recorded in Part III Section 22 (2):
The members of the Advisory Board on Corruption shall be appointed from among persons representing civil society, professional bodies, religious organizations, educational institutions, chieftaincy institutions and the media, having relevant experience and of conspicuous probity.
Can anybody please tell us what is really difficult about doing this selection even on the first day of the New Direction? In fact as a government elected on the platform of corruption, how come they’ve allowed this opening to continue this long? If after reading this comment the Secretary to the President writes a letter to all the organizations mentioned above asking for their nominees, he will be sure of getting replies in less than THIRTY –SIX hours. So what’s really going on?
We know the ACC Advisory Board is not as lucrative as some others that Green Boys have been fighting over but in the overall interest of our collective fight against corruption, we NEED the full board NOW. And we NEED the ACC to make their Advisory Board members look like serious people with a job to do for which they should be adequately compensated.
ANOTHER TWIST IN THE TALE OF CHIEF SIDIKIE AND TOLONGBO
In the end Chief Sidiki’s return to the Tolongbo fold wasn’t the high political or media spectacle he wanted to create. And we can argue about the many reasons for that between now and 2023 when the good people of Sierra Leone get the chance again to deliver their verdict on his watermelon politics. Already many commentators are using different terms to describe Chief Sidiki’s 360-degree twist ending in the red corner. In the coming weeks and months newspaper commentaries will fill many column inches dealing with this issue especially after the Tolongbo conference set for this weekend.
For now, our attention is focused on the reaction of the political party that gave him a national role when he was kicked out of Tolongbo. The C4C issued a brief statement acknowledging the defection of Chief Sidiki back to the Tolongbo fold. It made interesting reading. For example:
C4C - We would like to thank Chief Sam Sumana for accepting the invitation extended to him in April 2017 to join C4C and for filling the role of leader as only he could. We wish him well in his future endeavors.
TWITTER – So Chief Sidikie was never an integral part of the Kono resistance that crystalized into what we now know as C4C? Now we know he was “invited” to lead the resistance of the people of Kono against failed King Messi. Doesn’t this explain why he left the struggle without much thought? Actually, Chief Sidiki left C4C during the second round of voting in 2018. He couldn’t go on air then to pronounce his return because there was a groundswell of local pressure around him inside Kono. This is not to deny the ONE THOUSAND and ONE other theories making the rounds on social media and in those Ataya Bases in his homeland.
C4C - We would like to make it crystal clear that Sam Sumana’s departure is an individual choice that does not affect the structure of C4C other than the fact that we will need to select, through the democratic process enshrined in our constitution, a new leader that will lead this vibrant party into the future.
TWITTER – It’s a good thing you have decided to use the democratic process this time and not just “invite” anybody to lead your party. The idea is hence people fight really hard for something they are more likely to cherish and die trying to keep it than those who believe it is their God-given right to always lead people and enjoy from the blood and sweat of others.
You describe his move as “individual”, but the fact is he will take a handful of people with him. The other point is that we are yet to hear in decisive terms what the local C4C based almost entirely in Kono think about the present state of affairs. This statement we are dealing with is from the Global Chapter. C4C party now has an existential fight on its hands to keep those EIGHT parliamentary seats they won in 2018. Any faulty decision could lead to the political massacre of their MPs, Mayor and Councilors in 2023.
SLOWLY MR. MINISTER OF THE NORTH, SLOWLY PLEASE!
We’ve been a little patient with the vigilante attitude of the minister of the north brother WAHMAN ABU but now we’ve reached a point where even his own party supporters particularly in King Messi’s SEAT of POWER are beginning to cry out very loud under the weight of his leadership style. We are dealing here with a man who for many years remained unflinchingly loyal to the Green Movement under difficult circumstances in a region that is a kind of political Ground Zero for his movement. So his appointment to that post was not difficult to make.
Principal thought that after many years of struggle and enduring harassment, WAHMAN ABU now had the opportunity to stamp some indelible development footprints in that part of the country. The truth is that while many good things are happening out there, we feel very compelled to point out a few areas of concern. We urge Principal to take us seriously on the following:
1. First of all this idea that as minister in that part of the country everybody else should bow before you is wrong. Stop pushing your power too far. The point is you are home dealing with your own people. Your job is difficult, we know that, but soft power is always more effective and longer lasting than the opposite.
2. What’s the point of moving around with such fierce young boys with an intimidating posture all the time? Your job is not to conquer King Messi land but to work with the people using your New Direction.
3. We are following a matter now being investigated by the police out there. We are waiting to hear from them. In 2020, we will not allow certain things to pass without us bringing them to the attention of our people. This case is one such. The good people of Sierra Leone are very interested.
FIRE DESTROYS PWD COMPOUND: SO WHAT NOW?
We are waiting for the Freetown Fire Service to tell us the cause of the fire that destroyed the Public Works Department PWD workshop along Pademba Road last weekend. They always promise an investigation after any such incidents but we NEVER get their report in public.
Those who’ve managed to get into what is left of the facility say the destruction of the building and mechanical equipment is extensive. We drove by the place a day after the inferno and the scale of the incident came clearly to us from about FIFTY YARDS.
There is no doubt that this could have been worse had the fire broken out during work hours with serious consequences for the staff, squatters and small businesses operating all around the place and indeed those people living with disability who were dumped there by King Messi. On the pages of this paper, we have called repeatedly for that disabled people’s camp to be closed down and those of our compatriots encouraged to either return to their families or find their way into alternative accommodation.
The last option is what we believe the government should not consider because it will only open the floodgate for people with such conditions to find another location to occupy and wait for government relocation package. Let them go and live normal lives with their families or in their own home with their wives and children.
We feel very bad about what happened to that compound and the huge financial loss that the treasury will, of necessity, have to take on. But out of every such situation we should look for things that look like positives. We suggest thus:
1. We MUST now end that disability settlement because the place has now become even worse as a human settlement. Unless we want to treat our people as animals, we should move them out immediately.
2. We should not attempt to do any short cuts out there. Let’s just knock down those walls and build something more in that very prominent place.
3. All the environmental problems in that place should be solved once and for all. Consider the area where the police guard post is located at the junction with Campbell Street and see those rotten cars abandoned there by their owners. They actually compromise the safety of the officers working in that guard post. Let’s clear them all.
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