SO WHO SUGGESTED THOSE TOLONGBO CANDIDATURE FEES?
The new Tolongbo scribe is telling us his 21-person committee knows nothing about the candidature fees released on social media in the last one week or so. The proposals are already being discussed around the country with most people describing the proposed fees as unreasonable. One of those people preparing to join the leadership race once again actually went on Facebook to describe the fees as “preposterous”.
In our last edition we suggested that the party needs the cash to reorganize the post-King Messi era. There are some in Tolongbo who continue to stand with the old order simply because they believe King Messi alone has the financial muscle to bankroll the party in 2023. Maybe they are correct.
Crucially now, the spokesman for the 21-member committee has told us they know nothing about those fees as advertised. So what’s going on? In the short run we are in the position before that document setting out the fees reached social media. However here’s what we think is really happening that the scribe doesn't want to say in public:
1. The 21-member committee deliberately released those figures by a tactic we know as kite flying. Politicians normally do that to test the popularity of a public policy. Now given the strident reaction from party members and ordinary Sierra Leoneans who are concerned about our democracy, Alfred Peter Conteh’s committee is pulling back to save face.
2. It could well be that this was actually one of those social media gimmicks that even Tolongbo has become reputed for since they went into opposition. If that’s the case as they now want us to believe, why didn't they set the records straight early enough to avoid such embarrassment?
3. Why not quickly release the actual fees now to put an end to all the speculations. Surely that would be the best way to go.
4. Anyway, we’ve heard that there are people who are ready to pay even ONE MILLION US DOLLARS for the flag. So be bold guys. Leadership requires bold and rational decision making. Stand by your pronouncements.
LET’S ENCOURAGE OUR TEACHERS TO PLAY BY THE RULES
We are just a few days into the 21-day strike notice delivered to the government by the Sierra Leone Teachers’ Union as they continue negotiating with the government for their salary and conditions of service to be improved. Most Sierra Leoneans believe teachers deserve better treatment by the treasury and have demonstrated that on social media in particular. So the teachers have good wind in their sail as they continue talking to the government. It’s never easy to get money out of any government.
There’s something we should let both sides of this discussion know because in the end parents and taxpayers in general will take on the burden of whatever decision is reached.
1. We will not accept what some teachers are doing right now in some parts of the country. They have virtually closed schools and our children are roaming the streets exposed to danger. We believe that teachers of all people should know that issuing a strike notice doesn’t mean the action has taken immediate effect. That’s why it’s called a NOTICE. We don’t want to go into complex explanations of labor issues but we want the teachers to return to class until they are formally told to quit by their union.
2. Our second point is our teachers should avoid this idea of creating parallel groups within their union, usurping the functions of the powerful SLTU. The so-called TSM should disband immediately and use the platform of the SLTU for all their agitation.
3. We now ask the government to go to court and get an order against those teachers embarking on a strike before it’s officially declared by the SLTU. That way they will be punished for their illegal act without any public outcry.
4. We warn our teachers not to incite their pupils into joining whatever they are doing with the government. Industrial disputes are normal facts of life. Don’t corrupt the minds of our young ones.
5. There's no escape. The government MUST put some more money in the pockets of our teachers.
BORIS JOHNSON SURVIVES CONFIDENCE BUT THE FIGHT GOES ON
Only Boris Johnson can describe what it felt like overnight after surviving the confidence vote in the Commons. Some commentators are now saying that this is the beginning of the end of Johnson’s days as British Prime Minister. The spectacle of the man being booed at the jubilee celebration was not good at all because it indicated how the PM stood with the people who would soon turn out for two by-elections and a general election about two years from now.
Those 148 guys who voted against him are not going away at all. In fact they have now been joined by Lord Hague who has openly called for the wounded Boris Johnson to go. That’s a powerful voice. Hague was Foreign Secretary and then leader of the Tory Party so making that call means he has a good idea where all this is going.
Johnson would like to move on quickly from all this but the coming by-elections and the investigation into whether he misled parliament will continue to keep his leadership on the agenda. Some other commentators are also pointing at the outbreak of a civil war in the Tory Party. A house divided against itself, they cannot stand.
There’s a lot we can learn from the whole affair. That party members are able to stand up on matters of principle and challenge their leader and survive in politics is truly interesting. When leaders, even as powerful as the British Prime Minister, are made to face the people’s representatives in this way, they suddenly realize that they hold power on behalf of the people. Our democracy in this country should grow up. Very fast indeed!
Anyway, if or when Boris is eventually forced out, we will miss him a lot at the dispatch box on Wednesdays.
IS A CIVIL WAR BREAKING OUT IN THE NATIONAL ELECTIONS WATCH?
We are standing by to see how those now running NEW respond to a recent letter circulated by a member of that very important organization. We don't know if the guy who signed the letter is acting alone or is the leader of some faction.
Last week we published aspects of a NEW statement that came down really hard on the recent census figures published by Statistics Sierra Leone – well it was just a continuation of their opposition to the whole process going back more than a year. They argued that the census was untimely and all that. The country knows where NEW stands on the census anyway.
It would appear now that some members of this organization have published a letter complaining about a lack of inclusivity in NEW when it comes to decision making. They also suggested that financial accountability was not the strong point of the current leaders of NEW. One newspaper has already gone ahead and told NEW its “credibility is in tatters”.
From this side of things, we are waiting for NEW to react to that statement from their members. We would normally expect members of any organization to discuss such matters in the conference room of their office but because some of them have now brought the public into their affairs, we would respectfully ask for the leaders of NEW to respond. In any case, they exist because of us.
There may well be charges that those complaining are sympathetic to the current administration that NEW has been attacking for more than a year on this midterm census thing. That may be true but we still demand a response to the specific issues outlined in that letter.
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