WHAT LESSONS FROM RECENT KONO MURDER SENTENCES
At the High Court in Freetown, Justice Monfred Sesay sentenced a few guys from Kono district that they took their love for politics and political parties too far. A jury had returned a verdict of guilty on two counts of murder and conspiracy to murder another Kono man in 2021. The judge upheld the argument that as the Kono-based Coalition for Change party collapsed two factions emerged, one joining the ruling SLPP and the other going the way of the APC. Those who went to the APC accused their relatives who joined the SLPP of betraying their political godfather, Chief Sidikie and the Kono people. It was against this background that a fight occurred and a young man was stabbed to death.
For now we will not push too hard into the evidence because there will be an appeal and who knows. Our interest really is to make a statement about young people getting involved in political violence to satisfy political masters who keep themselves and their family members behind high walls watching the drama involving other people's children play out. Justice Monfred Sesay actually told the convicts that throughout the trial process none of the political godfathers turned up in court to support them. Well, they may have spent money on legal issues here and there but we get the point the judge wanted to drive home.
We don’t know what else should be done to convince the young people of Sierra Leone to stay away from political violence. We’ve witnessed expensive political campaigns just before election and after but look at this case and see that the violence took place in 2021 when the actual date for elections was not even decided.
Again we have to hope that the publicity generated around this case will help some of our brothers in particular make up their minds about the need to engage in civil discussions and disagree as much as they like but always reject violence.
CONGRATS TO THE TEACHERS OF SIERRA LEONE
We know two teachers returned home from this year’s World Teachers Day activity in Freetown with extremely fat bank accounts. They were selected as the best among their colleagues for outstanding performance in training the next generation of leaders. We congratulate them and their families and pray that they live long to serve the nation.
All teachers in Sierra Leone should consider themselves winners. God bless them.
However, we owe it to Sierra Leone to highlight a few issues on the subject of teachers:
1. We appreciate the fact that other initiatives have been taken in the past to make life in the classroom worth thinking about, like giving grants to the children of those that have been in the classroom for a certain number of years. Now we want the government to move significantly on their salaries and general living conditions. It’s very important for them to stay in the profession and perform at the highest level.
2. The Sierra Leone Teachers Union should help the government kick out charlatans that are running around in our school system helping children cheat in exams and producing results that totally do not reflect the reality in the heads of some of our children. Those teachers are destroying this country.
SECURITY SITUATION IN THE SAHEL DETERIORATING DAILY
ECOWAS appears to have climbed down from their original position to use military force to drive the junta out of power in Niger. They also now have to deal with Mali yet again because the soldiers are reneging on the agreed transition timeline. There is hardly anyone with even a little bit of experience in West Africa and how military regimes behave who didn’t see this coming. All the junta governments in the Sahel are not going to leave until the ordinary people in those countries with the civilian political leadership in front, force them out.
We think ECOWAS should keep an eye on them but the organization must now focus on how rapidly the security situation is deteriorating out there and the implications for people like us sitting in the neighborhood. Peace agreements are being torn up by insurgents and there are almost daily announcements about soldiers being killed in large numbers. How come those who fired their way to power blaming civilian leaders for failing to defeat the insurgents are now not able to hold their ground against the same enemies? We have some recommendations and we hope our African brothers will consider them for what they are worth.
1. The military units ECOWAS intended to use in Niger should now be deployed in vulnerable countries to stop the Sahelian war spreading down the gulf of Guinea. Those who think they don’t need ECOWAS can continue with Wagner.
2. Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger should stop the anti-French rhetoric and face the reality of their condition right now because not long from now the people will find out that while they don’t like France continuing to dominate them, they also won’t tolerate their brothers in the army lying to them. At that point they will be on the streets again but then it will be against the so-called liberators.
3. The more body bags coming from the frontline, the more frustration among the population. The best course of action for the soldiers is to organize democratic elections and leave office. Those wars cannot be won with Wagner bullets.
4. Attacking and chasing the French out means chasing out a significant part of the so-called international community. It also means losing an important ally against the rebels in the desert. The French may not back the rebels but they will not do much to deter them. Think guys!
VICTOR OSIMHEN SHOULD QUICKLY GET OUT OF NAPOLI
Victor Osimhen has zero reason to continue with Napoli beyond January. What Napoli did to him is a disgrace. They betrayed the man who has done so much for them – putting his body on the line every weekend to give them something to smile about.
Napoli wants us to believe that when they went to their official social media site and made fun of their star striker for missing a penalty the “NEVER MEANT TO MOCK HIM”. What do they take us for? Why take the time to do that racist thing if it wasn’t intended to puncture his self-esteem? They wanted to shame him in front of their fan base. That’s all.
We know there is racism, too much of it in Italian football, from racist chants to bananas being thrown at African players but this mostly comes from opposing supporters not the home crowd or from the club itself as in this case.
We need Osimhen to return to Nigeria immediately to try and deal with the trauma caused by that event. He should stay in Nigeria until the AfCON tournament in Ivory Coast. During that tournament he will hand in a transfer request and his representatives will find him a new club. Our brother’s days in Napoli are over. It makes no sense to stay in a club where the official social media account would make fun of you for missing a penalty when to have designated you a penalty taker demonstrates their confidence in your abilities in the first place. Please leave Napoli.
Copyright © 2023 (09/10/23)
