FBC STUDENTS RETURNING TO HOSTELS AFTER A DECADE
So for the first time in almost a decade FBC students look set to return to campus when the next academic year begins in about two week or so from now. This may sound strange, we know, but it is one of those really strange things that are absolutely true. Maybe it shouldn’t be strange that the students were asked to leave campus for the hostels to be comprehensively renovated but surely it is very strange that it took ten (10) years for the process to be completed and for students to start dreaming of their first few days in those hostels.
We can count at least three main factors responsible for the hostels being declared uninhabitable in the first place. (1) Very bad handling of those facilities by the students including their habit of willfully destroying the place when the disagree with their colleagues during their union elections (2) The almost complete lack of a culture of routine maintenance by the administration and (3) Constant stealing of the college property by criminals in the surrounding communities.
A huge amount of money has been pumped into the renovation effort by a foreign agency and the government of Sierra Leone. We congratulate all Sierra Leoneans for this achievement but we are a little worried at the same time.
1. We cannot guarantee that those three factors that wrecked those hostels in the first place are things of the past. Let nobody tell us that. Recently violence has caused the cancellation of elections on that campus. Now, it is being suggested that voting be done online. This is a serious matter.
2. Can we have a whole day of orientation for the students occupying the hostels for the first time please? Many have never had such experience.
3. Please tell the new occupants that they should never think about renaming any of the student hangouts on that campus. For example Bos Tick, Wisdom Tree and so on.
4. Under what conditions are the hostels being opened up again? We ask because this country cannot afford to take money from the national purse for any further renovation any time soon.
5. Anyway, enjoy your stay on Mount Aureol and remember why you are there in the first place.
OVER POWER WITHOUT ACCOUNTABILITY: TENSION RISING AGAIN IN THE SLFA
Football Stakeholders have struck yet again. There is nothing clever about predicting another round of disastrous civil war in the so-called football family where the queen is using all the tricks available in the books to remain in office and where possible eliminate all threats to her leadership. We have just read a lengthy letter written by the Stakeholders and dispatched to FIFA secretariat with copies going to all those who matter in Sierra Leone football. It makes for very grim reading, creating in us a sense of déjà vu.
The bottom line in all of this is the call for political accountability. The call for the queen to be accountable to her members and the whole country went out years ago. Now we have reached a point at which something must surely happen. FIFA can come here and tell us that no matter what happens the queen will remain in that secretariat or they will respect this country and compel the queen to face her own members in an elective congress in the same way our Presidents and Members of Parliament do every five years.
Sierra Leone is a democracy and if FIFA thinks as long as it concerns small African countries democracy matters not, we must let them know they are very wrong. What is wrong with members of an organization calling on their leader to organize congresses as prescribed by their own basic law especially when that leader’s mandate has long expired? We don’t want any interim arrangement. Let’s have election in SLFA right now. We are waiting for FIFA’s reaction to this letter.
EDSA EMERGENCY RESPONSE MUST SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE
There’s no doubt that electricity supply to Freetown in particular is not bad at all, which doesn’t mean things cannot be far better than we have it now. What we are concerned with right now is how EDSA responds to emergencies – for example when a vehicle knocks down a pole in an accident, destroying power lines and plunging whole areas in darkness, or in the rainy season like this when thunder and lightning strike EDSA installations. Surely EDSA’s emergency response system is woefully unsatisfactory and somebody must do something about it now.
Here’s this example: over a period of a month or so, we observed sparks from an EDSA installation along Congo Cross between the bank and NP filling station. People in the neighborhood told us they reported the matter long ago but have now had to put up with that game of death for a few hours every week.
Big communities like Kortright and Tree Planting are frequently thrown into darkness during the rainy season because lightning keeps striking the EDSA transformer and it sometimes takes days to restore power after persistent calls and dire whatsapp messages.
We understand the difficult conditions in which EDSA staff operate but they cannot allow their customers to remain in darkness for hours, days and weeks for a problem they can easily deal with. There are serious security challenges and the crucial question of perishables going bad in freezers with implications for the household income. Things must change.
STILL WAITING FOR NATIONAL IDENTITY CARDS
Hello NCRA, how far are we now with the issuance of National Identity Cards? We know NCRA has been very busy putting structures in place and making moves to start their work. But we’ve realized that the waiting period is getting a bit too long and people are finding it really difficult to undertake transactions for which some form of identification is required.
Given the pace at which NCRA has been pushing along, we can say that we will go into Christmas without our ID Cards. For now, all we can do is ask Ngor Mass to tell us when the first ID Cards or birth certificates will roll off the machines under the new NCRA system?
It is very important for the nation to know. Common people cannot afford passports. Why would they go for passports when they are not able to travel abroad like the upper middle class? All the vast majority of Sierra Leoneans need is their ID card to move around and transact business. So over to you Ngor Mass!
© 2019 Politico Online
