POLICE OFFICER KNOCKED DOWN AND KILLED
Our hearts go out to that senior police officer who was knocked down while on traffic duty in the Waterloo area the other day. The reports we read say he was putting things under control in a chaotic part of Waterloo called FIVE-FIVE when he was knocked down. We know that people get knocked down by vehicles all the time but this could have been avoided. Why can’t we install traffic lights in such busy intersections, fitted out with cameras and so take our police away from danger? What is so difficult about that?
There is danger waiting to happen at Jui and Portee. We don’t like making such predictions but we pass by these places daily and we are so afraid. We have allowed petty traders to occupy those junctions, competing with commuters. Now, dutiful police officers have to put themselves at so much risk in front of many bad vehicles and poor drivers just to make way for traffic to flow freely.
Again, we have to also note that corrupt traffic police officers like the chaos because that guarantees their daily so-called booking fees – a kind of corrupt daily payments that public transport operators make. Once they pay, the police turn a blind eye to their transgressions for the rest of the day.
This is a great loss to the family, the Force for Good and the country. Let’s do something about traffic police officers putting themselves in harm’s way daily.
SMALL PARTY NOMINATIONS TAKING PLACE QUIETLY
Apart from a few social media pictures, the media have generally moved on from presidential nominations even as those we call small parties continue to make their way into ECSL headquarters to be nominated. We know it’s the nature of the news business but what does that say about things to come?
Let’s start with the small parties themselves because we believe the fault is in their stars. Let’s look carefully and we will easily find out that many of these parties should not even be on the ballot, according to PPRC regulations dealing with them having a presence in every region of the country. They would be the first to complain about everything, including for example, PPRC or ECSL opening their doors for business FIVE minutes late but look at them now basically breaking the laws governing the conduct of political parties. How about their financial records?
Maybe we should let them know that no money from the national coffers will go into their parties and Goodluck Jonathan is no longer in power in Nigeria. People who form political parties should be able to run their own affairs while being accountable to the citizens of Sierra Leone.
As for the media, that’s the way we operate. We may well be part of those entrenching the notion that only two parties are capable of running this country. We don’t give small parties any fighting chance at all.
SLRSA SHOULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT CONTAINER VEHICLES NOW
SLRSA should immediately check all those vehicles taking goods containers from the ports to warehouses in Freetown in particular. Road crashes are part of what we know as normal life but these containers and tipping over, killing people and destroying properties with some fair degree of frequency recently and we are right to be alarmed. We took this picture along Hillside bypass road on Tuesday 9th May, 2023. Normal traffic was severely disrupted and there was no police officer to perform the role of a traffic light. It was total chaos.
SLRSA should take a good look at some of those vehicles, take them off the road for maintenance or take them off for good because they are not roadworthy. In this category also are vehicles that carry stones and sand to building sites all over this city. We are losing too many lives and properties because these vehicles are on the roads. We also note that the drivers openly flout traffic regulations prohibiting heavy vehicles from using certain roads. We cannot continue like this.
We expect the people at SLRSA to be strong enough to take these vehicles off the road to save our lives. Otherwise they should resign so people who can handle the pressures of doing public service can take over.
As far as the police are concerned, we are leaving them out of this completely because all they are interested in is booking fees. After collecting their booking fees in the morning, they close their eyes to all the crazy things the drivers do throughout the day. In fact they have influenced the Road Safety Corps so much that the initial professionalism for which Road Safety Corps were known is gone. We believe they also share in the booking fees.
IS MAN UNITED’S DE GEA FIXING MATCHES OR WHAT?
Let’s get a few facts out of the way quickly before we actually look at the issue that the headline is asking us to consider. David De Gea, the goalkeeper for the EPL side, Manchester United is a great player. Since joining the club in July 2011, De Gea has made 500 appearances for Manchester United and on the whole the guy has done really well. In his 12th season with the club, he has been the only person standing between his club and disgraceful defeats many times. He makes absolutely impossible saves all the time and as we write he is reported to be the goalkeeper with more clean sheets than any of his counterparts so far this season.
Our headline is probably stretching things a bit too far and we apologize for that but allow us then to call attention to just two incidents recently involving De Gea and tell us we should never think along these lines. Consider his performance against Sevilla in the Europa League and their most recent defeat against West Ham. Now Manchester United is facing the prospect of being pushed out of the Champions League spots by clubs that looked dead and buried only yesterday. So what’s really happening to the Spaniard?
1. De Gea should retire from international football and return home. He cannot cope with the pressure of playing in any of the top clubs in Europe. He has a place at Valencia in La Liga.
2. In fact the guy is home sick. After a 12th season with the club, he is tired with life in rainy old Manchester.
3. We don’t have any evidence to support this but is he into some kind of remote betting? How can we explain how he gifted West Ham at a time when his team needed those three points to consolidate the fourth spot in the EPL table?
4. Maybe the guy is tired but doesn’t want to tell his boss the truth about his physical wellbeing. The club has played many games this season and he featured in almost all of those matches.
5. The tragedy in all of this is that Manchester United players and fans still don’t know if the Glazers are serious about selling the club. They have been looking at big offers for the longest time. No serious player is coming to a club facing this kind of situation. David De Gea may well be number one goalkeeper for Manchester United next season. We will not place any best on that but the possibility is high.
5. Anyway, it could well be that the whole team is not fit for purpose this season and the only thing holding them in place is the brilliance of Martinez, the goals of Rashford and the skills and patience of Ten Hag. How can a guy like Antony Martial still have a place in any premier league squad? Take note that we haven’t said a word about Maguire.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (10/05/23)
