“FIND ME ELEVEN THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY VOTES” SAYS TRUMP
We are generally finding it extremely hard to believe that some of the things coming out of the Great United States are actually happening in the real world. We usually refer to America as one of the leading democracies of the world. In fact we always expect to hear from the United States when democracy is threatened anywhere on planet earth.
However, in the last few weeks following the election that resulted in Joe Biden Jr. pushing Donald Trump out of the White House, the world has witnessed unprecedented political manipulations by the defeated Mr. Trump to set aside the sovereign will of the American people and remain in the White House for FOUR more years. The INSURRECTUION in Washington on Wednesday will go down in history as a very dark chapter in any serious book on democratic political transitions.
Mr. Trump and his associates have filed one lawsuit after the other in several states and at the Supreme Court of the United States with the sole purpose of stopping Biden from taking over as president. The courts have thrown those cases out, largely for lack of evidence to back claims of massive electoral fraud.
The Big Man has grown increasingly desperate as inauguration day draws near. In the meantime, old man Biden is busy putting his government together and giving signals as to where America is heading at home and abroad.
Before the disgrace in Washington, the world received a recording on social media of a conversation between Mr. Trump and the Republican Secretary of State for the state of Georgia in which Mr. Trump made an extraordinary attempt to get the guy to take certain measures that would help him remain in the White House. Here was the president of the Great United States intervening directly to influence the outcome of an election in his favour. Is this really happening in the home of Abraham Lincoln?
1. On being sworn in, Biden needs to urgently re-set the democratic dispensation in the US. Otherwise, in many parts of the world bad leaders are going to make reference to what is happening now in that country as they undermine democracy in their little corners.
2. We are very pleased that the Georgia Secretary of State stood his ground in a very respectful way, stopping Trump from corrupting the electoral process in his state. This is a perfect example of a politician putting country before party. We are not used to that in this Land that we LOVE.
3. Now we know a lot about the process of electing the US president. We thank Mr. Trump for trying out all the tricks in the book. His last kick – that violent attack on Congress was truly shameful. That was certainly NOT a peaceful democratic protest.
4. For many years to come, we will be writing a lot about Mr. Trump and his desire to always win and FIRE people. The American people have FIRED the man now and he should simply go home and REST.
TOO MANY PEOPLE DYING ON OUR ROADS – ACT NOW, POLICE AND SLRSAF
Figures of deaths and injuries on our roads during 2020 are grim. Simply put, we are losing too many souls on our roads and the situation is becoming unacceptable. The trouble is that apart from police coming to the scene of such accidents on our highways and marking the place up, we never get any detailed explanation of any particular car crash situation. We know that sometimes such facts come out in court but we doubt that all of these cases actually proceed to their logical conclusions.
Maybe, we should find time and space to talk about how the so-called insurance companies compensate victims of road accidents or their next of kin. There are many Sierra Leoneans who believe that the yearly money collected by insurance companies simply end up in the pockets of those who own those companies. They NEVER really compensate their clients caught up in such difficulties.
We raise the following points for the SLRSA and the SL Police to seriously consider. We don’t believe these are new issues but we want to be satisfied that at the start of 2021 we did register these concerns in the hope that those who should do something about the ever-increasing number of road accidents on our roads actually did something. Accidents are facts of life but surely we can minimize them and save many lives.
1. SLRSA must ensure that only those vehicles that pass a fitness test are allowed on the roads. There should be no compromise about that. There will be a lot of complaints in the beginning but people will come round to the idea that you really mean well.
2. In the same breadth we should say that all drivers must pass a proper test before getting licenses to go on our roads. Let’s not fool ourselves. It is all over the place that there are rogue elements operating within the SLRSA who facilitate the process for people without subjecting them to the necessary tests. That must stop.
3. Police highway patrols should be stepped up. They should be very professional in all they do on those roads. That includes checking for contraband, the number of people on all vehicles and the weight of their luggage in relation to the approved weight set out by the manufacturers. Being professional means not collecting pennies from drivers and turning a blind eye to those dangers on our roads.
WORRYING ETHICAL BREACH AT CONNAUGHT MORTUARY
The world saw pictures on social media the other day of several body bags laid out for burial in a mass grave somewhere in Freetown with a key staff at the country’s main mortuary doing a running commentary on the event and the circumstances in which our unfortunate compatriots met their deaths.
From what we heard all those buried that day died on the streets or were dumped at the hospital during illness by their relatives and abandoned to die. There were children among them. People die in such circumstances all over the world which is why we were more than surprised to read comments from somebody who should know better, insinuating that these were political killings, calling on the International Criminal Court to investigate. What a shame.
Our concern here is that we are definitely NOT sure that is how mortuary workers treat people who die in such circumstances anywhere in the world. In an ideal world, when people fall ill their families help them get the best medical care till they recover but if they die, they get a dignified burial as far as possible. We believe it was wrong for a senior staff of the mortuary to make such a display of that burial to satisfy his desire to always be on social media saying this and that.
We call on the Ministry of Health to investigate this issue and bring some sanity into the media circus being constantly created around our dead compatriots by an overzealous official of the mortuary with an insatiable appetite for media spectacle. Much of what is done there is UNETHICAL and we feel compelled to call out the main character behind it all NOW. This must stop. The figures of the dead could have been released to ALL media organizations by the normal communication channels of the MINISTRY of HEALTH. It serves no useful purpose making such a big show of body bags on social media.
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