PRINCIPAL DOING WELL ON HIS FARM BUT WHILE WE WAIT…
As they say, Principal is leading by example. He came to power talking a lot about the need for us, the good people of Sierra Leone, to grow what we eat and so drastically cut back on the hard currency we send abroad to bring rice into this country so people don’t starve. He has put a lot of money into agriculture projects like Rhombe Swamp and Tormabum and has also brought in hundreds of tractors to help farmers do large scale production.
At the end of this year’s harvest we should be able to assess by how much we would reduce the money we spend importing rice from all over the world. Of course, we have to acknowledge that some of our ministers and even ordinary Sierra Leoneans have returned to the land to grow what they eat. We appreciate those efforts.
We hope that this is the beginning of a real fight against the unhealthy business of depending on farmers in other countries to feed us. This country has a long experience with politicians proclaiming their commitment to agriculture only to end up succumbing to the rice mafia in this country that is always ready to sabotage our efforts to feed ourselves. They are so powerful that even our Ministry of Trade is afraid to confront them.
One of the images that caused us to shed tears for our agriculture sector recently is the one in which our Trade Minister was seen at the Ports standing beside sacks of rice brought here by a company that prints money by simply going all over Asia buying rice and selling the stuff to African countries including Sierra Leone. What was our minister doing there? Here is a company that is busy creating jobs and wealth abroad by simply refusing to invest some of their huge profits on local production in this country.
Anyway, we probably should reason with our minister because that particular company can cause huge political embarrassment or even unrest on the streets of Freetown by simply shutting down their stores for a week. We should never have allowed ourselves to be caught in that ring of blackmail going back decades.
So while we wait for Principal’s farm, Rhombe and Tormabum to start feeding us, let’s fight the blackmail by the rice mafia. We are ready to take part in a national conversation on how to do that. We warn that for us to succeed we have to be ready to throw saboteurs in government and the business sector to jail. It’s as serious as that.
SOVULA’S MEN AT THE BORDER HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY
Sovula’s Blue Boys have now confirmed that they have intercepted a large cache of shot gun cartridges in a normal delivery van that crossed from Guinea into Kambia district. They have also told us that the driver escaped as he was being called in for questioning and possible arrest. We believe that the officers who incepted that vehicle have questions to answer regarding the escape of a suspect of such a high value.
Yes, we are interested in confiscating those dangerous items but we are even more interested in speaking to the driver so that we get a rounded picture of what is really going on because in the last two years or so, this is the second major case of shotgun cartridges being intercepted in Kambia district brought into the country from neighboring Guinea. Surely, the people of Sierra Leone will not accept the explanation of how the driver of the vehicle carrying that deadly cargo escaped from the police net.
In fact, we can’t understand why those who we believe supervised that escape are still in office telling us they were combing the whole district to re-arrest the man. What kind of a joke is that? We have to now ask Sovula to find and arrest that driver before the end of this week because he is sheltering people who should be answering serious questions.
We always consider Guinea as a friendly nation but the way they deal with serious matters concerning Sierra Leone should get us all thinking. As we write there are Sierra Leoneans in Guinean jails arrested ahead of elections in that country, accused of attempting to subvert the state. As far as we know, they had zero arms and ammunition. They were simply arrested on suspicion, hurriedly tried and thrown into prison. How can that same country allow people to drive such unauthorized ammunition through their territory into Sierra Leone? This is not the first time such a thing has happened. Imagine the Guineans intercepting such items from across the border in Sierra Leone. They will close their border and accuse Kotor Juldeh of trying to destabilize their country. Principal will be forced to go to Guinea for another summit with Professor Conde.
The way they are treating this country is unfair and we should let them know that.
NEW CHIEF MINISTER PRESSING THE FLESH IN THE COUNTRYSIDE
Substantial change has come to the office of Chief Minister with the coming of JJ Blood to that high office. He started out by killing the idea of that office being a stand alone, very powerful place almost at par or slightly above the office of the Vice President. He told the world he works inside the office of the president. JJ Blood is not presidential like the old guy and as far as we know he is not trying to carve out any district in this country in his likeness and image to use as a base for some fantasy political project in this country after Principal. He has also never asked Principal to tell his appointees and MPs from any particular district to look up to him (JJ Blood) as their political godfather. So JJ Blood is a different sort of guy in the office of Chief Minister.
Now, apart from visiting various Ministries, Departments and Agencies to try and push them hard to deliver the New Direction manifesto, JJ Blood has been going around the country pressing the flesh. And he is not just meeting local authorities and special interest groups, he is also meeting ordinary young people on the streets, in their ghettos, places the old guy went sparingly. The style has changed dramatically.
Maybe this new approach is a good thing. We know that there are many in Green Movement heartlands who had become disillusioned with the way things are going in the movement just after three years at State House. A good many understand the challenges of running a country like this with all the high expectations but they were just fed up with being ignored by their own movement and with diasporans who are carrying their return tickets in their back pockets taking more than half of the good jobs and moving around like Roman Conquerors.
We only hope JJ Blood is communicating well with those visits because the last thing the Green Movement wants over the next two years is for them to be pushed on the defensive in their own backyard.
THE WORLD SHOULD WAKE UP NOW TO THE CRISIS IN HAITI
Frankly, what happened in Haiti is a disgrace and the world should be prepared for the consequences. How was it possible that a group of mercenaries hired to kill the president of Haiti entered that country, overpowered the guards and killed the president? Let nobody tell us there was no local element to this plot.
The world has been told that some of the mercenaries are retired soldiers from Columbia and people from other countries. The UN must put that Haiti cholera nightmare behind them and get to the bottom of this. Crowds are gathering outside the US embassy looking for a way to get out and Haitians want the UN to send soldiers to secure their country. So far, there is no sign the US or the UN will put boots on the ground.
Many people around the world actually saw this notoriously unstable country descending into total political chaos, resulting in killings and destruction of property months ago. The outside world largely turned a blind eye apart from the occasional statements calling for dialogue and peace. It’s almost as if everything is going against that small and desperately poor country. Haiti needs help.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online 12/07/21
