FUEL IS 18 GRAND PER LITRE: WE SURVIVE ANOTHER AMBUSH
It was clear for all to see that the government was under serious pressure from its international friends, particularly the IMF to pull back from the subsidy it had put in place to keep the price of petroleum products at FIFTEEN GRAND a liter. They were also definitely under pressure from the greedy OIL MARKETERS of Salone. Left with the latter we would now be at TWENTY-ONE grand a liter. In the meantime ordinary folks carried on as usual trying to stay afloat.
So here's how things played out: going home one evening we saw queues forming at petrol stations, the day before we read bits and pieces about an IMF mission report on the country’s economy after their latest visit, we called our colleagues in other parts of the country and the story was the same – fuel station had stopped selling, the same evening we saw a document released on social media comparing fuel price in this land that we love to that of neighboring countries. The document came from the Petroleum Regulatory Agency. All the chips were now in place. Queues grew longer the following day as the people prepared to watch the national football team play Nigeria in Abuja.
As soon as the match got underway, the deputy trade minister announced the new price. What a way to bury bad news. Nice try but this was not very clever. Signs of an increase were all over the place since that PRA document was published and then that coordinated closure of petrol stations took place. So what was the drama all about?
The world is learning some serious lessons from the war between Russia and Ukraine. Maybe there are things the world could have done to stop Russia from crossing the border. Now little Sierra Leone, so far away is paying a heavy price. We cannot tell anybody that we will not be talking about TWENTY-ONE thousand Leones in the next six weeks. Things are that fluid.
WHAT’S THE STORY BETWEEN JOHN KEISTER AND MUSA TOMBO?
John Keister has in the past denied there was a rift between himself and Musa Tombo, the player who just won the award for the highest goal scorer in our national league. Keister comes across as an honest and professional coach but we are now finding it increasingly difficult, almost impossible to explain why he treats Tombo like a beginner every time they are on international assignment. Tombo is normally not selected at all or he is put on the bench. When he starts a game he gets substituted just when he begins to impact the game. There is definitely something Keister should explain to us regarding Tombo.
This is a debate we didn’t want to start at a time like this when the national team is on assignment, in fact we thought Keister had a reset after the last AfCON but what we witnessed against Nigeria last week compels us to start talking now as we take to the field against Guinea Bissau, a very tricky opponent. We believe Tombo must always play full time. He is good and he makes or gets the goals himself.
Now let’s see if we can find any reason why Keister likes to keep Tombo on the bench.
1. We know Tombo is a difficult person to deal with. The whole country knows that. This is the guy who tells the managers of the national team to excuse him from training because he wants to go bury his uncle only to turn up at a rugged playing field to take part in a community league. Surely this doesn’t look good.
2. This is the guy who spends more time setting up controversies with women and splashing himself all over social media than taking part in training and abiding by ethical codes. He puts himself above camp rules.
3. Playing for one’s country is the highest honor footballers look forward to. Tombo himself told us he abandoned two contracts in Scandinavia to return home to play for Salone so why is he then behaving like a man being forced to be part of the national team?
4. Tombo has some strong arguments against him but when Sierra Leoneans watch the national team play without Tombo they don’t feel comfortable. The team belongs to the good people of Sierra Leone so why can’t Keister give us what we want?
5. Anyway, we will be watching the man today to see if this small write up has helped in any way to reset things.
OUR MPs SHOULD NOT JOKE WITH US ON THIS MONEY BILL
The Clerk of Parliament is telling us one thing about the bill seeking to put our MPs in a kind of financial heaven in and out of the House while the MPs are telling us something completely different. We are hearing that they are gearing up for a fight with the rest of us to get that bill through the House. We suggested to some of them the other day that the good people of Sierra Leone will hold Principal personally responsible if he signs off on that document to give it legal effect. Some of our MPs then countered by saying that should Principal refuse to sign they would use their powers to override the veto. We are waiting for that to happen because at that point the House would have set itself up against the people.
The point is that we have not interviewed anyone who hasn’t said that we should do a bit more to improve the welfare of our MPs. Many have complained about the timing of this bill and indeed some of the provisions in there. Above all, most people ask a simple question: is it not possible to have a bill that comprehensively deals with the salaries and conditions of service of the whole workforce? This will solve the problems of MPs challenging here, teachers striking there, lecturers gearing up for a fight and doctors and nurses warming up to join in.
With less than a year left to the end of their current mandate, a good number of these MPs know they will not be returning to Tower Hill so they want to prepare themselves a financial bed of roses to live happily ever after. We have no problem with that but we will not allow these guys to smuggle this bill through to take care of themselves while the rest of us continue to struggle.
ACC SCORPIONS AND THE SPECIAL EXAMINATION ROOMS
What else should the ACC do to stop WAEC examination papers leaking into so-called SPECIAL ROOMS set up by rogue school authorities and some university students? As far as we know NAMING AND SHAMING has failed. Those who set up the special rooms and the participants in that criminal enterprise are some of the most shameless people we’ve seen on earth. They surely need some really special treatment that can serve as an example to discourage other people from thinking about special rooms.
We believe some of the owners and participants in the special room project should be given a place to reside at Pademba road jail. We cannot continue like this.
We also believe that parents should be investigated to determine whether they are the ones that keep this Special Room idea alive by providing the cash to run the operations in the room. They are the ones who put so much pressure on themselves and their children that they end up facilitating a criminal enterprise.
The war against special rooms should go on throughout the country and let’s prosecute those we catch destroying the future of our children. The parents are the same people who would quickly stand in street corners criticizing the country’s education system that they helped destroy. Well done SCORPIONS!
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