ELECTION 2023 DATES ANNOUNCED
It’s now official that barring some national catastrophe, Sierra Leoneans would vote in a number of elections in the middle of next year. We will choose our leaders at all levels – from our villages, chiefdoms right up to parliament and State House. The National Electoral Commission or NEC has a lot of work to do, political parties have a lot of work to do, in fact all the people of Sierra Leone and our friends and so-called development partners have a lot of work to do.
The announcement of the dates ended all the speculation in the media and bars and street corners. We can only imagine what the next TWELVE months would look like as politicians go all over the country canvassing for votes. The opposition cannot wait to enter the State House while the ruling party tries to stay in office. Sierra Leone is a democracy so let’s play on. More than any other leader in recent times, Principal is seeking to run on his record in office with an eye on his call to a New Direction and his TOK en DO idea.
We already have a fair idea how the main opposition wants to proceed with their campaign. We expect them to attack everything including the very idea of a New Direction and indeed whether anything changed for the better in Sierra Leone since they left the State House. It will be up to the good people of Sierra Leone to decide how to vote.
All we call for now is for all to conduct themselves within the law. Elections are not a declaration of war. From our corner we intend to keep the spotlight on the campaign. We will call out politicians in particular and others seeking to ferment trouble should they lose. In elections there are always winners and losers.
SCHOOL SPORTS AND THANKSGIVING PROGRAMS ARE TOO EXPENSIVE
There’s a sense in which school sports and thanksgiving programs are becoming oppressive. While the government is doing so much to lower the cost of getting children through school without having to sacrifice other services at home, we have noticed that normal athletics sport meetings and thanksgiving services are beginning to drain money out of parents in unprecedented ways.
To be fair to the schools, a lot of that extra money that parents spend could rightly be described as self-inflicted expenditures. We however believe that the schools have a role to play to stop parents from going overboard for such routine items on the school calendar. We describe such extra spending as self-inflicted for the following reasons.
1. Instead of simply attending religious services and standing at strategic locations along the route of a march to cheer their children on, parents now go to their meetings with school authorities and insist on having a band set or two exclusively for them so that they can join the march. From what we’ve seen they don’t really march in any order, they dance along throughout creating their own spectacle. What’s all that about?
2. School athletics meetings have now become some kind of carnival. The parents behave in the same way they now treat NPSE exams. They prepare a lot of food and drinks and overwhelm the children. There is nothing wrong with getting basic drinks and snacks for the little ones but such elaborate preparations are totally unnecessary.
3. We believe we should also say this: if parents believe that they must make a carnival of every school activity then they should be ready to spend their own money. This idea of printing envelopes and attempting to take money from other people for this kind of carnival is wrong. It is very wrong. It must stop NOW.
IS IT FOREIGN MINISTRY UPDATE OR FOREIGN MINISTER’S UPDATE?
We’ve been waiting patiently to see if the online news bulletin called FOREIGN AFFAIRS UPDATE introduced to the good people of Sierra Leone in the weeks following the deployment of Prof. Franco to that ministry would actually live up to its title but it would appear as if we will not be having any joy on that front.
Let’s make the following comments about the bulletin before we proceed. We congratulate the ministry for initiating it to keep us in touch with a ministry that is otherwise not always present on the ground in Freetown in terms of their activities. The bulletin is fairly regular and well written. We now move to the issue at the heart of this small write up: We believe that the bulletin is not a real FOREIGN MINISTRY UPDATE. It is a FOREIGN MINISTER’S UPDATE.
There is no doubt that a bulletin like that would surely be dominated by the minister himself, especially a minister like this who enjoys positive portrayals in the media more than anything else but for it to be called TRUE Foreign Ministry update, it must from time to time tell us about the work of all the departments in that ministry. Let’s not create the impression as if the minister is the only guy on the ground there.
We have seen a few sentences about Principal but Pro. Franco wants to be on the front pages daily, especially if we are shown pictures of him meeting this King or that Prime Minister. That’s what foreign ministers do but we deserve a rounded update on what is happening in that ministry. We wish the editors well.
Anyway, we expect Old Chief Minister Prof. Franco to fight our suggestion. We are happy to have put it on record.
Long live the Foreign Minister of the sovereign state of Sierra Leone.
EPL REFEREES APOLOGIZE FOR BLUNDER BUT IN SALONE???
Let’s go straight to our main concern here. The Referee’s Association of England has apologized to Everton Football Club for stealing at least ONE point from them from their match against Manchester City. A clear penalty resulting from a Man City player handling the ball in his 18 yard box was ruled out even after close examination by a ridiculous technology called VAR. Those of us who watched the match that day also felt robbed. Everton had played a fantastic game against Great Man City and looked certain to draw level from the box a few minutes after conceding a rather cheap goal.
We urge Everton to graciously accept the apology from Mike Riley on behalf of his colleagues, ESPECIALLY those on VAR duty for that match. It was a real shame to miss or pretend to miss that clear hand ball.
We are talking about English football here at this time because in this country our REFEREES have never apologized to clubs for bad officiating. They never do. Their favorite way of doing things is to be defensive and to commit more acts of cheating against clubs that protest a lot. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. They are destroying the beautiful game at home by the collective force of ARROGANCE and INCOMPETENCE. Some in the game have accused them of corruption. We have no evidence of that at this time but we serve notice that we have started digging. If something comes up we will bring it to the attention of our people.
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