PRINCIPAL SAYS NO THIRD TERM AND NO ADDITIONAL TWO YEARS
Principal has moved to quell rumors mainly on social media that he intends to either seek a THIRD term or he is trying to add another two year to his current term. He told those reviewing our 1991 constitution that he wasn’t interested in either a third term or a two year extension taking us up to 2030.
Ideally, it makes a lot of sense to ignore such rumors and get on with the business of running the state but in these days of social media, a rumor like that can spread and lead to chaos. Any late explanation would be so late that people would be on the streets already. Even at this stage Principal should keep in mind that those who started the original rumor are almost certain to come back with the same information dressed up in a way to make it fresh and urgent.
We believe that those who started the rumor actually wanted to hear directly from Principal on those two issues.
1. A handful of presidents in Africa have either changed their country’s constitutions to keep themselves in office for a third or sometimes indefinite term limits or have simply extended their terms by a few years. There are many examples in our sub-region. So to that extent, we can understand their anxiety.
2. It was widely believed that King Messi was flirting with one of the two possibilities in 2017 but pulled back when he realized that the national mood was totally against him. Sierra Leone is no stranger to such uncertainty.
3. In ruling himself out of that third term idea, King Messi did say that if he wanted to do that, he would have done it and there was nothing the people could have done about it. Yes, he did say that.
4. It could also be that as soon as principal started talking about constitutional review, many people outside his movement concluded he had something up his sleeve. For now, we have no reason to doubt his sincerity but in this business, we are trained to keep our eyes open all the time and to read the small prints of documents.
GOVT. PERFORMANCE CONTRACT: THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAIL
Principal signed conformance contracts with his ministers on Friday at a big ceremony at State House. Our minds went back to the days when King Messi did the same but refused to include ordinary guys like us in the process of keeping the ministers committed to what they signed. We complained a lot but we were totally ignored.
Maybe this performance contract business came a bit too late because some ministers have been in office for more than six months already. It’s never late anyway because the way things are going paints a picture of some ministers having no idea what they should be doing in office. Why does it really feel as if there’s a standstill in some ministries?
Even in the last few weeks some ministers were paying so-called familiarization visits to agencies covered by their ministries while some are still having courtesy calls from this and that organization.
We have a simple request to make and we want Principal to consider it. We want him to publish all the contracts so we can see what ministries are supposed to deliver and within which timeline. The people of Sierra Leone have to be part of the monitoring process otherwise we will approach any report put out by the government after evaluating those performances as mere spin. King Messi found himself and performance monitoring charade in that position.
Anyway, for now we have a few points to put on record regarding this issue
1. We believe that some ministers had so strayed out of their job description that Principal had to act quickly to bring them back on track. For now we don’t want to point fingers at people but we will not restrain ourselves for much longer – certainly not beyond Christmas 2024.
2. Actually some ministers signed these documents so that their successors will implement them starting very soon. We hear from credible sources that Principal has prepared a BUMPER SHAKE UP. As usual, we are ready to report.
3. We call on ministers who know they cannot work under the new conditions to RESIGN NOW. No more excuses. There are many guys warming up. They were fed up with backbiting and complaining.
4. Principal must also ensure that the necessary resources are provided for ministries to deliver those vital public services. It’s one thing to sign contracts and quite another to provide the money required to carry out the tasks in a timely manner. These days we hear a lot about agencies not getting budgetary allocations for this or that quarter.
THE END OF AN ERA AT THE NATIONAL SPORT AUTHORITY
Kenneth Brima was out inspecting an artificial turf being spread in the Approved School community in the east of Freetown when a letter telling him his services were no longer required landed on his desk at the National Sport Authority. He returned from that pointless mission to face the shock – well, it really shouldn’t come as a shock because his dismissal was being openly discussed on social media for months now, especially after the June 2023 elections.
This guy was originally appointed as a Director at the Ministry of Sport before being sent over to head the new agency. In the next for weeks and months, information will be available to the public to prove that he was completely out of his depth in that place and many Sierra Leoneans consider him an extremely lucky guy to have survived so long.
Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai has taken over. In fact he should be in his office this morning to begin work. There is really no time to waste as the NSA under Kenneth Brima totally failed to do any serious work. Under him, the agency will be remembered for some of the following:
1. The NSA focused overwhelmingly on FOOTBALL. A case can be made for that because it is the most popular sport in Sierra Leone but other sports that brought laurels to Sierra Leone were unnecessarily sidelined.
2. Kenneth Brima and his henchmen inside the NSA put themselves in most, if not all football delegations traveling abroad. The call of per diem is a very powerful one.
3. The NSA squabbled a lot with their supervising ministry and the Football Association instead of constantly finding pathways to work together and produce results.
4. Let’s say money was not always available but where are the proposals for sport development in this country? How come the Bo stadium has deteriorated over time when this government pledged in 2018 to increase capacity out there?
Anyway, goodbye Kenneth. It’s possible Principal is thinking about recycling you into another position. We have seen that before, but in your case that Old, Old Chief Minister was sacked months ago making things a bit complicated. Go well sir!
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