MEETING IN CONAKRY: NATIONAL SECURITY vs. ECOWAS SANCTIONS
Principal landed in Conakry, capital of the Republic of Guinea on Monday for talks with the military leader of that country. Guinea is in transition following a military take over that ousted ageing Prof. Condeh who forced his way to a THIRD TERM of office saying Guinea has never had a FORMER PRESIDENT because they all die in office. And for the records this was a professor trying to justify his continued stay in office beyond constitutional limits. Some of his compatriots who protested on the streets were shot and killed.
As always with such meetings the real details are left in the room where the two leaders engage. It’s a really sensitive affair because Guinea is under sanctions by ECOWAS and the AU. Principal has not said much since he returned to his office on Tuesday afternoon from that flying visit. He tweeted that the discussion centered on security between the two countries and that he will support the ECOWAS framework for constitutional order in Guinea. There’s still a lot of unpacking to do with that tweet but we will make do with that for now.
Guinea is a very important neighbor with a long and largely porous border, there are huge migrant communities on both sides and the volume of trade between our two countries continues to grow. We have to be very careful with the situation in Guinea and we are sure Principal will do nothing to annoy ECOWAS. In the pursuit of our national interest, we urge him to do whatever is possible.
BAI BUREH WARRIORS AND FOOTBALL HOOLIGANISM
Nobody wanted this to happen but here is a perfect opportunity for the SLFA to deal with violence in football once and for all. The pictures that came out of Portloko last Sunday evening showing a Bo Rangers player lying on the ground bloodied and with white bandage wrapped around his head were a real shame. This was the day on which Bai Bureh Warriors defeated Bo Rangers in the on-going Sierra Leone Premier League.
We find it almost impossible to believe that instead of celebrating their victory over one of the best teams in the league, fans of Bai Bureh Warriors decided to attack their opponents and wound one of them. Several hours later we didn’t hear any serious explanation of what happened from any Bai Bureh Warriors official. All we’ve heard are bits and pieces of perspectives from some of their supporters and they have so far not said anything to convince us they are serious about investigating this criminal act and helping the police prosecute those responsible.
The last time such violence happened at Portloko was when EE Lions played against Bai Bureh Warriors on that same ground: Lions supporters were accused of invading the pitch and attacking match officials following a penalty call against them. Lions were severely punished. As far as we know there was no bloodshed. Now, we believe that Bai Bureh Warriors should be made to answer very uncomfortable questions. It’s totally impossible for Bo Rangers supporters to wound their own player. Totally impossible!
We want to ask the SLFA to hire a security company to visit all football grounds in this country to assess the suitability of those venues to host any Premier League matches. We want all districts to have standard playing grounds for their home matches but if we cannot guarantee the safety of players, match officials and fans, what’s the point using those grounds? And this sending dozens of riot police on the pitch to accompany match officials to their dressing room is bad. When have we seen that in any English Premier League match? We have to grow up.
FC KALLON vs. EE LIONS: WHAT WENT WRONG WITH MATCH TICKETS?
A huge row has broken out between Premier League Clubs and the league organizing body, the Premier League Board over the handling of match tickets and the monies that come from the gates. It follows the big match last Saturday between FC Kallon and EE Lions at the Siaka Steven Stadium. Officials of the host team, FC Kallon are openly insinuating that something really smelly happened at the gates. They believe more than TWENTY THOUSAND people entered the stadium for that match but official figures showed that LESS THAN TEN THOUSAND tickets were sold.
In all of this, we understand that match tickets are always printed by the PLB and not the host clubs. On social media club executives are complaining. They want to be allowed to print and market their match tickets and then pay the PLB what is due them. Some PLB members have suggested that the current situation was agreed with the clubs at their several meetings before the commencement of the league. So what’s really going on?
Here’s what we can say about the match last Saturday:
1. There is absolutely no doubt that almost twenty thousand people entered that stadium to watch the match. The vast majority paid TWENTY THOUSAND LEONES. Some in the covered stand paid FIFTY THOUSAND LEONES.
2. The presidential pavilion is a disgrace. Only a handful of people pay anything to occupy a seat there. Yes, VIP guests are allowed free access but many other people find their way there paying NOTHING. That includes beggars. It was the same situation last Saturday.
3. We join FC Kallon to call for a thorough investigation of the whole issue. We are only holding back some names for now because of legal reasons but we will soon release those details. Actually, there will be few surprises because we have been down this road before with another prominent club. It’s just the PLB angle that we have received information on that might surprise some of our readers. Keep your eyes open as we investigate.
MAYOR AND THE BEGGARS NEAR THE COTTON TREE
We drive by the Cotton Tree daily and we have observed that the number of beggars near the historic Tree and those spreading up State Avenue leading to State House continues to grow with every passing day. It’s one of those sights we hate to see particularly in that part of Freetown. There are many reasons why we have so many of them in that area and in such locations across our major cities. It could well be that economic conditions have forced many people to take such desperate measures to survive or among those people are a hardcore who believe begging on the streets is easier than using their strength and talent to put food on their table.
We know that when Mayor Kemokai came to office she started a program aimed at getting the mostly disabled beggars off the streets and for a time their number was drastically reduced. Well, now we think it was a false situation because the numbers we see in this area alone tells a very bad story about how our Mayor is running this place. We’ve been looking around for information about that nine day wonder program that cleared our city center of beggars and it would appear as if nobody wants to talk to us about it. In this job we do, we are used to that kind of thing and we know why officials behave that way.
That cannot stop us making the following points anyway:
1. We just can’t have so many Sierra Leoneans coming to that place daily to beg. It’s a shame. We have to find a way to reduce that number by some carefully designed social intervention as a first step. And the FCC should lead this effort again but they should first tell the people of this country what happened to their earlier effort.
2. We have to be honest some of those people would still go to the Cotton Tree daily even if they were given accommodation at Hill Station with hot meals and small pocket money. We should be firm with that small number and make it legally impossible for them to continue begging on the streets.
3. We urge Mayor Kemokai to please always remember to send people to that Cotton Tree area daily to clean after our beggar compatriots. Many parts of this city are in a mess but let’s keep the Cotton Tree general area very CLEAN. Thank You Mayor Kemokai.
Copyright © Politico Online 13/10/21
