LIKE UNESCO IN THE 80s LIKE W.H.O. IN 2020 AMERICA STRIKES?
More than THIRTY years after the United States, under a Republican president Ronald Reagan pulled out of the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO accusing the organization of having an anti-western bias, another Republican president Donald Trump has just withdrawn funding from the World Health Organization, accusing the body of bungling its response to the Coronavirus outbreak that has killed thousands.
Trump argues that WHO was too scared to call out China regarding their failings in the early days of the outbreak in Wuhan. Well, this is despite Trump himself praising China for making a good job of their initial response to what is now a pandemic. We now know that W.H.O has lost FIFTEEN percent of its annual budget. That is a serious position for the world to be in at a time who the Coronavirus is ravaging the world. So what next for W. H. O. and all other organizations that depend so heavily on American money? This is indeed the period of Donald Trump’s AMERICA FIRST policy? Somebody says the most foolish thing to do is to sack the Fire Service staff for being sloppy just as they arrive to put out a raging inferno at your house. Very bad timing!
1. We fear that as with UNESCO all those years ago, other major powers like the UK and some EU countries might just decide to pitch tent with The Don and cut funding to the organization. It is possible. We just want to raise a few issues.
2. What was W.H.O Director General Tedros Adhanon Ghebreyesus thinking when he decided to reply to The Don’s initial query so harshly? He may have struck a nice chord with the rest of the world while falling into a trap set in Washington. The lesson is this: when next you get a right hand jab from Washington go for the left uppercut. Don’t attempt to fight back - at least not on TV.
3. How come those who run the finances of W.H.O failed so badly to pass the budget breakdown to the Director General before the cameras started rolling at that news conference? Are they part of a plot to keep him out like Amadu Mathar Mbow of UNESCO in the 1980s? Had he seen that, he would have seen The Don over his shoulder wielding an axe.
4. So we have this idea: since the Director General was accused of siding with China, why can’t he ask the Chinese to fill that hole in the budget created by the withdrawal of America. They are rich. About FIVE PERCENT of Chinese debts in Africa alone can run W.H.O for a year while the world waits to see if Biden can do the job in November.
5. Maybe the most practical thing to do now in the light of the enormous task facing the W.H.O. as they fight diseases around the world will be for us all to throw the Director General overboard and accuse him of being China-centric. We will then appoint another person who will go see The Don, appear with him in the ROSE GARDEN and praise the great and famous man for his good job in the US. Hope somebody is taking us seriously.
SENDING SOME WORKERS HOME IS GOOD BUT THEY ARE NOT HAPPY
We’ve been calling for some civil servants at Youyi Building in particular to be sent home and be made to be working on alternate days as part of efforts to decongest the place as we fight the Coronavirus. We are happy that Principal has finally done it. We argued about three weeks ago that it was the most sensible thing to do given that people all over the world are being told to work from home except for the emergency services and other essential workers. Thank you Principal.
As we write this, we are getting reports that some of those civil servants who are now required to be working three days a week are very angry. They want to be allowed to remain in their offices. One of them told us they are probably being lined up for the sack. We really don’t know where they got that from because nobody is up for the sack under the initiative described. Maybe there are other reasons why people that should feel very happy about being sent home to rest while being paid are complaining all over the place, wanting to return. Here goes:
1. They know what they get from processing files daily. Ordinary Sierra Leoneans have to actually shake certain hands to get some jobs done. So yes, missing that is a serious matter.
2. Some of our civil servants are missing the daily interaction with their colleagues in those offices. They share food and gossip on a daily basis. How dare the Coronavirus take that away from them?
3. Some of them miss watching Nollywood movies on their official computers. It’s a common Practice.
4. Those offices are also big business places. They sell everything from food to textiles. They collect debts daily. All of that is impossible now with this decongestion strategy.
5. Frankly, some are tired with neighbors constantly asking them if they have been sacked. No explanation will hold back the curiosity of that inquisitive neighbor waiting to rejoice over the sacking of his next door friend. Pa Kabbah said SALONE MAN GET BAD HEART.
IS CHIEF SIDIKIE STILL DEMANDING THAT BIG ECOWAS COURT MONEY FROM GOVERNMENT?
Chief Sidikie has gone really quiet in the last few weeks. Has anybody seen the guy around? We ask because we’ve been waiting to see his official request to the government of Sierra Leone for the big money the ECOWAS Court granted him in that case against his buddy, King Messi of WUSUM STARS. One of his friends told us the chief has instructed his lawyers to file those papers and get the cash from our Consolidated Revenue Fund.
Now this is getting serious and as ordinary citizens of Sierra Leone we have to say what we have been saying all along that our country is broke and we have other priorities. In fact recent events having to do with Chief Sidikie and King Messi and the utterances of the chief after the verdict have helped us reach a decisive position on whether to pay even a penny to Chief Sidikie. The Coronavirus has compounded everything for Chief Sidikie. Here’s why.
1. We remember Chief Sidikie telling the world he wasn’t worried about money and that all he wanted was to have a verdict that says his dismissal was illegal. So why is he bothering the good people of Sierra Leone now with his outrageous cash demands?
2. We also know how many votes he stole from the Red Camp in particular by simply appearing to be the great statesman who was only after the truth and not cash. So why come back to us after two year? So this was really about the money all along?
3. We warn the Principal not to be stampeded into paying any money to Chief Sidikie considering the amount of money we need to meet our basic needs. How dare the Principal divert money meant for school feeding and fighting the Coronavirus to pay Chief Sidikie?
4. The disgraceful sacking of Chief Sidikie was not done in our name. This was an internal Red Camp sneeze that caused the rest of the country to catch a cold. So having returned to the Red Camp, why can’t the Chief ask King Messi to publicly apologize and pay the cash?
5. We know that Chief Sidikie needs hard cash to keep his NEVERLAND ESTATES running in both Freetown and Konoland but the people are definitely not interested in throwing bundles of cash at a problem created by one man playing God. Seriously chief, don’t you still have some money in the bank?
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