DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD IN THE ERA OF XENOPHOBIC VIOLENCE
We have to be honest with ourselves that the yearly observance of the Day of the African Child with all kinds of activities has lost steam. Yes it has. This is a day normally observed throughout the continent to call attention to the massacre of our children by the former apartheid regime in the OLD SOUTH AFRICA. The children were protesting for rights that the rest of Africa took for granted within our own borders.
Yesterday, we witnessed street parades of school children in some places around the country but nothing on the scale of what we did in the mid-90s up to a decade or so later. The reason is that the way things are playing out now in the so-called new South Africa is totally disgusting to people in the rest of the continent. We have to make the point that we do not think xenophobia is encouraged by the government or the main opposition parties but we have seen on TV our African brothers and sisters being killed just because they moved into that country either fleeing persecution or war or in search of better economic opportunities. Meanwhile people from other parts of the world are busy having it nice out there. Why pick on your own brothers and sisters?
We know some opposition parties that are standing with the so-called MakwereKwere - a derogatory reference to economic migrants in SA have been threatened with punishment at the polls but we will pray for God to be with them. We want to resume big Day of the Africa child celebrations but on the following conditions:
1. Stop referring to your African brothers and sisters as Makwerekwere. They all have names. What do you call other people in that same category from Europe, Asia and America?
2. End the so-called Operation Dudula immediately and issue an unreserved apology to all those that have suffered from this criminal operation.
3. Stop issuing visas to African people wanting to visit that country. In fact we expect SA to play a leadership role in the African Union to make all African countries visa-free for Africans.
4. On our part we will do our best to prevent criminals in our countries from traveling to SA. They are giving us a bad and creating the excuse for wicked people to capitalize on their behavior and harass our people. Amandla, Ngawethu!
OUR MPs HAVE NO REGRETS OVER THEIR WELFARE BILL
Kothor IB of Tolongbo was on the front page of at least three newspapers this week for comments he made about the so-called MPs Welfare Bill. This is a man we don’t like having big arguments with on national issues because he was part of us and may one day return to this little corner of the world before the final call comes through. All we can say is that we have noted his statement in the House.
So, on this Welfare Bill we have to tell our MPs that they’ve been very unfair with us and they should expect us to be angry. On the one hand the Clerk of Parliament went on local and international media to tell the world that the bill which was leaked on social media was not before them and so was a non-issue. Next day, some MPs also went on radio stations in Freetown to say that they were all fully aware of the bill and they intend to pass it into law. Few days later, the MPs discuss the bill in parliament and they all absolutely agree on the proposed welfare package - in one of those rare moments when both opposition and ruling party MPs agree on everything.
We want to go on record again to say that we have nothing against people calling for better pay and conditions. We supported the teachers who just reached an agreement with teachers on their welfare. What we don’t want is for MPs of all people to seek only their own welfare leaving out the rest of society. What were they thinking when they conceived this idea?
Can the MPs, particularly those on the government side tell us the status of the bill for the establishment of the Salaries and Wages Commission? We paid big money to a Ghanaian expert to help out. His work is completed but that bill is not before parliament even at this moment. All we see is this separatist bill that cuts out the rest of society.
Going ahead with this bill sets parliament up against the people and we will begin our fight back with an urgent call on Principal not to ever think about signing this bill into law. We will oppose it until June 2023.
OKADA TOUTS AT FBC - MODEL JUNCTION SHOULD LEAVE
If you are driving to Model Junction on the Hillside bypass road, driving to the east from Dwazark Junction you will see a group of young men to your right and dozens of motorcycles taxis behind them. Those young people are engaged in a very dangerous struggle for passengers for those OKADAS for a small commission. It’s from what they collect on that road that they survive so we understand why they are so desperate and reckless.
Hundreds of people from the mountain villages of Leicester, Regent and Gloucester and hundreds of FBC students assemble in that place in the morning and evening to commute to work and school and the way the OKADA touts go about getting them into their taxis or on the back of their OKADAS is dangerous. The boys operate in the middle of the main road and in some cases literally pluck people from the back of one OKADA to the other.
We hope it never happens but the day a vehicle malfunctions on approach to Model Junction from Albert Academy, we will be in for something very serious. The whole Model Junction area is becoming a totally impossible place.
We see police officers around with some Road Safety Corp but we don’t think that bringing order to that place is what they are trying to achieve. We are told FCC workers also collect dues from traders.
We’ve been calling attention to various issues around Model Junction on the Hillside bypass road. We are happy to be ignored once again because sometimes it feels really good to come back and say WE TOLD YOU SO.
FCC AND THE SERIOUS MATTER OF PUBLIC TOILETS
A frequent Western visitor to Sierra Leone has always stated that the country has all it takes to become a tourist paradise but highlighted a number of areas we need to address properly to make it happen. And one particular fault line he mentioned was the lack of public toilets in the city. We cannot agree more with his viewpoint. Let’s forget about tourists in the first place; public toilets are a must in cities and towns in even developed countries these days. One can count the public toilets within the business district area of this our capital and they are not hygienic at all.
Also in visiting any of them you are in the first place put off by the often thuggish and intimidating looking men in care of those places. Which woman would dare go to such toilets with all the ever growing reported incidences of gender based sexual violence. The conditions at those public toilets are a smack on the face of basic hygiene. Imagine the much vaunted desire for a tourist influx and the embarrassing state of no good public toilet in downtown Freetown. Even citizens coming to town often face very uncomfortable experiences to attend to nature’s call. Some are even turned away when in desperation they go to private residences to ease themselves.
Clean and safe public toilets must be seen all over Freetown. We hope public toilets are an integral component of the much publicized Council plan to transform Freetown.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (17/06/22)
