UK GOVERNMENT’S ASYLUM PROGRAM SUFFERS MAJOR LEGAL DEFEAT
The British government is putting a brave face to the defeat they suffered in the Supreme Court on Tuesday over their plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing but that program has suffered a serious setback. Prime Minister Sunak told parliament his government will take action to make sure the flights to Rwanda take off next spring. We are watching the next moves with interest because from the outset we sided with those campaigners who thought the whole thing was unlawful and in any case a very bad idea.
To be clear, we are not against Britain taking action to stop people reaching their shores illegally, using boats from across the Channel in France. We have a big problem with the idea of Sunak shipping his problem overseas instead of dealing with it swiftly at home and above all sending people fleeing persecution to a country like Rwanda.
We are not clear about what would happen to those whose claim for asylum is denied. We suspect they would face REFOULEMENT – they would be forcefully returned to a country where they may be persecuted. Think about Eritrea in the horn of Africa.
1. Rwanda has achieved a lot since the genocide and they display that using a sophisticated media operation but this is the country where President Paul Kagame gets 90% or more in all elections and has been in power for TWENTY years.
2. Political opponents are attacked, jailed or killed at home or in other African countries
3. Others are deceitfully flown into the hands of Kagame by plane from so-called safe havens and given lengthy jail terms.
4. Critical media are driven underground or chased out. Why would Britain put so much faith in a country with indicators to respect the rights of refugees and asylum seekers? Sunak may be getting ready to fight another day but that policy will not succeed. By the way, displaced Palestinians are on their way, by boat or whatever means. Let’s stop wars, political intimidation and poverty in particular and many would have no reason to flee.
WOULD OUR OLD LEONES BE GONE BY 31st DECEMBER THIS YEAR?
The new Governor of our Central Bank has told parliament that the OLD LEONE notes would cease to be legal tender in this country after the 31st of DECEMBER 2023. We have had such statements before when the Professor from Greeley was in the chair and Governor Stevo should understand why many Sierra Leoneans think this is basically another grandstanding and phasing out the old notes would be shifted again in the coming weeks. It’s up to Stevo now to prove us wrong and on Jan 1st 2024 we will congratulate to pulling this off and wish him a happy New Year. Towards
As we work towards this deadline Stevo must make sure that adequate preparation is made so that we can go to any commercial bank and deposit our old notes and pick up the new ones. In fact as from now, banks should STOP giving out old notes.
One other thing sir, please tell the commercial banks to stop giving us bundles of money that are always short. Many Sierra Leoneans have complained about this but they have been dismissed as liars. We know the Central Bank charges commercial banks heavily for that but ordinary people like us are powerless against them. We need the help of our Central Bank. It is so cruel for a bundle of 20 Leone notes that is supposed to amount to 1000 Leones to be short but THREE or even ONE note. Why should that happen?
NOT BAD LEONE STARS BUT THE EGYPTIANS ARE COMING
To be honest with ourselves, the draw with Ethiopia was boring. It’s a match we could have easily won but let’s not focus too much on that now because we have a bigger task at hand. We are due to meet Mohamed Salah’s Egypt this weekend in Monrovia. That’s our home stadium because Siaka Steven Stadium is under renovation.
Egypt is a powerful country with a proud history in African football but we’ve gone up against them in the past and it’s a fact that we didn’t disgrace ourselves so we are ready to take them on again.
There are a few issues to consider as we fly into Monrovia:
1. A very tight presidential race is taking place and may be decided by a few votes on the day we land. How that might affect the match is something we cannot now predict. Whether the result is announced on that day or not the atmosphere in Liberia even now is not very country conducive and may turn scary if the results are declared while we are on the field or just before kickoff.
2. There is a big Sierra Leonean migrant community in that country that may want to turn out to watch and some are traveling across the border on the eve of the match. We urge our people to be careful and concentrate on the match. They either return home to Sierra Leone immediately after the match or stay in their hotels while coordinating with our embassy there.
3. The Egyptians have big stars that are in that team only because they are serving their country. They would ideally prefer to be with their big European clubs where they make huge amounts of money. They are afraid of being injured. We have nothing to lose. Let’s play the game.
PLEASE TALK TO US ABOUT THE REMAINS OF THE COTTON TREE?
If we can recall well what happened a day or after the famous Cotton Tree in the heart of Freetown collapsed in a heavy rainstorm, we were promised a national conversation to determine what to do next about the section of the tree still standing or any other thing great for that area of our city. In fact even before that official promise was made, Sierra Leoneans were already on social media with ideas of what should be done.
The elections are now over and all that nice talk about consulting the people about this and that appears to have been pushed back into the long grass, meanwhile the wreck of a Cotton Tree is still there and even with Mayor Kemokai back in the chair, she hasn’t said a word about the tree she professed so much love for as the elections approached several months back.
What we are doing here today is to remind all sides in this discussion – the government of Principal, the FCC and the good people of Sierra Leone in general that we will not allow this idea to remain in that long grass until May 2028 for people to start going to social media to sign the praise of the Cotton Tree. Therefore, here are few ideas we want to put forward:
1. Let’s uproot what is left of that Cotton Tree and build a nice fountain on the site and install a memorial there of our slave relatives and their attachment to the tree.
2. We can simply clear the place and widen the roads in that area of Freetown and move on.
3. We can consider asking for help to get the tree to grow again and provide home bats and shade for beggars and lunatics.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (17/11/23)
