PARAN AND WIFE SHOULD PREPARE FOR HIGH COURT
We have been told by our usually impeccable sources that the Clerk of Parliament and possibly his dear wife will finally have their day in court next week. The two people have been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. In these days of social media that should be expected. As we write the clerk remains in office until next week when, according to our sources, an indictment will be issued and he will have to vacate the office and concentrate on clearing his name. That's what our sources have told us.
The social media trial has given opportunity to different groups to have their say – His political opponents have called for him to be sacked and tried for corruption. We don’t expect anything less from an opposition force. They are always looking to land punches on the government. Bloggers are also all over the place, clearly divided – some want him to simply leave Tower Hill and return to his village. Others are fighting on his behalf. They say he has been badly treated by those around him and all that. The most important trial however begins NEXT WEEK in the High Court of Sierra Leone.
Ben Keifala of the ACC has meanwhile indicated on radio that the investigation is almost complete. We suspect the trial will be quick. Today it’s Paran Tarawally, the clerk of the Sierra Leone parliament. Maybe we should now look throughout the public service and see who is doing what with their family members that may have crossed the legal line. Who knows?
Anyway, as usual we will be in court to cover proceedings. That’s what we are trained to do.
STOP MINI LEAGUE VIOLENCE BY ALL LAWFUL MEANS
We applaud the big guys at Central Police in Freetown for taking strong action to stop what was going to be a bloody on and off field battle between two communities in Freetown that have produced some of the best players in this country but are notorious for football hooliganism. We are told that supporters were already clashing and brandishing machetes in the build up to the match, forcing the Local Unit Commander to advise the organizers to postpone the match indefinitely. That was great.
The next move we applaud is the fact that the organizers, the community people and the police have met and discussed the issues and assurances have been given that the match can now go ahead in peace. As we say in journalism, we are watching that space.
The real point we want to make is that we have reached a point where we should decisively deal with this idea that we must settle every small issue with violence. The organizers of mini leagues across the city should work with the communities to gather intelligence for the benefit of the police to track down and put hooligans away for a long time. They can also approach the courts to stop known hooligans from attending the matches. It has been done in other countries and can be done here.
TOUGH DECISIONS AT USL BUT LET’S WAIT AND SEE
We have just read two announcements from Fourah Bay College. Our information is that both issues came out of the recent orientation program organized for about four thousand freshmen. We can only describe the announcements as interesting. The announcement about dress code we will not pay much attention to because we have read it a few times before now and FBC appears to have looked through their files just to say something about an issue they know has gone beyond their control.
Please don’t get us wrong, we stand with the college on this matter but we think this is an impossible task because there are other players in this effort to make University students look good on campuses who have abandoned their responsibilities.
THE STUDENTS – some have simply turned themselves into something else in terms of the way they dress to school and FBC doesn’t have the personnel and time to go chasing and taking action against the significant few who believe that attending lectures is the same as going to Lumley Beach.
PARENTS – All the students come from homes. Their parents have a responsibility to ensure that their children dress and behave like University students. We will not drill further into this.
SOCIETY – we live in a society where people think anything goes. To many people by even talking about this issue, FBC has committed a grave sin. This is what we have to deal with these days.
The other announcement about throwing first year students who fail to pass their exams out of college is fantastic. People have to treat their work with seriousness. Why have they been allowed to proceed to YEAR 2 with the challenge of clearing roadblocks from the first year?
Now, FBC has to make sure this decision stands at the end of the academic year. There is no point making decisions only to reverse them under pressure. The nation stands with FBC. We are complaining all over the place about falling standards. Here is an opportunity now to start reversing that trend. If FBC sails to implement this decision, they might as well give tryin to prepare the next generation of leaders.
SALONE IS NOT READY FOR AfCON
Elite African footballers from across the world have assembled in the Ivory Coast for the African Cup of Nations. Already we’ve seen some great football and the usual disappointment from familiar faces. These are early days in the tournament that should last a whole month.
We were in a public transport heading to the east of the city the other day when some football fans started talking about the fact that Leone Stars would have had a good showing at this AfCON and this and that. It’s not advisable to get involved in such uncontrolled arguments so we kept quiet and listened to all the people agreeing with each other that Sierra Leone is better than some of the countries that have so far taken to the pitch.
Patriotism or not, we beg to differ. The evidence of our inability to play and win matches at that level is all over the place in the shape of all the recent friendly matches we have played. Let’s not put them up again and bore our readers.
What we call the senior national football team is just experimental. We are going all over the world looking for Sierra Leoneans playing in all manner of leagues to encourage them to play for their country. For how long are we going to be doing that? The home-based squad is something else. We will not spend much time talking about the players in that squad because they are there because some big guys want them there for marketing purposes.
Our technical team is tired and bereft of new ideas and techniques. We changed John Keister but what we have now is a step below him. We warned against that appointment but many appointments in football and elsewhere make very little or no sense.
There is nothing wrong with us wishing to be at AfCON but we must back that up with real action on the ground in terms of investing more money to get a good squad, a squad selected for their competence and professionalism not because some administrator wants to market them to scouts for the rich leagues of Europe. For now, to dream about AfCON is a bit like letting off hot air.
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