CORRECTIONAL SERVICE NEEDS MORE THAN A GOOD CLEANING-UP
Since the disastrous attempted jailbreak and seemingly coordinated attacks on police stations and other government facilities in at least four areas in the country, the government has moved decisively towards turning things around in the police force. Police officers who were in command responsibility when that horrific violence took place in the northern town of Lunsar have either been sacked or transferred to other locations. Last week the Deputy Inspector General and four other high-ranking officers were given early retirement as the cleanup of the FORCE FOR GOOD intensifies.
The concern now remains thus: what happens to the so-called Correctional Service. We understand that an inquiry is underway to determine why they failed so spectacularly to have prevented or stopped that much-publicized attack on the Pademba Road prison facility before the destruction was let loose. We don’t believe people should be responding to all madness on social media but we have reason to believe that very little or nothing was done in a practical way to deal with that persistent and specific threat against Pademba Road jail by known criminals. We haven’t seen the terms of reference of that inquiry nor the names of those doing the job. But we are eagerly waiting for their report which MUST be made public and with a short time mandate.
While we wait for that, we have to put some points about that so-called Correctional Service on record.
1. We believe that those in command responsibility in that department who failed to act on such open intelligence and save the country from the destruction should either be sacked or retired pronto.
2. Let’s be honest, staff morale is at rock bottom in that place. The quality of the uniforms of the average Correctional Service officer and their living quarters tell a good story about the conditions of service of those people. This is very serious.
3. Some of those officers depend so much on money they get from relatives of prisoners or people on remand that they can do anything to maintain that lifeline. We are talking particularly about those officers who take detainees to and from the courts. Maybe we should give that job to a respectable private security agency. It’s done in other countries.
4. We call Pademba Road jail a maximum security facility but it was only after the place was set on fire recently that the military hurriedly built watch towers in strategic places around the prison. Look at something as basic as that for a so-called high security prison.
5. We have no choice now but to move this facility from its current location and if we have to go look for money abroad to do that let’s do it. We can make that part of the package for Correctional Service reforms. We have talked too much about the relocation of this prison. We MUST now deliver it.
PAYMENT FOR COVID 19 WORKERS READY AT LAST
Did it really have to take a local and international media outcry for the Ministry of Health to finally get its acts together and announce that payment approved for COVID 19 workers will be made this week? We are not in government and may not have all the details about how things work from the outside, but the way things happen sometimes leaves us very disappointed at some people holding offices of state. And some of them have been in government service all their lives such that they are beginning to look like the only people in this country.
The whole country has been reading statement after statement from the Ministry of Finance about the amount of money available to the EOC for the fight against COVID-19. There’s been no secrecy about the accounts. This is why we were all shocked to hear the outcry from contractors serving quarantine facilities and health workers about the non-payment of monies due them. Suddenly we have a press statement from the Ministry of Health announcing that payment is ready. What has this ministry been doing all these weeks?
The last thing we want is for those health workers who have put the lives on the line to fight this virus to be disillusioned to the extent of giving up or doing a sloppy job with disastrous consequences for the nation. We hope this is the last time we will hear such outcry before COVID-19 is defeated hopefully soon.
PRINCIPAL WHERE IS YOUR RED CARD SIR? 2020 IS ALMOST HALF WAY GONE
Yes we are fighting a deadly enemy called COVID-19. The whole world is fighting it and we believe we shall overcome. Having said that we wish to tell Principal that despite his Corona War, this was supposed to be his declared YEAR of DELIVERY – the year in which the New Direction turns things around dramatically from the sleepy and unproductive final years of King Messi.
When Principal took his ministers and Parastatal bosses to Bintumani hotel, he told them that he would brandish his RED CARD and remove non-performing guys from their positions without first warning them with a yellow card as football referees would do in most instances. Even in the current circumstances we expect Principal to brandish his RED CARD in a number of places.
1. Where is the RED CARD when a civil war is raging in the most troubled agency of government? We are talking about the Sierra Leone Maritime Administration where there have been suspensions and ACC investigations in the last two years. Why can’t Principal clean up this place once and for all?
2. Where is the RED CARD when some ministers spend a lot of time calling attention to themselves on social media instead of keeping their heads down to deliver on their assignments? Social media wars and Kung-Fu photos distract from the main agenda. Come on!
3. Where is the RED CARD when everybody knows that some dangerous and totally unnecessary turf wars are going on in the system, threatening to derail the New Direction train? Some people are foolishly territorial. Instead of doing their job, they are busy fighting for control.
4. Where is the RED CARD when we hear that some ministries and departments go to extraordinary lengths to get their parliament-approved subventions from the Finance Ministry? One agency boss told us that he had to call Principal himself before his subvention was released. Are we dreaming or what?
5. Where is the RED CARD when some departments and agencies have simply settled into their old ways of doing things? We were promised a NEW DIRECTION. Now, in some areas at least, it’s beginning to look like Déjà vu.
COWARDLY SLFA TAKES OUR CLUBS OUT OF CONTINENTAL COMPETITIONS
The queen has taken clubs from this country out of continental competitions with one cowardly stroke of her pen. The SLFA has announced that it intends to resume the national league in the post-COVID 19 period and is therefore unable to put teams forward for any continental competition. They waited for deadline day to make the decision so that they will not be challenged by the many people who believe we should have acted like the Dutch Football Association by halting the league and declaring Bo Rangers the winners with no relegations or promotions.
Our immediate reaction is that we may never return to that stadium for football with fans in the stands any time soon because of the nature of the COVID-19 problem the world is dealing with now. The SLFA has no control over when the restrictions will be lifted. The other point is that the league now on hold was really struggling for momentum in terms of match attendance; things will take a downward turn even further by the time the country opens up again.
Somebody told us the other day that if FC Johnsaen were leading the league at this time, the queen would have declared them winners for obvious reasons. She couldn’t care less about Bo Rangers. We can’t say one way or the other but taking us out of continental competition is very bad for our players and the local game. People in positions of trust should be strong in taking decisions. We can’t stand such cowardly and selfish behavior anymore. By the way is the SLFA leadership contest also on hold till the end of COVID-19? Isn’t the answer obvious, for an executive that has thrived on evading holding elections even without a pandemic! The current SLFA leadership will go down in history as the worst in its history, in more ways than one.
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