LIBYA AFTER COL. GHADAFFI GETS A BIT OF EVERYTHING
The great country of Libya is in mourning. More than TEN thousand people are dead. They were swept away by flash floods. The damage is enormous and would require billions of dollars and years of consistent hard work to restore to pre-flood level. Our hearts go out to the families of those who perished and we pray that God would take control of their circumstances.
The story of Libya after the brutal killing of long term leader Col. Muhammar Ghadaffi is a pathetic tale of war, destruction and unnecessary suffering of a people that enjoyed stability and reasonable prosperity in the troubled continent of Africa for decades. It is interesting to know how ordinary Libyans will react to a poll asking if they would prefer a return to the days of the Col. Ghadaffi. Given all that is happening here now, we make bold to suggest that many will look back to the days of the brother leader with a sense of nostalgia. Many in the rest of Africa are already beginning to cry for the man.
Make no mistake, Col. Ghadaffi was a dictator who ruled with an iron fist but his social programs in Libya were good for his people. Since he was captured and killed during that country’s civil war, a war, the course of which was heavily influenced from outside, Libya and Africa as a whole have suffered.
1. Like Somalia, Libya is now divided into many parts with warlords and tribal militia in control. The internationally recognized government is based in Tripoli and surrounding areas. They are kept there by a mix of international forces and mercenaries from everywhere.
2. The Sahel in Africa is now awash with heavily-armed criminals trying to overthrow the governments of all the countries in that region. Those fighters were kept happy by Col. Ghadaffi.
3. These days African leaders have lost their pot of gold. Col. Ghadaffi was a generous man. The African Union was unable to protect him against the big powers but the continent remains grateful to him.
The wise ones have always warned us to be careful what we wish for. God bless Libya.
GoSL AND TOLONGBO NEGOTIATING FOR PEACE
Suddenly things have gone quiet around the negotiation between the government of Sierra Leone and Tolongbo. The guys in RED have refused to take part in any form of governance since they were defeated in the last elections. They believe they were cheated. They even closed their office in Freetown and probably switched their phones off. They later agreed to talk to the government of Sierra Leone but only if foreigners were involved. They may not have said so in as many words but Tolongbo has reached a point now where they trust only themselves and foreigners.
The current talks are coordinated by our own Peace Commission but with the Commonwealth, the African Union and ECOWAS playing a big role. After the first meetings with so-called stakeholders including King Messi in fortress Makeni with pictures splashed across social media, the country has been in the dark about the details of what was being negotiated or things agreed on. We know that sometimes it helps to keep the public out when the real issues come on the table but by Tolongbo standards the silence is becoming worrying.
Tolongbo is definitely tired of staying out of government. They want to take their seats in parliament and run the councils they won at the last elections but to do that now they have to take something to their people. By the time parliament resumes, they should have declared some sort of victory from these talks and resume work or there is the risk that a good many of their elected MPs would abandon the boycott and join Hon. Mohamed Bangura.
The GoSL needs to have opposition voices in parliament and local councils to end the political tension and concentrate on their programmess. So the people of Sierra Leone are waiting to hear from the Peace Commission and their allies. Why can’t the Peace Commission issue periodic updates on these negotiations?
EVERTON FC SOLD BUT MANCHESTER UNITED STILL IN LIMBO
Everton Football Club may be doing badly on the field these days and on the strength of what we have seen after four games of the season, they look like strong candidates for relegation but they have achieved something that their big neighbors have been struggling with.
The owner, Farhard Moshiri has sold the club to an American group to cut his losses and save Everton the disgrace of being relegated from the EPL. Slowly but surely American business concerns are trying to take over all the clubs in the EPL, certainly some of the really big ones have been taken over by Americans.
We don’t know how this new business plan will unfold at Goodison Park because the euphoria that is now being generated around the club may soon evaporate like it happened at Manchester United. Fans of Everton are looking for investment in players and the facilities so the club can pull away from the relegation zone.
The owners of Manchester United put the club up for sale more than a year ago and since then they’ve been playing around with the two groups that have submitted bids – one moment the deal is done, next minute the deal is off or is being postponed. While all of this is going on the facilities at Old Trafford that Cristiano Ronaldo complained so much about continues to deteriorate, the club is in debt and crucially, performance on the field is patchy and uncertain.
We wish Everton well as they take this step into the future. We think that once this deal is complete they should sack Sean Dyche because of his small team mentality and send those average players away.
SO THE BIRD OF THE NIGHT ACTUALLY VISITED DR. OWIZZ?
Is it true that the nation’s lead Pathologist was attacked by an OWL? We read this intriguing story on social media and since then social media has been active, discussing the issue and giving it all sorts of interpretation. The report says that a state prosecutor told a magistrate that Dr. OWIZZ had failed to appear and testify as he always does in murder trials because he was attacked by an OWL.
According to the report, a family member told the lawyer that the good doctor was receiving traditional treatment as somebody was trying to stop him testifying in a murder trial and that person may have used mystical powers to manipulate the bird of night to attack Dr. OWIZZ.
We don’t normally get involved in discussions about mystical powers or those kinds of things but this story is really interesting. We have some questions to ask because those who wrote the news item left out some details.
1. We wish Dr. OWIZZ well in his traditional treatment but where was he when this bird that is only seen at night attacked him? The last time we saw an owl was at 2am during a rainstorm about TEN years ago.
2. Did the incident take place in Freetown? We ask because owls rarely show up in Freetown these days.
3. Why does our good doctor think only traditional medicine can cure him after that attack?
4. Isn’t it the case that the bird may have strayed from its natural habitat and thought he was about to be attacked by Dr. Owizz and therefore defended itself? We are trying to understand this mystical slant now being given to the story.
5. Anyway, until we get more clarity on the issue, we wish Dr. Owizz all the best. He is a very important man in this country. We want him to continue working for the good people of this country.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (18/09/23)
