POLICE INSPECTOR IMPERSONATES OLD CHIEF MINISTER
IG Sovula has a lot of work to do. No institution is perfect. We know that but the rate at which police officers are bringing the name of their institution into disrepute is alarming. We are troubled that even very senior officers are among those messing things up in our FORCE for GOOD. We are asking Sovula today to stop and think. Is there anything else to do apart from naming and shaming the officers who disgrace themselves and the institution all the time or sacking them in some cases?
We don’t have an answer to this question but as good citizens of this land that we love, we hope this will start a conversation on this issue of how police officers behave on duty and how that is damaging the image of the organization.
This week alone, we have read stories of a police officer having an affair with a woman detained in a cell for alleged murder, we have also read another story of a Police Inspector impersonating OLD CHIEF MINISTER and stealing money from an obviously greedy but unsuspecting business woman using a social media tool. We must confess that we are very scared about the way things are going in our Force for Good. We have a lot of respect for IG Sovula but he has to now stand firm not to go down in the book as the IG who stood by while his staff got away with murder.
In all of this the whole institution and the IG need help from other institutions and the general public.
1. What’s happening to those Police Partnership Boards and this whole idea of community policing? Again, we are not sure but we believe the boards are ineffective and community policing is beginning to look like something on paper only.
3. The Police CDDID is not inspiring confidence in anybody. And the senior guys in this Force for Good should stop bullying officers who decide to speak out on some of the ills in this institution. Let’s deal with the challenges they highlight and stop chasing them.
3. The Independent Police Complaints body should open up a bit more so we can see what they are doing behind their office walls. We don’t know if they have all the money they need, backed by trained and committed personnel.
WHY DID THE YOUNG MAN CLIMB THE COTTON TREE?
We have seen social media pictures of a young man being taken down from the Cotton Tree in the heart of the city with hundreds of people looking on in surprise. We have no idea what the man told the police when he reached ground. We thank all those who helped bring the man back from the sky. We don’t know if the police intend to prosecute him for that behavior or they will simply caution and send him home with a warning to SIN NO MORE.
From our corner, we have been trying to find out why the guy climbed the Cotton Tree.
1. They guy was totally fed up with hanging around the place begging people for food with mixed results. He wanted a quiet place of rest in very natural surroundings away from other human beings.
2. As we move toward Christmas, he wants to have a little chat with those bats that come to the Cotton Tree daily. He could have easily brought back a bag full of bats to keep him going for a few days at least.
3. He was trying to get a better view of Freetown while searching for the secret code to help him break out of the poverty trap. Somebody told him the code is hidden in that tree. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find it before the police and others disrupted his mission to find the Holy Grail.
4. Actually, he was high on Kush and had no idea he had managed to climb the historic Cotton Tree. He only realized he had done something extremely stupid when the Kush left his system several hours after he landed on our planet.
SALONE ATTITUDE AND COMBATING FUTURE DISASTERS
There is a general trend in this country in particular for people to blame the government for everything that goes wrong even within their household. They will always take personal credit when the sun shines on them. Anyway, governments get involved in a lot of things so they should be ready to accept anything. Our concern here is how we protect ourselves from disasters. We now know that we are living in a country where disaster strikes from time to time.
1. Let’s think twice about trying to build dwellings in every little corner. How can anybody explain the fact that thousands of people have migrated from their decent communities in rural Sierra Leone and settled in slums around Freetown? When rising sea levels or fire destroys those places politicians become celebrities in front of cameras donating and of rice and soap. The affected people dance and clap and in a few days the suffering resumes.
2. Let’s also think twice about building houses on the hills on one side of Freetown. Despite several warnings people are still recklessly constructing shacks on the hills. When a government agency moves in to demolish those dangerous dwellings, we hear cries of highhandedness and bullying. When disaster strikes and people perish, the government is again blamed for not clearing the place. We can’t have it both ways guys.
3. As for our governments, this idea that to win an election in Sierra Leone a political party should help people do whatever they like – street trading, building in prohibited areas, avoiding taxes and engaging in all round lawlessness is wrong, wrong, wrong. The majority of Sierra Leoneans are getting fed up with this and soon they will be forced to make that clear at the ballot box. It will be a battle between parties that would allow anything for votes and those who would stand for something and face the consequences. The latter would win hands down.
Copyright © Politico Online 17/11/21
