OKADA AND KEKE RIDERS IN ANOTHER SENESSI LAND RAFFLE
Turad Senessi looks set to demonstrate yet again why many see him as a breath of fresh air in the Ministry of Lands. Compared to that KUNG-FU guy, Turad is doing unbelievable things. Let’s not hide this: KUNG-FU man never thought about opening up land acquisition in this way throughout his time in that place. He was going all over the place reclaiming land for the government but what happened later is open for debate. In fact, we are not interested in that chaotic period in the life of the Ministry of Lands.
Not too long ago Minister Turad Senessi organized a land raffle for Sierra Leoneans working in different sectors including the civil service, the security forces and media. FIVE hundred plots of land were on offer. The raffle was publicly conducted and even those who lost, went home feeling absolutely satisfied that justice was done. We know that documents have been handed over to those who won and some have even started constructing their homes. That’s how a government ensures that citizens feel they are being considered as human beings.
Now we have people who are always kept in the margins of society including Okada and Keke despite the important service they provide to the majority of the people of the country. This raffle will bring them to the surface. It will assure them that their place in society is recognized and appreciated.
All we must do now is make it impossible for the plots to be transferred to THIRD parties. With respect to winners in this category who would wish to build their modest homes, there are some guys who would put their winnings on the market. They should be told such deals are impossible to complete and even those intending to buy should desist in their own interest.
There are some people on social media that would start a war soon because they can’t stand to see good things happening in Salone. We want them to know that we trust Turad Senessi to make the raffle totally transparent and for the winners to take possession of their plots of land without delay. We wish our Okada and Keke riders all the best.
WAITING FOR TORMABUM RICE TO HIT THE MARKET
We’ve seen pictures of bags of rice in social media with those posting the pictures identifying the rice as that grown in the town of Tormabum. This was the place that produced the bulk of the rice that Sierra Leoneans ate decades ago. Tormabum was abandoned throughout the reign of King Messi but in 2018, Principal announced that he would use Tormabum as a base to win the fight against the massive importation of rice because Sierra Leoneans insist on eating rice daily. We know that a significant amount of cash was poured into the project.
In the FIFTH year of Principal’s leadership, we are now being told that indeed the Tormabum project is gearing up to put rice on the table of many of our people. We don’t why it took so long but we are prepared to take a lot and see what we are being offered. We understand this country spends over TWO HUNDRED MILLION US dollars a month to bring us rice. It’s a no-brainer to argue that we cannot continue like that.
We want to ask those in charge of Tormabum to do the following things for us:
1. Please issue a statement to let us know that what we are seen on TV is a fact. In other words, the rice was produced by them and put in sacs. We are asking for this because we are living in a world where people are prepared to use technology to spread lies about other people and things. So has Tormabum really produced anything?
2. Let’s assume social media pictures of sacks of so-called Tormabum rice are real. So what’s the quantity in stock? If you know you have only a few bags please stop talking to us about rice and go back to the farm. We don’t like it when people constantly present us with fake pictures on social media.
3. Please don’t allow the little you probably have to be smuggled to Liberia or for one wicked Salone businessman to turn up and clear the whole stock.
LEONE STARS AND THE STRUGGLE TO REACH ABIDJAN IN 2024
By the end of this international break, we should be able to know if our country will be counted among those playing for continental glory in Abidjan. We are facing two quick encounters with a country that would normally surrender points to all other teams in their group. Sao Tome is never counted when it comes to football in Africa but is there a sting in their tail this time.
On our side, we have to acknowledge that we have not been ourselves since our reasonably good performance in the last AfCON tournament in Cameroon. We’ve been badly beaten by South Africa; a country that would normally prefer not to come up against us, D R Congo has also maltreated us. We have lost some of those experienced players that took us through Cameroon. To cut a long story short, we should expect anything to happen on the field of play on current form. It would be wrong to start celebrating in Freetown, thinking Sao Tome has simply gone to Morocco to donate points.
Our team is taking to the field today while at home there’s a lot of grumbling about the size of the delegation we sent out there. That’s a normal thing because we find ourselves in a country where people find pleasure in doing funny things all the time. As soon as our national teams, be it football or any other sport, is due for international assignment, social media is splashed with critical comments about this and that. We are only mentioning that because it’s all part of the conversation. The SLFA is divided and weak and the NSA is taking advantage to score some cheap goals. Let’s just hope our country qualifies for Abidjan. The per diem warriors can keep their loot.
PROFESSOR FROM GREELEY, COLORADO SENT PACKING
The word from official sources is that our Professor from Colorado is on leave till August this year. At that time his tenure would also come to an end and he would be up for renewal. What official sources have refused to put their name to is the fact that even if Principal is returned in June, he wouldn’t be bringing the Professor back to the Sam Bangura building. So as far as we know, this is the end of Professor’s time in charge of our central bank. Good bye Professor. Are you already on the plane to Colorado sir? We ask because most people who return to this country to pick up jobs leave immediately they are sacked.
We are not experts in how central banks are managed so we will not attempt to evaluate his performance in that office. What we want to do now, is say a word or two on how he communicated with the public. Let’s just say from the outset, he realized the importance of communication and signaled that from his first day in office. The central bank has a communication office that was looking like Manchester United under Ralph Rangnick - desperately needing an Eric Ten Hag to make any impact. Our professor made an appointment in that department instantly.
We have mentioned this because we really couldn’t understand why our Professor performed so badly every time he faced the public – check out his appearances on radio or in parliament. Nothing wrong with him making a few appearances but for him to have been going all over the place and performing the way he did was a colossal failure of the communications wing of the BSL. We will touch this a bit more in subsequent editions.
Every public appearance by our Professor presented a lot of RED MEAT for the opposition who easily spun things to confuse a gullible public. BSL would then spend money and time cleaning up. Meanwhile the main communication people wouldn’t even pick up their calls. We will be back on this matter.
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