THE APPRENTICE AND HIS UNDERSTANDING OF TEAM WORK
In the months and weeks leading to Tolongbo coming to power in 2007, Kankankan established himself as the undisputed Squealer of the RED SQUAD. He sounded smooth and in control of things. He was loved by his people. The guy sounded very convincing to many even when he wasn't saying the WHOLE TRUTH. Almost eleven years later and even after anointing himself THE APPRENTICE to King Messi, Kankankan was denied the leadership of Tolongbo.
When Tolongbo tried to claim credit for some roads and building projects that even ordinary Sierra Leoneans in their small communities knew were in the works – funding secured, engineering drawing and compensation monies delivered and in some cases projects nearing completion under Alhaji Kabba, Kankankan dismissed those who urged him to acknowledge the work done by the retired president. Many times he went on radio and used football imagery to tell the world that as far as Tolongbo was concerned; players who dribble and assist others to score do not deserve a mention and that only those who actually scored the goals mattered.
So in Manchester United terms, Paul Pogba counts for nothing, CR 7 who usually puts the ball at the back of the net is the guy. Kankankan sounded very clever at the time and that attack line spread through the Tolongbo spin machine.
King Messi went to Portloko and told the people that KKY had nothing to do with the Bankasoka hydro- project and that it was his idea. Old videos of him praising the former UN man for the project were brushed aside. The narrative didn’t change.
Now we see Tolongbo fighting hard to be recognized for the work they did to bring Kono University to life in the New Direction. Politicians in general have to stop treating the good people of Sierra Leone as fools. They celebrate inflicting pain on others by whipping them and they turn and cry all over the place the moment the other guys manage to get the cane from them. We need honest politics in the country. We are completely fed up with short term lies, open deceit and political hypocrisy.
A quick word for the APPRENTICE: in football those who assist others to score are also RECOGNIZED.
TAKE POLITICS OUT OF THE KILLING OF DON POLE
The family of the guy commonly called Don Pole who was at some point in his life attached to Prince the Bullet of the GREEN PEOPLE is not amused by the internal party politics now being dragged into police investigations into how their son died. Prince the Bullet was recently called in by the CID, questioned, detained for the evening and released. We understand he is still being investigated.
Since that brief arrest, the whole affair has been thrown into the crazy world of internal party politics. Prince the Bullet is being framed by his people as the victim of harassment because of his fight with Songa to chair their party. It could well be that those who want him out now have a solid base to build on. That’s their business. Our business is to ask the police to follow the evidence wherever it leads and get justice for the late man and his family.
We have seen a document on social media, obviously put there to bring home the point that contrary to what Principal was told by those who ought to know better and should now be ashamed of themselves that Don Pole was stabbed, the man was shot. Even on his deathbed, Don Pole insisted he was shot and that the president was lied to about his condition. All of that stuff was played out on a breakfast radio program. That guy would have died quietly if one journalist didn’t pass by and make his case a matter for national conversation.
We call on the police to swiftly conclude this investigation and bring their findings before a judge. We appreciate all what people have done to console the family for this loss but we insist that justice must be done. This is not politics; it’s the life of a man who believed in the GREEN Movement even during those harsh opposition days.
SEVEN WEEKS TO AFCON: ARE WE READY GUYS?
We are now very close to our first appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations or AFCON in more than TWENTY YEARS. We are up against some of the most powerful nations when it comes to continental football. Those teams have been consistent in producing good results even in training matches with a good number of their players coming from the big leagues of Europe.
Ordinarily that should scare us into scaling down our ambitions in the coming AFCON. We know however that no two games are the same and Algeria and Ivory Coast should never take to the field against us believing they would brush us aside disgracefully.
The biggest threat to our success in the coming tournament is administrative and professional disorganization at the SLFA and the Ministry of Sport. We will not mention the NSA that is so badly headed by Ken Brima. All we ask for is that he is not allowed to travel with the team.
We have to commend the government because, economic squeeze or not, they have managed to provide the money needed for our team to train and take part in competitions. The organizational structure behind the team is looking extremely weak and unable to deliver what we expect. They have the next few weeks to summon all the help they need to get the job done and done very well. The public is on this case and the SLFA should be very careful not to put the wrong foot forward on anything until we complete our journey through AFCON in Cameroon.
AND CONFUSED KEISTER LOOK OUT OF HIS DEPTH
We have been looking through the list of players invited by Keister to train for AFCON. He has simply confirmed by the selection that now, more than ever before, he is NOT HIS OWN MAN in that job. The list has been influenced by his desire to satisfy managers and owners of local clubs, local football agents planning to market and sell some players after AFCON and vociferous football journalists in this country. Keister knows more than half of his FIRST TEAM is coming from abroad so what’s the point of calling more than TWENTY mostly average players to camp?
Nearly a dozen players on that list would be a disaster at AFCON. These are players we watch in the local league and we make bold to say their technical quality is bad. They make bad decisions and are physically unfit. Some have not played for their clubs for weeks while others have the wrong attitude to training and discipline.
Keister has brought temporary joy to those he tried to satisfy in this selection. In the coming weeks there would be no escape, the manager who appears to suddenly lack confidence in his ability would have to bring down that number considerably and give us a dozen players in all departments and work with them alongside some of the most arrogant professional footballers from leagues outside the main ones in Europe.
We will not accept any excuse about interference of any sort after AFCON. It is now time for Keister to speak out and get the necessary support from the public. MEDICINE AFTER DEATH IS TOTALLY USELESS.
Copyright © Político Online 22/11/21
