PETROL PRICE IS GOING UP SOON
The signs are all over the place again that the price of petroleum products will increase any time from now. Social media is awash with various computations about prices in other African countries compared with what we have in Sierra Leone and indeed there are lengthy articles with detailed explanations about the global increase in the cost of crude oil in the international market and subsidy from the government of Sierra Leone. All we can say at this time is that we don’t want that same formula repeated in our cities again and we all know the formula.
We know that a decision has been made already to push the pump price up so why not announce it now and fix a commencement date. Why the elaborate attempt by the government to spin its way into the announcement of the new price? Whether they spin or not the people will soon feel it in their pockets. In other words the household income is going up by a few thousand Leones. It is not possible to avoid the grumbling on the streets. In fact even at TEN THOUSAND Leones, people are complaining.
This government has reduced the price of petroleum products at least twice in the last four years and that was easily announced on social media and celebrated. Now things have gone the other way, please announce it and move on with the consequences.
1. This country doesn’t produce oil. Some of those that produce oil are also coming along with us in terms of the cost of the product. We have been looking for oil since Siaka Stevens. We have set up an expensive office to coordinate that search with zero result. From time to time they announce bids for oil blocks but the story is the same.
2. We know that a war is brewing between Russia and Ukraine and that may already have had an impact on the coming increase. So we ask the government to tell the people that things could get even more serious should Russia decide to take KIEV.
3. That’s just the way the petroleum business is. Let’s just try and prevent the ordinary people from being exploited by criminal transport vehicle owners.
FREETOWN MAYOR AND HER ‘DELIVERY UNIT’ WAHALA
An administrative inquiry into the workings of the Freetown City Council has recommended that the so-called MAYOR’S DELIVERY UNIT set up by Her Majesty the Mayor of Freetown should be scrapped immediately. The Ministry of Local Government set up the investigation following repeated attempts by Her Majesty to sack the FCC’s Chief Administrator. The whole affair was not only played out within the walls of the council, as it is with all matters these days, they went on radio and also made extensive use of social media.
The so-called Mayor’s Delivery Unit is an expensive outfit packed mainly with Her Majesty’s diasporan friends. She handpicked them and gave them huge powers over openly recruited council workers that have served the place for years. The local staff complained and complained about being marginalized but they were completely ignored. So the administrative inquiry only confirmed what people have been saying on the streets. Let’s now see if this official report will be ignored.
Her Majesty returned to Sierra Leone after a million years in her kingdom ostensibly to help fight Ebola but at the end of it she found her way into a so-called President’s Delivery Team under King Messi. He set that up, paid for by donors to help restore services destroyed by the ravages of the Ebola Virus Disease.
Apparently Her Majesty was impressed with how they operated the State House outfit and when she pushed her way to become Tolongbo Mayor of Freetown she thought she could set up her own DELIVERY UNIT at the FCC. From what we now know, she was wrong to have done that. Even as we write this she is locked in another combat with her deputy. She wants to kick the man out of office. She is always trying to sack people.
Our next step now is to monitor the implementation of the recommendation of the inquiry. We will not allow that document to gather dust.
SALONE PREMIER LEAGUE MATCH OFFICIATING IS BAD
On the field of play we can definitely report a lot of progress – the boys are doing well. We could feel some enthusiasm, in fact some determination to do well in the game. What we think is missing so far is GOOD AND PROFESSIONAL OFFICIATING.
We cannot rule outright bribery out as a factor destroying the game.
We however believe that arrogance and loyalties to other aspects of the game, like referees in particular siding with football clubs are factors we should put on the table now for consideration. This is getting very serious now and the momentum of the league could be eroded if this continues. We have no reason to believe it will change without the PLB doing what it is expected to do in such circumstances.
Some of the reports on the Bo Rangers clash with Bai Bureh Warriors last weekend have simply proved what we suspected would happen as we sat there watching events unfold. And all this goes back to the first leg encounter in Portloko which Bai Bureh Warriors won.
Let’s put a few issues where they truly should be before we make our main points.
1. Water sachets were weaponised and thrown into the area inside the perimeter fence by fans who disagreed with some of the decisions made by the referee, especially after Bai Bureh Warriors drew level in the first half.
We have complained in the past about this attitude across our premier league venues including the national stadium. Supporters near the tunnel always pelt players and officials with water bottles and sachets. Some have even gone into the dressing area to attack players. So this is not a problem for the stadium in Bo alone.
2. Emergency first aid service is almost non-existent from the side of the PLB. We know some clubs make their own provisions but how can the PLB really explain what happened at the national stadium of all places when Bo Rangers played Central Parade recently? Freelance street boys, not properly identified, came to the stadium with their dirty stretcher and operated as First Aiders. Unbelievable!
In Bo, a Bai Bureh Warriors player needing treatment outside the stadium had to be carried on the back of a strong member of the Bo Rangers technical team. Are we really serious about running this game? This is a question for the SLFA because we notice that they now want to shift their problems to the PLB which is badly under-funded.
3. There is a deliberate attempt in most of what we have read on social media to tie the influential Executive Chairman of Bo Rangers to the things that went bad in the Bo stadium last week.
People can do what they want to do but they have left us asking ourselves whether we watched a different match in that same venue with the one they are describing.
We were a bit far from the action inside the perimeter fence so we didn’t hear what was being said in that unnecessary confusion but we know that on THREE occasions Babadi Kamara took the microphone to warn their supporters against throwing missiles. At the end of the match he again told the fans to go home peacefully and treat the visitors as brothers. Why do people think that was not important to report?
Next time we will deal with the quality of referring in detail. All people in the game deserve better.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (23/02/22)
