NMA TRYING TO CLOSE THE STABLE AFTER THE HORSE HAS BOLTED
We have just read for the third time a press statement issued by the National Minerals Agency. We’ve been trying to understand what the NMA is trying to achieve in terms of changing public opinion about the way they operate, especially after one of their staff, and we don’t care whether he was a contractual or voluntary staff member, was named in a scandal. The NMA finally came to the public after damaging allegations were levelled against their worker by a foreign businessman who accused the NMA guy of colluding with other people to dupe his company of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The presentation at SLAJ headquarters was graphic and we sat through it all.
So for the moment these are mere allegations and we understand a judicial process is already underway and we will follow it to the end.
On the NMA side, we think what they want to do now amounts to waiting for the horse to bolt before moving to close the stable. There was really no point emphasizing the issue of the guy being a contractual staff because even the head of NMA is on contract. In fact his own contract can be terminated with a single line from State House. It really doesn’t matter if the guy was on contract. The important thing is that he occupied a very important position to have influenced things the way he is alleged to have done.
NMA says the guy was subjected to their own internal inquiry. But why was the public not informed of his suspension and subsequent sacking? As far as we are concerned just one public notice was enough to warn an unsuspecting public about the man having been removed from office. We will not accept any argument that this was purely internal – the nature of the allegations and the action that followed meant that the good people of Sierra Leone and foreign investors and the local agents deserved to be warned that something could go wrong dealing with certain people in the NMA. The press statement is several days and hours late guys.
WHERE IS OUR MINISTER FOR THE WESTERN AREA?
Where is our Minister of the WESTERN AREA? We really want to see and interview her but we don’t know where her office is located or what her plans are – if any. In the last re-shuffle of his government, Principal introduced this position and appointed a minister he had sacked, to run the office. Several weeks now and our minister is Missing in Action.
For now we don’t want to get involved in the raging debate about whether we need such a position. All we want is to see the minister in some building in Freetown and we will then ask her about her mandate and how she intends to execute her functions.
If the Western Area minister was able to stay away from the media in her previous role as foreign minister we want to tell her she cannot maintain that reclusive posture in this new assignment. So let’s hear from our minister soon because there are many questions to ask about so many things especially now that our Mayor traveled out of the country on holiday – holiday in the middle of a pandemic. Anyway, we wish our social media mayor all the best. We are looking for the pictures. We miss her smile already.
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