GENTO SAYS HE IS OUT OF POLITICS
Gento says his days in active politics are over. That’s what he wants us to believe. His comments, made on local radio have been widely shared on social media and that has not been challenged or even modified either by personally or his media handlers. So as far as we are concerned Gento is finished with active politics in this country. Active politics in his case would mean taking a second stab at trying to be Mayor of Freetown.
Gento is reported as saying he was tired with “backstabbing” and all that. Well, all we can do now is wish him well in his business which, according to him, is what he now wants to pursue. We read in the papers the other day that he was trying to construct an environmentally challenged seaport somewhere in the Freetown Peninsula.
Gento gave Mayor Kemokai of Facebook fame a real run for her money in the last election for Mayor of Freetown and in the process helped re-elect Principal with good votes in a region dominated by the RED Movement. We’ve been trying to understand why Gento has suddenly announced his resignation from politics. Here’s what we’ve been able to come up with:
1. Gento has realized that he had no business attempting to occupy City Hall in the first place because he wasn’t cut out for that. His job is to continue fixing our roads, including completing Hill Cot road and swelling his bank account.
2. He talks about backstabbing in politics. Come on Gento, the GREEN Movement had other candidates in line for the nomination you received. How does he think those people were thrown out of the race? Some of them also said at the time that they were stabbed in the back and forced out of the race. This is the state of play in politics.
3. Somehow we think Gento is thinking about how to cope with many young party activists continuously turning up outside his home asking for help on the basis of him being the leader even after his defeat. This announcement is a way of telling them to back off and look for other people to benefit from. Nice try sir!
4. We shouldn’t be surprised when in 2027 Gento suddenly announces that he was returning to frontline politics because of HIS PEOPLE in Freetown. It is for that reason and the fact that he wants to be picking up government contracts that he is remaining with the GREEN Movement. We are watching.
WE HAVE A NEW AIRPORT BUT THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH TROLLEYS
We are still celebrating our new airport managed by SUMMA GROUP because it has completely changed air travel in this country. The airport has made a bold statement about the kind of country we want to be. Foreign visitors and our brothers and sisters who passed through the old Lungi airport have been impressed with what a private public partnership has delivered. Well done on that front.
On Monday, we were at the airport and realized that something as basic as trollies are in short supply. Kenya Airways and Brussels Airlines were on ground at about the same time and we saw passengers waiting for between TWENTY and THIRTY minutes to get a trolley then scan their stuff through just one machine. We need some explanation because it’s not even the peak season when hundreds of our people normally come home for Christmas and we are struggling with trolleys.
If SUMMA GROUP cannot provide trolleys and a second scanner, can we provide those services and collect cash as part of another partnership arrangement? We want SUMMA GROUP to know that we cannot continue like this.
AND AIR MOROCCO IS NOT DOING WELL AT ALL
Air Morocco has continued to behave in this country as if they came here to do us a favour when we know they are operating a lucrative route making big money. We are calling them out today again because of the way they handle the luggage of their passengers. We are not the only people complaining and our Transport Ministry people appear not to want to act to correct the situation.
Two journalists left this country more than a week ago to attend some professional program in Egypt by Air Morocco. Up to the time you are reading this material their bags have still not reached Cairo. Our colleagues have had to wear the same clothes to the training sessions and have gone as far as asking their parents back home to send them money to change their clothes. Why is Air Morocco so incompetent and wicked to their African brothers and sisters? They will NEVER behave this way in America or Europe because they will spend all their profits to fight off litigation.
Air Morocco is grossly unfair to our people. We have not even mentioned the lengthy lay-overs they subject our people to daily. This must change and our colleagues must be adequately compensated for the embarrassment they are facing in Cairo.
AT LAST LEONE STARS WILL BRING HOME A VICTORY BUT WHO WAS THEIR OPPONENT?
We have to be very careful how we handle this because on the one hand we have a new technical team that has taken FOUR points from SIX for our national team which has been unable to win matches in recent times. On the other hand we have to consider the team we defeated in terms of their position on the FIFA calendar and ask if this was a victory worth celebrating loudly.
Leone Stars went to Morocco during the last FIFA window and played two friendly games against Benin and Somalia. We drew 1-1 with Benin with the old disease popping up again – Sierra Leone conceding very late goals. On that front nothing has changed. We then went on to beat Somalia by 2 goals to nil. That’s where we have to congratulate the technical team and the players. At least we have something to smile about.
Now, the fact that Somalia ranks 163 on the FIFA table should get us thinking. This is the team of a failed state that has been at war since we were in secondary school and that means they are only now trying to put themselves together to begin to have some fun.
Anyway, we are told that the new coaches are only there temporarily so we are waiting for SLFA and their friends to give us a plan that makes sense for the future of football in Sierra Leone. We don’t know what assurances the former Bo Rangers manager has received for him to quit his job. It could well be that the SLFA hasn’t told us the truth about the current arrangement but we are waiting for January 2024.
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