THE GOVERNMENT WHITE PAPER ON THE COI IS OUT
The much –talked about government white paper on the three Commissions of Inquiry is finally out. There’s been a lot of speculation about what the government intends to do with the recommendations of the COI and how adverse the COI recommendations in fact are on officials of the former administration of King Messi and indeed the King himself. The day of reckoning is here and those people who cheated their own grandchildren and destroyed their future just to enjoy the good things of life on earth now have a huge battle on their hands.
We will spend many hours reading the white paper for many years to come in the same way we’ve been reading the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report. We must make the following points now that the report is out.
1. We hope people who served this country and were subject to the COI will learn some lessons now. They will continue to do some grandstanding on the streets and on social media but deep down they know they clearly messed up when they were given the opportunity to serve.
2. Principal campaigned heavily on the need to fight corruption and the COI was his first action to assure a nation, completely fed up with corruption that this was indeed a New Direction. He cannot now pull back from following his own white paper to the letter. It will be a monumental betrayal of the nation if for some political reason he decides to stop half way down the road.
3. Those now occupying public offices should note that when the tables turn – we don’t know when, they may be required to answer questions about their stewardship. We know that some have this in mind but there are those who are doing things that remind us of Tolongbo days. We will be here reporting when that time comes around. Here’s what Principal said about this as he received the COI report:
"So these Commissions of Inquiry should also serve as a strong warning to serving officials that you have a duty of care to make the best decisions and act always in the best interests of citizens of this nation. When one is appointed to serve one’s country, one must do so with honesty, fairness, justice, diligence, and compassion. Do not make Sierra Leoneans, especially the children, victims of your own greed" – JULIUS MAADA BIO
4. The government should make sure the last village in Sierra Leone gets the COI report in their own language. It must be done.
5. Those of us who took no part in the chopping should go about our business. Those indicted will go to the Court of Appeal to clear their names. We have no dog in that fight. When the fight is over we will check our national bank balance to see how much of our stolen wealth Principal is able to recover
SORT OUT THIS VISA BAN RIGHT NOW MADAM RECLUSIVE FOREIGN MINISTER
The most RECLUSIVE foreign minister ever in the history of Mama Salone finally found some time to speak to the media. She was COMPELLED to talk to journalists after the Trump administration slammed a very wide-ranging visa ban on Sierra Leone because they believe that our authorities are not cooperating fully with the US government in the process of deporting Sierra Leoneans who have exhausted all legal chances of staying in America.
This is a very sad situation for ordinary Sierra Leoneans at home wanting to travel to the US for visit, education or medicals. We have no idea which categories of travelers are exempt. We know however that people in government will be allowed under some international conventions to still land in that great country to transact government business, visit their families along the way and do their medicals – at our expense even. And that includes our RECLUSIVE foreign minister.
We attended the media engagement and all we can say is that we are not impressed with the RECLUSIVE minister and his ambassador in Washington. Not impressed with the way they handled the whole affair.
The Americans reached that decision on solid grounds and we wonder why our RECLUSIVE minister failed to see what was coming our way. Does she think the US State Department is a place for jokes?
I. Why should we even try to slow down or frustrate efforts to deport Sierra Leoneans who have no business staying in American or any other country for that matter after exhausting all legal channels? As long as we can prove they are our brothers and sisters, let’s prepare their documents and receive them at Lungi. They have a place to be in this country. It makes no sense trying to keep one hundred or so Sierra Leoneans in America by illegal means and in the process cause suffering and embarrassment to the whole nation.
2. There are hundreds of thousands of Sierra Leoneans living and working legally in the US, so why should we disgrace ourselves trying to protect a small group – some of them criminals that the Americans are seeking to legally deport from their country? Are we not deporting other nationals who have no right to be here?
3. All we ask for is that both the authorities in America and our embassy in Washington should make absolutely sure that those eventually sent to this country are indeed Sierra Leoneans. We don’t want a situation where people from some Caribbean Island are dumped here because no other country could take them.
We still have two of such people taking money from our coffers to survive. They should either be taken to their country or returned to America on the same plane that will eventually bring our brothers and sisters awaiting deportation.
4. Why are people trying so hard not to return to their country? Welcome guys to Mama Salone. We have lived here all our lives and we will help you settle down. We are very experienced in that. Take the case of the footballer Musa Tombo who tore up his professional contract in Sweden after just a few weeks and returned home. We greeted him at Lungi airport with a nice bowl of rice and crain-crain. Welcome home guys!
PRINCIPAL FIRES OPENING SHOT AND SALWACO BOSS GOES DOWN
The former SALWACO boss must be taking a second hard look at his days in office now to see where things went wrong leading to him being SACKED. A few days after his return from Lebanon, Principal wasted no time to shoot this guy down and throw him out of office.
Our sources say Principal has re-loaded his rifle, ready to take out a few more people. We shall see.
We have received graphic details of what may have caused the downfall of the SALWACO boss, especially that dealing with the appointment of a deputy head of SALWACO and the events that took place once the character turned up for work.
We approach such matters with extreme caution but as soon we are clear that our sources are correct we will report what we have gathered so far. People must treat public office as public office, not as a personal kitchen.
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