WHO IS INVESTIGATING THE FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL AND FOR HOW LONG?
It was right for Principal to act decisively and sack the former Anthony Brewah as Attorney General after what we as ordinary citizens believe was a colossal error of judgment on his part for playing a part in the release of a convicted murderer against the disapproval of key members of the Prerogative of Mercy committee which he was asked to chair in the absence of the Vice President. As if that was not enough, he was seen being meek and gentle with the convicted murderer in his country home more than a hundred miles outside Freetown.
Brewah must be disappointed about being sacked twice by the same man in the life of ONE parliament but the political consequences of keeping him in post would have been disastrous for Principal. Public outcry was assuming a kind of crescendo that no government could cope with except the one in NORTH KOREA.
The nation was promised a swift inquiry into the whole affair leading to Principal being deceived into releasing a murderer from jail when most countries would make such a man ineligible for parole. We now want to know when this inquiry would begin and what the terms of reference would be. We asked for a judicial inquiry that would open the possibility of people being prosecuted and thrown into the same prison from which LAC was removed.
Once again, Principal must not convince himself that people have moved on from this. People know that LAC left the prison because certain procedures were breached and he ( Principal) was NOT given the correct picture. They also know that LAC is possibly out of this country and is NOT remorseful at all. He is showing off his cash and telling us to get out of his way and ALLOW HIM TO ENJOY HIMSELF.
The people of Sierra Leone are waiting for two things right now: A public inquiry into what happened when the MERCY COMMITTEE met and approved the release of LAC and the re-arrest of that fugitive. He must return to his cell at Pademba road jail.
STAMPEDE AT AfCON STADIUM IN CAMEROON
The whole of Africa, not just Cameroon is in mourning for our brothers and sisters who died in an unnecessary stampede at one of the venues of the ongoing CAF competition. The president for life of that country is reported to have ordered an inquiry into the stampede and the resulting deaths. We appreciate that. It’s a good step to take and we hope they do the job speedily. Let’s put this to one side for now and make the following points:
1. Cameroon had more than enough time to prepare to host this tournament thanks to COVID. For that reason we would expect them to be in charge of the situation in such a way that we wouldn’t be dealing with a stampede and the loss of lives halfway through the tournament.
2. We expect CAF to be very strong with Cameroon for the killings. This is totally unacceptable in the modern game. The organizers would probably not accept this but many people are now going to stay off the stadiums for safety reasons even when the host nation is in action.
3. The stampede has only made a very bad situation even worse. Most of the games have been played in empty stadiums, more people would now vote with their feet.
SLRSA TAKES 143 VEHICLES OFF THE ROAD: AND SO WHAT?
In the end we have to be impressed with what the SLRSA has done in taking more than a hundred container carrier vehicles off the road because they are NOT roadworthy. We don't know why this action is coming so late in the day. We also don’t know how successful this effort would be. It is one thing to make an official pronouncement in the media, totally another to put it into effect on the ground. The experience we have in this country is on in which the first few days of a pronouncement being made are the most crucial – those who fall short should expect to get the full dose of the punishment reserved for that aberration but the whole thing would soon collapse opening the way for people to return to their old habits.
This country has witnessed a lot of road crashes that are the direct result of just two things, bad judgments by the drivers and the poor quality of those big vehicles. Whenever those kinds of vehicles have crashed several lives have been lost. People have been complaining. That explains why they have been largely kept out of rush hour traffic. The SLRSA statement did not answer some fundamental questions. For example:
1. Are they really telling us that those 143 vehicles would no longer return to the roads or have the owners been asked to undertake certain types of maintenance before taking to the roads again?
2. This business of taking bad vehicles off the roads is it only for those types of vehicles or would the SLRSA now expand it to include all vehicles on our roads. We think it’s unfair to create the impression this move was only targeting those container carriers.
3. Can the SLRSA also tell us what has happened with the vehicles they ordered off the roads? Have the vehicles been impounded or are they still with their owners? The latter actually means the owners can sneak back on to the roads while the SLRSA convinces itself the owners were obeying the regulation.
4. From our investigation, we can suggest that the police are not entirely sure what the SLRSA pronouncement means. It would be a serious mistake if the police were not brought in for proper coordination. In terms of road safety, these measures are good but we are very afraid that lack of coordination with the police and this ONE WEEK syndrome might just ruin things.
DON’T EXPECT SLAJ TO DO YOUR POLITICAL JOB
Femi Claudius Cole made a very bad mistake the other day. She attacked our association, SLAJ, for apparently not taking up certain causes she wanted us to run with. We say it’s a bad mistake because no politician opens a war with the media and survives in politics. We are not averse to criticism but when a politician like Femi Claudius Cole decides to throw blows in the direction of SLAJ she has to be ready to receive some from the other end.
Femi Claudius Cole should understand a few things about our association: the members of SLAJ have a social conscience of their own – they can support political parties and politically-loaded causes but SLAJ as an association must at all times reflect the views of the majority of its members. The majority of the members of SLAJ have told our leaders not to attempt to fight anybody’s political battles.
We are one of the most transparency organizations in this country – any member can walk up to the executive members and ask questions about any issues and answers would be provided in a timeous manner, there are absolutely zero complaints of rigging in our elections and there are no military or police officers watching over our elections, there are no factions in SLAJ. This is not to say that we accept all the decisions our leaders make. The love for SLAJ and service to humanity keeps us together.
If Femi Claudius Cole wants newspapers and broadcasters highlighting the kind of political causes she believes would bring her public sympathy and eventually take her to State House, she is free to contact as many news outlets as possible directly and either pay for airtime and space or get them to give her a free run.
For Femi Claudius Cole to expect SLAJ to carry her political load is wrong. SLAJ replied to her attack and we congratulated our executive for doing that. We have merely set out the position of SLAJ in relation to the individual news organizations at this stage. We hope we won't be provided with an opportunity to do more than this.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (26/01/22)
