CLAMPDOWN ON CIVILIANS WEARING MILITARY UNIFORMS
The Police have issued a statement warning civilians against the wearing of Police or Military outfits. Officers representing the media department of both institutions have been explaining on radio and TV about their displeasure at what they say is the misuse of their uniforms. Well almost all of the arguments put forward by the officers are totally in place and more plausible is the claim that young men in particular are donning the uniforms at night and breaking into people’s homes and robbing them, many a time wielding harmful projectiles.
When this happens, the picture that such incidents immediately paint is that of cops or soldiers committing those unlawful acts at night. And having a very gullible public out there, a lot of bad things have been said about the security forces because of these thieves in uniforms.
Impersonating the Police is far easier than the military, the reason being that the Police are all over the place 24/7 performing civil policing. So smart fraudsters could easily melt into the system in broad daylight and pose even as cops, usually in isolated places where they can harass shopkeepers or stop and threaten drivers or commercial bike riders with arrest, at the end getting monies from them. Some of these fellows have been caught deep in the art of deceit and criminality.
And in all of this the question people generally ask is, where they get the uniforms. For military fatigues, those trading in used clothing at times pick out a few pairs of army camouflage from among some of the bales of used clothing. They are openly hung up for sale to the public and the traders are not selective as to who their buyers are, they sell to any Tom, Dick or Harry. We can argue quite confidently that police uniforms are not in the market. So for those two distinct security outfits, we can claim that those of the military can be bought easily and used by a rogue to commit a crime whilst in the case of the Police a criminally intentioned person can only access it from a family member still in active service or buy the materials from the stores and have them sewn.
Hearing the Police spokesman say they will start arresting traders selling camouflage is for us the wrong approach. They can be told to sell them only to soldiers with proper IDs. The traders have no control over what goes into the bales they buy and hardly do the combat fatigues come exclusively in one bale, except that they would want to tell them to cut them into shreds and threw them away.
In the West they are sold in boutiques everywhere and the bales of used clothing are packed by volunteers working for charities like Salvation Army and Red Cross, who just don’t have an idea there’s an issue with combat fatigues outside of their borders.
We see a lot of grey areas with the combat fatigues; wives, children and other relations of soldiers just believe they have the right to put on the attire. Well now that they are saying that would no longer be tolerated, we will keep tabs to see if that order will hold. We won’t be surprised to hear the word discretional when someone who is not a soldier and is caught but let off for wearing combat fatigue. That suspicion and criminality would be attached to the camouflage attire in this country is so sad. In the United States people wore them to show public support for their Armed Forces.
MOVING CONTAINERS OF DEATH
Sea Cargo Containers moving along the streets of Freetown have become a harrowing experience for commuters and motorists. They are often not chained to the trucks transporting them and that is murderous on the part of the transporters. Worse still, such is the derelict state of most of these trucks coming from the port that you begin to wonder how they got to ply our roads in the first place. Did SLRSA actually clear them to be on the road? The trailer trucks carrying these containers have crushed innocent people to death after tipping over due to the carelessness of those managing those vehicles including the reckless drivers.
High transportation fees are charged for every loaded container leaving the port but little or no consideration is given to the safety of the vehicles. Some of these are trucks that shouldn’t be running on our roads as they should have well stayed in their scrap yards in Europe. The city is on a hill and it is so scary to see these trucks struggling through crowded streets fully loaded. And to even leave those containers unchained to the truck is an offence that should warrant maximum penalty for such recklessness. Who is listening out there?
WE ARE TIRED OF THE OPEN GUTTERS
Our street gutters are often left open with pedestrians having to be alert to avoid breaking a limb. First time visitors to Sierra Leone often wonder why we leave them uncovered. A good number of the slabs are missing on the gutters in especially streets in central Freetown.
They have been this way for years now with no attempts to fix them. Accidents have occurred and many victims have had to live with the pain sustained from the injuries. Sanders Street is quite an awful place to walk even though it is one of the busiest streets in central Freetown. People have to keep watching around, fearful of passing cars because the sidewalk is no longer there but just gaping holes. Even by the Cotton Tree on the road leading to State House of all places there is an open gutter; its slabs have been removed and placed nearby to suggest work was done there, but they have not been placed back onto their normal positions. These open gutters easily breed mosquitoes as well as give a picture of lack of responsibility from our institutions.
Please Freetown City Council, we know there is total mess – chaos even, on King Jimmy but let’s not allow such mess to appear near the Cotton Tree.
DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS OF SOCIAL DISTANCING
We are seeing around us every day confusing spectacles of entertainment spots operating in ways that suggest a different view far from what those fighting the COVID -19 in Sierra Leone would be expecting. Pubs and restaurants operate and some observe social distancing. Nightclubs are still closed to revelers and many hotels are virtually closed but there are some pubs that just don’t care about COVID-19 at all. You see people crammed together and just doing their thing as if the virus is not around at all. Officials should go to some of these clubs and see what we are talking about anyway. The virus is still here with us and that is what people should understand. Arresting people for not wearing mask and leaving pub owners to flout the law? Those are just two sides of the same coin!
AVOID PEKITOES RIGHT NOW, AVOID JAIL: STAY SAFE
As they say on the streets of Freetown these day, DE GAME DON BIG O on this issue so men should be extremely careful. One small joke in one little corner could end with an indictment and TEN YEARS at Pademba Road. The best way to avoid a date with that court is to:
1. Stay off this PEKITO business. Don’t even encourage that traditional thing where parents literally hand their children over in several guises. This court is very dangerous.
2. If you want to spend some cash helping young people please go to Don Bosco or SOS and do blind adoption. In other words fund a child in any of those places without seeing them. Those are good organizations. Your money is safe.
3. Don’t go into any situation where PEKITOES will be hanging around doing their selfies. Being misunderstood could raise serious alarm. If you see them near your house lock your doors and have a sound sleep or run.
4. Social media friendships with people you don’t know MUST STOP now. That’s how things develop.
5. Totally avoid this side chick thing. If you think it’s impossible, then we may sooner rather than later meet at this new court.
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