Making Use of the Patrol boats
The four patrol boats donated to our country’s navy by the South Korean Government could not have come at a more opportune time. Patrolling of our waters has never been effective simply because the sailors lacked the logistics to carry out their work. Sierra Leone has some of the most precious and abundant marine resources that are the envy of many other countries. Illegal fishing by foreign trawlers has gone on for decades. Relatively few of the vessels have been caught. This country loses millions of dollars every year to boats stealing fish, shrimps, lobsters et al. The effect of such robbery on the high seas is felt also by us all right down to the fishmonger. Sierra Leone has 200 nautical miles of exclusive economic zone which has been illegally fished on by vessels who in turn sell their loot to foreign markets. Sierra Leone, we are told, loses 26 million dollars a year to poaching on our waters, and we think that is a conservative figure. So daring are some of the vessels that, they sail closer to where our local fishermen have their nets lowered. In the process, the nets of the fishermen are destroyed, depriving them of catch and a living. The acts of some of these poachers have been so daring, with their temerity of coming deep inside our waters and going unchallenged. Well our navy would have little argument to make now about not having boats to surveillance our waters against poaching and even piracy. We expect full utilization of the boats by our sailors and would hate to hear excuses of fuel not available to go out on patrols. And we expect no compromises whatsoever for rogue fishing vessels caught; they must be towed to Murray Town and the necessary penalties imposed on them. By the way, we are suggesting that our Naval High Command try and get bodycams for personnel going out on such expeditions; that can be reviewed on return. This will help prevent any possible collusion. We trust our navy officers but having a few bad apples among the lot cannot be ruled out completely.
We need to show love to our little People
Friday 23 October was observed as International Day for little people. Here in Sierra Leone the day went largely unnoticed. We want to thank our brother called Koroma who went on the air to tell the nation what such a day meant in the lives of people we call dwarfs. We salute him for his courage in narrating the ordeal he is going through because of his stature. His experiences could not be different from what people of his kind face on a daily basis; it could be even worse for some. Listening to him on radio was quite touching, the bullying and derisory remarks he faced in school and the neighborhood where he grew up. The fellow conducts himself well and defies the taunts and smirks directed at him every day. He was for instance treated badly by a Police man at a Public office and on the same day a kid refused to enter a cab he was in, even though her mother had flagged the taxi. That latter incident was indicative of the failure of parents to teach their children about accepting people of that diminutive stature, just like any other human being. We know the presence of dwarfs in public will draw stares and the like but let us start educating the public that these people have the same rights like any one of us and must be treated equally. The process of inculcating positive thoughts about little people everywhere in our society must be stepped up now. They are human as well and must be treated as such!
Still waiting for the western area Water Project
We are struggling for pipe- borne water in Freetown and other cities and towns in Sierra Leone, a problem that has been with us for ages now. But the initial signs we got from the present administration was enough to give residents hope that the taps will come back to full life again. Then Minister of Water Resources Engineer Tengbeh told the people about the huge water revitalization project that was to take place. He revealed at the time that a Chinese Engineering Company called Gezhouba Group would be doing the Orugu and Congo Dams that would see the pipes running again. The people waited but saw nothing happening, and then Principal showed the Minister the door. That all happened last year. Well his successor has been in office for over a year now but nothing definitive about the huge water project has been heard of again, and people are just curious enough to know just what may have stalled the project. The long queues of jerry cans waiting for public taps to open could be seen all over Freetown and they do not present a good picture for an administration that should be seen providing the people with that very essential service. Solving a reasonable percentage of the city’s water problem would be a big step forward indeed in not just making water available in homes, but also in preventing our girls from early pregnancy in the name of fetching water during ungodly hours. We want to know just when the expected massive water project will start. We are tired of hearing girls getting raped for going in search of water. We some time ago highlighted the need for the harvesting of rainwater and storing it for the dry season. These are all the other avenues our water experts should be thinking of exploring as well. Water is all around us and it is just j too strange that we cannot get it into our homes through the tap.
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