ONE YEAR AFTER RUSSIAN TANKS ROLLED INTO UKRAINE
The world media are reporting that Russia and Ukraine are gearing up for another round of heavy fighting. Ukraine will try to win back the areas of its territory now occupied by Russian forces. Russia would like to keep control of areas already annexed and possibly open up to other areas. Ukraine’s allies have pledged to send military equipment to that country to make it less painful to drive out the Russians. Russia is also reported to be asking friends for help from their own allies.
A recent UN vote calling for the end of the war has clearly shown that things are taking worrying dimensions. The vote against Russia was overwhelming but there are big players that simply refused to vote. We are talking about India and South Africa. That sends a message that while some countries don’t support what Russia is doing in Ukraine, they prefer not to speak or vote against them because of their bilateral ties.
Sierra Leone voted for Russia to leave Ukraine. We didn’t expect our country to do otherwise because big Western powers backing Ukraine are extremely powerful and wouldn’t tolerate small countries like ours that go looking for development grants and Foreign Direct Investment from Western countries and their institutions going against their wishes. Any such country should expect to be heavily kicked if they dared side with Russia. Western powers never say things in as many words but they get the results they want. We know that.
As far as the rest of the peoples of this world are concerned, this WAR MUST STOP NOW. Because of this war things have gone really bad in many countries including Good Old Sierra Leone – the price of goods and services has gone up because oil prices are flying to Mars. In fact there are now constant queues for petroleum products in many countries. This situation is serious in Africa. We cannot continue like this. The whole world should come together to urge Ukraine and Russia to negotiate. Like many other people, we believe there can be no outright winners here and let’s not hide this: the world could easily sleepwalk into A THIRD WORLD WAR.
TOLONGBO AND THE HUGE COST OF MAMMY CUSS
We are told SHEIK JAGABAN has a very deep pocket. The Red Movement’s recent acquisition is said to be worth about 50 million US DOLLARS. We haven’t yet seen things like tax returns to confirm one way of the other but do we really have to? Let’s just believe what they are telling us and play along. In the coming days and weeks, it will be up to JAGABAN to confirm or deny what those who want him to work with Orsamu are saying.
For now, we think the Red Movement should ask SHEIK JAGABAN to deposit a cool 120 grand NEW LEONES into the bank account of PPRC to save his party from any further embarrassment. PPRC has slapped the Red Guys hard for turning a blind eye or pretending to be deaf when their supporters unleash container loads of Mammy Cuss even at official events.
There are times when we’ve waited for the big guys in the Red Movement to stand up and close such bad behavior down as soon as the boys begin to go off track but we have always been left totally disappointed.
So even for SHEIK JAGABAN who is as rich as Donald Trump, paying 120 grand NEW LEONES for Mammy Cuss will be a bit of a stretch. That’s apart from the man being a SHEIK. SHEIKS should have nothing to do with Mammy Cuss.
We advise that when you go asking JAGABAN for the money please put it under miscellaneous expenses and don’t explain the details. PPRC would not exactly be looking forward to another round of Mammy Cuss but they wouldn’t mind laughing all the way to the bank daily between now and July. By that time things would have simmered down.
THE RUNNING MATE QUESTION: IS CHERICOCO IN OR NOT
Orsamu is only a few days in the job of taking the Red Movement to the elections in June. He was there in 2018 and lost to principal. Orsamu has some legal issues to deal with in the courts and he now has to defend himself against corruption charges that may end up ruling him out of the game. Anyway, despite all of this Orsamu has to select a running mate from among many guys that have come forward asking to be considered. In that group is Mayor Kemokai in Freetown.
We see flyers all over the place now proclaiming her as the woman for the job. The Freetown Mayor is our friend so we intend to put a few things on paper about her work in Freetown. We aim to show in words and pictures how TRANSFORMED our city is. That may help her achieve her main objective since joining active politics.
We also have Chericoco, the guy who fought alongside Orsamu in 2018 and lost. He was in charge of the party in parliament over the last FIVE years and is thought to be a real contender for the job. His opposite number on the government side, Juldeh Jalloh is in the running.
We are hearing noises about Chief Sidikie gearing up for the position. Chief Sidikie is looking like a drowning man right now. We are waiting to see where this guy goes next. The truth however is that when it comes to Chief Sidikie’s political decision making, anything is possible.
Then there is SHEIK JAGABAN. His supporters say he is worth 50 MILLION USD. They say he has already presented a powerful bullet proof SUV to Orsamu. We can’t confirm any of this but what is all this focus on money about. Is the second most important office in our land up for sale?
We’ll see how things play out because Orsamu is fighting for his reputation in the courts and as with all court cases, things could go either way.
LEONE STARS PREPARING FOR INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENT AGAIN
Home-based stars of the national football team have been called up to prepare for two matches against Sao Tome. On paper, that should be six points in the bag. We have to say though that these days no country should be underestimated. We have to be strong to also say that our team has been performing badly since returning home from AfCON in Cameroon. Friendly matches have turned out to be nightmares.
Nothing has changed with Leone Stars since then – Keister is still in charge and we have to rely on the same players. Our captain is in a kind of NO MAN’S LAND in the football arena; Musa Tombo is just the same prodigal and the training facilities back home have deteriorated since AfCON. So unlike some of our friends, we are not very optimistic about our chances of reaching Ivory Coast. Very few miracles happen these days. To do well in football, countries invest and prepare well. They get per diem but it’s not their priority.
The home-based players on the list are the same guys. Keister is experiencing a kind of diminishing return and we have done nothing as a nation to stem that time but we have constantly strained every sinew to bail out Musa Tombo from his self-inflicted calamities.
As Sierra Leoneans we have to be hopeful that our flag would fly about the stadiums of Ivory Coast in AfCON but we see nothing wrong in managing the expectations of our people.
Copyright © 2023 Politico Online (27/02/23)
