IS THE GOVERNMENT INFRASTRUCTURE OFFICE STILL ON?
We know John Tambi has been sacked but is the infrastructure office still operating? If the office is still there, then who is the new boss or is that one of the offices on offer right now? We also know that there is a new structure called presidential initiatives but as far as we know it’s around three ministries – Agriculture, Energy and the Environment.
Dr. Tambi never picked our calls to clarify things. In fact we hit a mighty stonewall even when we tried to see him at his office more than once but we had a good time watching his 3D impressions of what our city would look like if we decided to dedicate our whole budget to his projects.
We don’t know Dr. Tambi is still around because we still have unanswered questions around the Summa Group agreement that landed us a new airport and a number of other projects he had designed. Please tell us who the next Dr. Tambi is so we can drill into these issues. If the infrastructure office has been closed down please let us know so we can go to those now taking over that responsibility.
NO LIFT AT YOUYI BUILDING: WHAT’S GOING ON?
Please let’s not wait for Chinese engineers to come to this country to repair the lifts at Youyi Building. We cannot overemphasize the importance of that building which houses several ministries, departments and agencies of government. We have witnessed how people struggle on a daily basis to access their offices, especially those beyond the third floor. It’s so serious that some ministers have taken some of their activities to other places.
How did we allow all the lifts in that building to go down without alerting those responsible to the consequences? We have seen Chinese workers there repairing that lift in the past just like they are doing to the stadium. Why should we allow that to happen?
There are workers in that Youyi Building who, even in normal times, would find excuses to stay away from work. Here’s a perfect one delivered on a silver platter. We are watching that situation closely.
SALONE POLICE AND THE KILLING OF ARATA
In Sierra Leone we wouldn’t normally give a damn if an ARATA dies or is killed. Who cares about a dead rat? However the ARATA we are writing about here is not an ordinary ARATA. This was a human ARATA who, according to those in his circles, played a very important role in mobilizing the streets, especially in the west end of Freetown to bring Principal into office in 2018. In the period following that election, ARATA received benefits from the system and he was all over the place, showing off.
The other side of this ARATA is that he became too hot to handle and frequently found himself on the wrong side of the law and had to be bailed out of police stations several times. To cut a long story short, he was increasingly being framed as a man involved in criminal activities on the streets and was eventually shunned by his political allies.
Anyway, for now we are asking the Force for Good to thoroughly and speedily investigate his gruesome and pointless killing and bring those responsible to justice. We will not allow this case to go cold like a few others. We want to see those responsible in the dock. In fact, we are at a loss as to why a police force that enjoys issuing press statements for this and that has still not publicly addressed us on the killing of ARATA.
THE BIG MONEY FOOTBALL LEAGUE IS BACK
The English Premier League, EPL is back. The transfer of players from one league to the other or from among clubs in the same league is in full swing and crazy amounts of money are being spent. We are used to that now. In fact, since the guys from the Middle East came to PSG in France and Manchester City and turned the fortunes of those teams around dramatically, many fans now believe that the only thing people need now is money to win the league. Maybe they are right - Manchester City which was always in the shadows of their most illustrious neighbors has just won the treble and is threatening to keep winning.
Anyway, weekends are returning to NORMAL again, meaning people are going to be packing video centers and social media will be awash with arguments and counter arguments over fouls, dodgy VAR decisions or the number of minutes added in extra time.
Our many video centers are getting ready to make money and we say the same for DSTV as people turn up to reactivate their subscriptions that had gone dormant since the league ended.
We have a fair idea which teams are in the running to take the league this year but this is the EPL. There are surprises all over the place. The game is on.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (28/08/23)
