ANOTHER CASE OF “I CAN’T BREATHE” IN AMERICA
Once again the world is talking about the killing of another unarmed black man by the police in the great United States of America, on Donald Trump’s watch. This has happened even before the dust settles on the killing of another black man by a father and son who say they thought he was a thief. Really? What is worthier of note in this latest killing by the police is that the deceased, like the other black brother in New York, repeated that very familiar line: “I CAN’T BREATHE.” He did it over and over.
As it is common in this era of smart phones and social media, ordinary people who witnessed the murder being committed in broad daylight by men in uniform made pictures available to the world. What an extremely painful way to die!
From this little corner of the world we shed tears that anybody could lose their precious life in this way. Given our expectations of that country it’s almost as if some of the things we see these days on social media and TV are not happening in the real world or in the most powerful nation in the world where people are supposed to be free and achieve anything in peace and security as long as they work hard and genuinely.
Demonstrators are on the streets of Minneapolis now calling for justice to be done. They want those officers charged with murder. The Mayor says the police “messed” the situation up. Not a bad euphemism for one of the most reckless acts of murder any police officer anywhere in the world can commit. We have been trying to understand certain things about the incident and what happens next and here we go:
1. Media reports say George Floyd was being arrested for forgery and another video that emerged a few hours later shows the man being moved by the police with no resistance. Why was it then necessary for that officer to press his knee on his neck in that way to squeeze life out of him? Why? In fact, we understand that restraining tactic is NOT approved.
2. How come the other officers around didn’t realize they had a responsibility to save that man’s life from the choking knee press? We wonder what they will tell the court. Surely their lawyers have by now shaped their storyline. Would they have treated a white man that way in front of the camera?
3. Does that police officer really think Floyd was joking when he repeatedly shouted “I CAN’T BREATHE”? Why didn’t it occur to that killer police officer that he was going into the same situation as the one in New York with his eyes wide open? He probably didn’t give a damn.
4. Sometimes we think about what really happens to our brothers and sisters who end up behind the walls of American prisons for this and that reason. Many years ago some people used to say life is better in an American prison that in some African countries. It was a way of crying down the harsh realities in Africa but if to arrest an unarmed man like that could lead to his death, we can only imagine what is happening to the many African-Americans in those jails.
5. Look, we understand what it means dealing with people who break the law. Officers have died trying to prevent crime. We know that! However nothing justifies the killing of Floyd in this way. We are waiting to follow the trial. This is America we are talking about.
IGNORING CORONAVIRUS RESTRICTIONS IN PUJEHUN FUNERAL
The statement from the Pujehun EOC about people blatantly violating coronavirus restrictions at a funeral is causing some concern. There is concern because the press statement says those who violated the restrictions drove into Pujehun in big SUVs and pretended to be living in normal times. The statement falls timidly short of naming people and we think that was a real shame. Specifically calling out those who put themselves against regulations that the whole country is strenuously adhering to should be named and shamed. We would have gone as far as asking for some of them who hold big offices to resign or be sacked. Why not?
The last week or so has been really difficult for the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. His most senior adviser is accused by the opposition and even some ruling MPs and the public of violating the rules of the coronavirus lockdown by travelling miles outside London to be with his family with COVID-19 symptoms. Dominic Cummings is hanging on to his job for now only because Johnson is ready to sacrifice the popularity of his government. He could well be fired or encouraged to resign quietly in the next few months. We mentioned this only to demonstrate how people in other parts of the world react when the impression is created that there was one law for big people and another for ordinary people like us.
Now we are watching Pujehun district to see if there will be any spike in the number of cases there with epidemiological links to that funeral. At that point gloves will be off because the DEOC will be compelled to help with contact-tracing by naming those who damned coronavirus pandemic restrictions believing they were above all else.
PA SOVULA, IS MARITIME HOUSE NOW A HIGH SECURITY ZONE?
What were those OSD officers doing at the offices of the Sierra Leone Maritime Administration building by the river side the other day? SLMA is always in the news for the wrong reasons largely because those who work in that place think fighting and plotting against each other all the time is what we are paying them for. In the last two years we have witnessed sackings, anti-corruption raids, court cases and a systems review. We have also witnessed the suspension and eventual sacking of another Executive Director. A new guy warming up to take over and now Principal has ordered an administrative inquiry into the SLMA and suspended half a dozen senior staff in the process.
When well-paid people decide to wreck the administration of an institution as important as that, with unbridled infighting for God knows what, this is what we end up with.
We have not seen the terms of reference of those carrying out the inquiry nor do we know them by name. We also don’t know whether this will be an open investigation in the sense that the media will cover it (that’s what we prefer), and how long it will last.
In the meantime we want to put the following issues out there in the hope that some answers will be provided by the time Principal comes round to dealing with the outcome of the investigation:
1. Where was the board in all this? The board is normally the body that will handle administrative anomalies without the supervising ministry getting involved. In this case the board was either missing in action or was on one side of this internecine warfare.
2. We don’t believe that the board will come out of this smelling of roses because they had surrogates on social media arguing about their powers and this and that. We understand that the statutory members of the board attended very few meetings so their expertise was not available when it came to decision making. Why was that?
3. The ACC has indicted somebody in the SLMA for issues going back five years. Again it is our understanding that the documents that informed the indictment were delivered to the ACC as part of the infighting aimed at either settling scores or eliminating other people. The infighting has spiraled out of control. DE GAME DON BIG.
4. We hope that SLMA will come out of this a better organization serving the people of Sierra Leone but we have to be strong to challenge the old ways of doing things including appointing people into positions because we knew their parents.
5. The lesson for other organizations is that infighting is easy to start but difficult to control. We still don’t know where all of this will end. People must learn to live together and respect authority.
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