DISGRACE IN TOKYO AS SALONE JUDOKA IS DISQUALIFIED
Our brothers and sisters in Tunisia may be going through a lot of political problems right now but the home of the Arab Spring found a bit of time in the last few days to celebrate a gold medal dragged out of the pool by their EIGHTEEN-YEAR-old country man, Ahmed Hafnaoui in the 400-meter freestyle. It was an unexpected but fantastic victory made possible by sheer determination and the desire to win.
Meanwhile one of our own so-called Olympic hopefuls has just been thrown out of the competition for some unbelievable reason and we want to tell all those who played a role to get him to Tokyo that we will not accept any explanation or shifting of blame. Because of this disqualification of our Judoka, all those mentioned in the next few lines should do the following immediately:
1. An unreserved written apology from the Judoka, addressed to the government and people of Sierra Leone. We have no reason to pay for his holiday in Japan. He knew he was overweight but he pressed on thinking we would accept his bogus explanation. Had the government not put that huge amount of money down this whole thing, Harris and others would be everywhere complaining. They would easily get a political ally in that.
2. The apology should be published in at least TEN newspapers and read on radio and TV. It should be translated into the major local languages with NOC paying the bills.
3. The sporting association that recommended Frederick Harris to the NOC should be banned from directly fielding any athletes for the next TEN years. They should refund the money the nation paid for air tickets, accommodation and meals.
4. Frederick Harris, the failed Judoka, should refund, IN FULL the per diem given to him from our treasury. Next time he will watch his weight over a long period in preparation for a major tournament like this. You can’t be feasting on FOO-FOO and OBIATA day and night and expect to have control over your weight.
5. Frederick Harris should leave the Olympic village immediately and head home. He should not try any asylum nonsense like that Ugandan weightlifter because he will be swiftly deported like the same Ugandan joker. The last thing he wants is to allow the people to receive him at Lungi.
DEATH PENALTY IS DEAD! PALO, DO SOMETHING ELSE
We read some comments attributed to Alfred Palo Conteh the other day about the DEAD death penalty. He told a local newspaper that the penalty ought to have been retained for certain crimes. In fact he also questioned the fact that it was parliament that killed that penalty and not a REFERENDUM. In the same report he is quoted as saying he wasn’t against the abolition of the death penalty. Come on Palo, where are you on this landmark achievement by Principal, the parliament and the good people of Sierra Leone? On one hand you are not against the abolition, on the other hand you want us to retain the penalty for some crimes – and you even tried to justify that. You can’t really eat your cake and have it sir. It makes no sense to do things halfway. The death penalty is bad. We have killed it.
Sierra Leoneans hate the death penalty for two reasons: The state should NEVER give itself the right to kill its citizens even for capital offences. It’s wrong! The second reason is that we know that innocent people can be killed by the state because of some judicial mistake (miscarriage of justice) or in a politically-motivated way. So what we have done now is to make that totally impossible. That’s it.
We should tell the former minister that we also don’t want any minister going into the prison yard periodically to clean up the gallows and threaten other citizens with the death penalty. We want all our ministers to spend time looking for investment and jobs for people not to run around in a convoy of vehicles or take pictures of themselves supervising the cleaning of the evil gallows.
On that referendum thing, we will not say much. The reaction of the people of Sierra Leone and the world community is enough to tell us we have done the right thing and the people absolutely approve – including Palo’s own APC party. We can’t waste our taxes organizing any such referendum. Sorry!
We now call on the Correctional Service to now make good money by opening up that dreaded place to ordinary people to visit for a fee. We want to see where many of our brothers have perished at the hands of politicians using the now dead and buried DEATH PENALTY.
IS THIS THE END OF WAEC’S SCRATCH CARD GAME?
The people at WEAC should never pretend to like the fact that their scratch card business is on the brink of death right now because RASTA SENGS has found a way of easing the financial pain and time constraint by releasing NPSE results without those oppressive cards being necessary. Many people love the new system and it’s easy to use. WAEC scratch card was now going for about FORTY THOUSAND Leones and some of those cards were total fakes. Last year somebody bought two from different locations and at each attempt to use them they were told the cards had been used already. The person called up WAEC to complain but they got no help. The guy on the WAEC end of the phone was as impatient as a stranger wanting to help a complete idiot who doesn’t know what he wants.
We now hope that RASTA SENGS will go forward and make that unnecessarily expensive and even useless and stressful card completely irrelevant forever. If that’s the money WAEC needs to construct or rent an office space befitting their age, prestige and the critical nature of the work they do, then they should be prepared for a lifelong stay at AJ Momoh Street.
While all other organizations, including some young ones, are busy improving the physical outlook of their work area, WAEC is content to be in the same situation. Along that very important stretch of road, WAEC is only marginally better than the FIRE SERVICE in terms of the physical condition of their buildings.
Good bye to scratch cards.
PETTY TRADERS GATHERING AROUND YOUYI BUILDING
Slowly but surely petty traders are beginning to take over the main entrance to Youyi building, the place occupying almost all government ministries. We say almost because we are still trying to locate the office of our Minister for the Western Area. The state of affairs on the left of that main entrance from Zonta Bye Pass road should not be allowed to continue.
We understand the need for people to do whatever petty trading they want to do to be able to eke out a genuine living. The picture their presence creates in that place is not good. It sends the wrong message to our foreign visitors. Sierra Leoneans are used to petty traders setting stalls up all over the place but let’s not allow this place to be taken over before we begin to issue countless press releases warning people because by that time politicians wanting to score points will begin to make all kinds of romantic arguments to support what they clearly know is wrong.
The police should move them from that place now and not wait till we have a mini Abacha Street there, creating the possibility of the police deploying tear gas to clear the place.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online (29/07/21)
