ORSAMU EMBRACES RASTA SENGS: WHAT NEXT?
We’ve seen pictures on social media - actually they were first tweeted by Rasta Sengs announcing his meeting with Orsamu at a function organized by the US embassy. They both looked happy with themselves and Rasta Sengs appears to believe that this country was firmly now on the brink of some understanding following the acrimony that has engulfed this place after the elections on June 24, 2023. From the pictures we saw their embrace looked very warm and on the face of it that sends a nice picture to many supporters all over Sierra Leone.
Anyway, from our little corner, we always like to step back and look at such a picture in line with what obtains on the ground and other forces at play in this political landscape. So what we say here may not necessarily satisfy some of our friends or may even anger them but this is what newspapers do in a democracy.
1. Probably the only force that pulled all of those into the same space was the power of the world’s only SUPERPOWER. We congratulate the Americans for doing that because we really can’t continue fighting and undermining each other.
2. We understand that international mediators have had meetings in Freetown and collected documents from all sides promising to return with dates for substantive talks on those issues. We call on the Americans to support those talks and close this chapter.
3. Orsamu has been defeated twice and he is well advanced in age, meaning he may not be on the ballot in 2028. Is he the real factor in all of this or is King Messi the real guy who is set to anoint the next leader of Tolongbo? Is that why the Peace Commission and their friends went to see him in FORTRESS MAKENI?
4. We doubt how engaged Orsamu was with all of that gesture considering his proposed daily meetings with Justice Fisher and those COI issues now being completed. His in-tray is full to the brim. The social media post looks nice but was Orsamu really interested?
MALI JUNTA PLAYING THE OLD TRICK AGAIN
The junta in Mali is not fooling anybody with the announcement that they were postponing elections till 2025. Apart from them continuously shifting the time table since they started negotiations with ECOWAS, regimes like that never stick to timetables and always look for opportunities or create situations to warrant them staying in power beyond the call. Col. Goita and his people know what they are doing but they think the rest of the world believes the excuses they are making.
The junta in Mali is heading for their first major clash with civilian politicians who’ve had to observe things from the sidelines all this while. When the professional class in Sudan rose against the soldiers who hijacked their struggle against the disgraced Omar El-Bashir, the same groups poured into the streets again to challenge the soldiers and see what we have now in that part of Africa. We don’t wish that for Mali but Col. Goita and others know they are playing with fire, delaying the transition of democratic civilian rule.
1. Mali is facing ECOWAS sanctions. They may have been violating it with the help of some rogue member states but the people are suffering. Whatever support there was for the actions of the military has been eroded over time. The same people who welcomed them are ready to chase them out and civilian politicians are becoming impatient.
2. The long running insurgency in the north is gaining momentum with rebels pulling out of peace agreements, launching attacks and killing soldiers and civilians in their dozens. Col. Goita accused the government he overthrew of not fighting the rebels with any seriousness. Where is he now with that?
3. Mali’s new allies from Russia have so far proved ineffective against the rebels. Is he going to kick them out like he did to the UN and France?
4. What’s the response of ECOWAS to this new shift in the date? They should tell Col. Goita that power comes from the people through democratic elections not by the barrel of a gun - especially the one made in Putin's Russia.
YES INDEED WE WANT REPARATION FOR THE SLAVE TRADE
The President of Ghana may be having a rough time with his economy at the moment like many other presidents given the harsh economic realities of today but when he appeared at the UN the other day he re-opened a conversation we always like to take part in. He called on those who enslaved Africans for many years to try and make amends for that. This is not the first time civic and political leaders from Africa have made that call. The guilty parties in the industrialized West have always played down the issue. Nana Akuffo Addo has thrown that debate wide open again and this time we believe we should push things so hard that we will eventually reach a conclusion.
For some people every time we mention reparation they think only in terms of container loads of money being sent down to Africa. Yes we want all the money they refused to pay us for work done in those plantations and in building certain cities but that’s not all.
1. Let’s start with an apology that is genuine – an apology that comes from the heart. We are not impressed by those qualified apologies they keep churning out. They apologize but quickly tell us that our ancestors also played a part in the trade. We don’t want to litigate that here again. Give us an unqualified apology and let’s take the next step.
2. End the unfair world economic practices forced upon Africa in particular. We are talking about the system operated by the World Bank and IMF. The burden those bodies have put on Africa is on that we cannot carry. We want a seat among the permanent members of the UN Security Council with full VETO powers.
3. Stop encouraging and sometimes participating in wars in Africa. All those arms shipments and mercenaries are not needed in Africa. The beneficiaries are those who enslaved Africans all those years ago.
4. Stop racism in the West. There’s a constant racist KNEE on the NECK of the African diaspora.
Let’s start with these actions while we calculate the amount of cash we deserve. The pay day MUST come NOW.
ZAMBIA POLICE TELL EDGAR LUNGU TO STOP JOGGING
Former Zambia President Edgar Lungu has been told to stop jogging around and drawing the attention of crowds to his effort to stay healthy. The police believe that Lungu is using the jogging as a rallying point for his supporters as he prepares to attempt a return to State House. They suspect he is building momentum ahead of elections in 2026.
This is really interesting. A defeated president decides to be jogging around to keep fit and the authorities are worried. They haven’t told the world whether there’s been any violence or political songs around the jogging exercise but they want to deploy state security around the man.
President Hakainde Hichilema who came to power after a long struggle is beginning to look like those he challenged for 20 years on his way to the State House. If thousands of people suddenly begin to turn up to jog along with the president, then we will understand the call for the police to be informed so the former president can be protected for bad guys who may infiltrate the group and cause trouble but the few people we’ve seen so far absolutely pose no threat to anybody.
A life in the presidency cut short by that defeat can be extremely boring. Lungu wants to see and talk to more people. He wants to make it impossible for another candidate to spring up from within his own party because he indicated after his defeat that it was time to retire.
As far as we are concerned from this little corner of great Africa, as long as there’s no violence and the crowd is manageable, Lungu must be allowed to jog around. Well done Mr. Former President.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (29/09/23)
