BO AIRPORT CONTROVERSY AND THE NEED FOR FRANK TALK
The Ministry of Transport is beginning to shift the goal post from telling the media they had no idea who the people behind the proposed Bo airport are to now talk of the company not following the correct procedure before going on the ground to start site clearing. Now, we get the point they are making. You can’t be exchanging official correspondence with a so-called company without knowing who they are. As the letters from the ministry show, the company was invited to Freetown by the ministry. The ministry then asked them to do a proposal for consideration. What was Kabineh thinking?
There is nothing wrong with what the ministry did up to that point. Why did the ministry then tell the media they knew nothing about the company that has been clearing acres and acres of land in Bo for an airport and industrial zone project?
So here’s our take, for what it’s worth:
1. Engaging people seeking to invest in a country is a normal thing and like we have said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the ministry inviting those people to come here and put forward a proposal.
2. But closing the doors after that is a little strange. The company spokesman told us on the ground in Bo that they have been unable to speak to those who matter in the industry despite all efforts. To tell such a lie to the media knowing it will be widely reported is a very damaging thing to do. That’s why we gave their word some credence.
3. Why the company went on the ground to clear the site and even erect sign boards indicating their work area and engaging the local community without the necessary papers is something we find difficult to believe. Why spend all that money on heavy machinery and workers with such uncertainty hanging over your head. The company spokesman suggested it was a way of getting the attention of the authorities. Well they now have the attention they needed but it was a small time strategy that has messed up their relationship with the ministry and its agencies.
4. Now, we are hearing claims from ordinary people in the area that they own some of the land now being cleared by the company. Legal challenges are on the way. The community leaders say they have not signed any papers giving the land away for this airport project. Where is this company really going?
MoHS CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
A really depressing thing about the disgraceful episode of General Demby fighting his CMO is that all official documents relating to the incident are now on social media. We are sure they were purposely put there to embarrass each other. They have ended up embarrassing the good people of Sierra Leone including the man who put them in office.
We live in a free society and information sharing is part of the freedom we enjoy in Sierra Leone but for official documents that ideally should remain in the files at Youyi building to be plastered all over social media is a crazy thing to do. Actually, it didn’t start with MOHS because every appointment from State House, even internal documents have all been released on social media just to create unnecessary sensation around the issues. In this particular MOHS case, the letter General Demby sent to his Permanent Secretary instructing him to send the CMO away and the actual letter sent to the CMO are now all on social media. We are strenuously trying to exclude the lengthy write up from the CMO but even that ought to have remained in their files.
We don’t know how much more embarrassment should be caused to the good people of Sierra Leone before somebody somewhere did something about this habit of putting all official documents on social media, revealing the gory details of a very unfortunate affair in a ministry we expect so much from.
KOEMAN SACKED AT BARCA BUT OLE HANGS ON AT MAN U
Dutch man Ronnie Koeman is out of job again after being sacked at Barcelona. This was hardly a surprise because the position of the club in the league table owing to a string of poor results looks and feels very strange to great Barca. The decision to sack him came after another humiliating 1-0 defeat to a team that would normally go up against Barca, expecting a sound beating. Barca even missed a penalty against Real Vallecano. That was too much for the club president to take.
A few hours away in Manchester, UK, Ole is hanging by his finger nails, checking his email every second to see if the dreaded mail had come through while he was having lunch. He picks all calls, especially those from strange numbers. He was expecting to be sacked hours after Liverpool destroyed his team at Old Trafford. He is in charge for now but many in the football world believe Ole is a dead man walking.
When all is said and done, Ole is a lucky guy. He did a few memorable things in his playing days at Manchester United but his career as a manger in Scotland and in his home Norway is not the kind of CV that takes managers to a club like Manchester United.
We are not in the business of predicting things but we will be very surprised if Ole was still in charge at Old Trafford by Christmas 2021 with the same patchy performances. In fact the only reason he is still the manager is because the big guys at Old Trafford don’t want the story line that says they sacked their manager after suffering defeat at the hands of their great rival, Liverpool.
PREMIER LEAGUE BOARD MUST CHANGE MATCH TIME NOW
The Premier League is taking people for granted as far as match time at the stadium is concerned. We still don’t understand why they insist on playing matches there at SIX when they continue to play at HALF PAST FOUR at other venues in this same city. Playing at FIVE PM is the best for the national stadium. The Premier League Board should know that the lights at that stadium are so bad that football is actually being played in the dark. We commend our players for enduring that nonsense because they have no choice for now.
Hosting matches at SIX throws up all kinds of challenges apart from the very bad lighting system in that place. For people coming from the far corners of Freetown, they are left at the mercy of wicked commercial drivers and criminals as they battle to reach home after matches. When it was RAMADAN it was understandable that matches were set for SEVEN PM but we can’t understand why we still play at SIX.
The idea that the board wants to give people from work time to reach the stadium is totally flawed. The board and the clubs in this league should know that their fans are not NINE to FIVE people. Besides, even when matches are set for a particular time, the time will be changed half an hour before kick off without even an apology as we saw last weekend in the match between E. E Lions and Ports Authority. The board and the clubs are really taking people for granted.
As far as the so-called presidential pavilion is concerned, we are tired of talking about the standards expected in such places and what actually happens on the ground. It is the most lawless place with beggars and petty thieves hanging around all the time. How they manage to mix with people who pay ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND LEONES or have VIP accreditation is something we really can’t understand. Let’s not even talk about petty traders walking up and down even when the match is in progress. Anyway thanks for ignoring us again.
Copyright © Politico Online 29/10/21
