WHEN PARLIAMENT CLOSES DOWN IN THE COMING WEEKS
Some members of the current parliament know they will not return to Tower Hill after the June 24 2023 elections. In fact some of them landed there by mistake or riding on the wings of certain people and institutions. We will certainly not miss a good many of them from all sides of the House and we can't wait for Bio to close the House. Here are those we will not miss.
1. MPs who didn’t contribute a single word to all the debates throughout their tenure. They spent five years only voting along party lines and helping make the House ungovernable at different times in the life of this parliament.
2. Undertone MPs. These are people who are good at making undertones while others are speaking. They are very effective in that. People are not sent to Tower Hill to be making undertones so we will not miss them.
3. Absentee MPs. There were times when Speaker Bundu went out of his way to complain about absenteeism among MPs. When IGR released a report on that and other matters some MPs took up arms and attacked one of the most credible organizations in this country. We will help them leave parliament by taking their attendance card to their people.
4. MPs who took opposition politics to a whole new level. We don’t want to go into the details, including how Speaker Bundu described them when he took action to stop the police from arresting and prosecuting them for serious disturbances in the House. We will definitely not miss those few guys.
STILL WAITING FOR MAYOR KEMOKAI’S CABLE CAR
By the time our mayor wakes up from sleep cable cars will be operating over Freetown. Traveling between Kingtom and Aberdeen for example will not require a Keke or an Okada, between Eastern Police and Abacha Street will be the same just like between Aberdeen and Goderich and between New England and Wilberforce Street. On that day the angels in heaven will join us to celebrate the good work of Mayor Kemokai.
We understand she’s been conducting feasibility studies around this city in the last ONE YEAR or so. There’s no indication when the result of that study will be made available to the good people of Freetown. We also have no idea when the mayor will fly out again to look for more money or even when that money is committed by donors and when the first cents would reach our accounts. That’s why we are not even talking about our first ever ride in a cable car. They look great on TV so our mayor wants us to be like other nations. Great dreams our dear smiling mayor.
So while waiting for all those processes to complete we have a few requests to repeat for the attention of the smiling mayor. We want to plead with mayor Kemokai to act because we voted for her.
1. We need a clean city. She has to stop blaming the central government for all her failings and get the job done. To collect market dues while ignoring the job of cleaning the markets is certainly an issue for Kemokai.
2. We need a few public toilets in the city. We don’t want to interfere with our readers’ breakfast so we will not be brutal but we invite the mayor to take a look around Freetown and understand why we need some public toilets.
3. Our mayor likes publicity. She enjoys being in the limelight but on her own terms. We plead with her to make it possible for the people of this city to also smile on social media and that is only possible when the few things mentioned above are addressed.
4. By the way, how is that small matter of the alleged obstruction of police work in Lungi going? We will look at the files this week anyway.
DILAPIDATED GOVERNMENT BUSES STILL ON OUR PROVINCIAL ROUTES
It is now clear that some government buses plying our provincial routes, especially those going to Kenema are no longer road-worthy but they are still on the roads risking the lives of passengers.
Here is what we experienced with the SLRTC buses from Freetown to Kenema in the last two weeks: We boarded one such bus from the Shell transport terminal to Kenema. The bus departed just after midday and, believe it or not, arrived in Kenema at 8: Pm
Somebody traveling to London from Freetown at that same time would be home having a hot meal somewhere in central London by the time we arrived at the Hanga road terminal.
To make matters worse, the bus had a terrible headlight and our driver fought his way through the darkness to save our souls. The distance between Bo to Kenema terrified most of the passengers given the situation. We ended up having a motorbike show us the way or we had to wait for every approaching vehicle to pass before we could move. That was how terrible it became.
We had a breakdown which was fixed up by the driver and some of the male passengers in the vehicle.
The return journey brought us another SLRTC bus. We had a breakdown yet again but this time we were lucky it happened after Waterloo so the passengers found their way to their respective destinations. This was after the man in charge at the Kenema terminal had assured us that the bus was good to go.
Here is what we think should be done
1. Moba Kabineh should fast track the arrival of the 200 or so IURMP project buses so that the old ones can be scrapped.
2. Those buses are now only good enough for town service. They can go a long way in addressing the transportation challenges in Freetown.
3. We can as well auction them to private people so that we can save some cash.
4. SLRTC should make it a priority that all the buses are always in good order before they leave the terminal. Breakdowns are normal but frankly for a vehicle to have defective headlight is something nobody understands.
5. A standby vehicle should always be available to rescue stranded passengers on the roads. These days we pay more on government buses than in private ones.
WHAT IS THOMAS DADDY SAYING ABOUT BRIBERY IN FOOTBALL?
Thomas Daddy Brima of SLFA says football administrators who bribe or attempt to bribe referees are the one who complain the loudest about poor officiating. On balance of probabilities, we can conclude that Daddy Brima knows the administrators who bribe or attempt to bribe referees, otherwise how come he was on radio accusing them of complaining the loudest.
We’ve heard a lot about compromised refereeing and all that but when the president of the SLFA goes on radio and makes such a comment, it takes the matter to a scary level. This really now goes to the heart of some of the challenges facing our game. Apart from a few quick social media comments here and there, no serious attempt has been made to get Brima to put some flesh on the bones of his comment for the benefit of all of us who love the game.
In this column we have identified arrogance and loyalty to certain clubs as reasons for the poor performance of referees. After listening to the SLFA president, we now make bold to add harassment by club officials and bribery. So now there are four main reasons for questionable performances by our referees.
The fourth factor, BRIBERY, is what we want to talk about with our SLFA president. Here’s how he can deal with bribery in the local game. We are doing this because all he’s done is complain in the media. He probably needs our help.
1. If Thomas Daddy is really sure that Bribery is destroying the game and he knows that those complaining the loudest are the ones involved, then he should immediately name them and start disciplinary proceedings against them.
2. Thomas Daddy should also put the particular referees who are in the habit of collecting bribes in the dock and chase them out of the game. He could go as far as disbanding the Referees Committee for failing to deal with corruption in their ranks.
3. There’s nothing wrong about making such pronouncements in the media, it’s another to be really strong to take appropriate action to correct the situation. The people want action.
4. Finally, we want to again call Brima attention to all the violence taking place in league matches. Since the start of this league no disciplinary action has been taken against any club, players or officials for unruly behavior on and off the field of play. The SLFA is failing the people. Abusive language from match officials and stone throwing are what people experience most of the time at football venues. Again, Thomas Daddy should avoid plenty of talk and act. He should act in a timeous manner.
Copyright © 2023 Politico Online (30/01/23)
