INVESTIGATING THE SIERRA LEONE LAW SCHOOL
There is a way in which the man who brought the message of police investigating the Law School looked a little odd for that job. We don’t think he was the right person to do so given that he has a very big axe to grind with the school. He tried to clean things up towards the end of the letter announcing that the Sierra Leone Law School will soon be investigated but that could have been avoided.
Anyway, like many Sierra Leoneans we are looking forward to this all-powerful Law School being investigated along the lines set out in that letter. We want to be clear that issues like the recruitment of staff, admission of students, the actual teaching and financial management of the place are all above board. Otherwise we would have no problem with criminal prosecutions for what Senior Prefect would call “egregious infractions” leading to the wrecking of the reputations and aspirations of many families in this country.
As we prepare for that we want to say a few things to those investigating the school. We have no reason to imagine they will not do a good job but it is our job to put things on record.
1. The man who wrote that letter is an interested party. We are happy he noted that in his letter and has promised to stay clear of the process. We pray that the Lord help him stay out of it.
2. We’ve been told a lot about what goes on at the Sierra Leone Law School by students – past and present. In these days of social media, sporadic comments have been popping up all over. All of that should be good material for the investigators to chew on.
3. We believe there is something very wrong with teaching methods in particular in that place. Otherwise how can we explain such a massive failure? Don’t tell us the students are all that stupid.
4. How long will this investigation last? We don’t want any open-ended stuff that would take us to the rapture. We have a lot of other things to do.
5. The image of our Law School is in danger of being very badly damaged so no shoddy work please.
CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE WAKE THE NGC UP?
Hello NGC. Are you people still operating outside parliament like the national political party you say you are? We are doing a big study to find out why third parties have not managed to survive in Sierra Leone starting with the late Thaimu Bangura’s PDP Sorbeh.
We have traveled extensively across the country looking for party offices and speaking to partisans. We have collected some interesting stuff and for the NGC we have also been following their performances in some bye-elections and we are beginning to draw some conclusions. That will not be complete without having a conversation with NGC leaders. So can somebody please wake them up right now?
KKY may be doing well in parliament and public life in general to the admiration of many, but things are not so good for his party. The NGC has punched well below its own assumed political weight in all bye-elections since this new government came to power. We hope we never get there but if for any unfortunate reason we stumble into a bye-election in one of those constituencies they are currently holding in Kambia district, the NGC will be very seriously tested.
Many people we have spoken to so far don’t want the NGC to go the way of PDP-Sorbeh and PMDC. The latter is a whole lecture in political opportunism.
THE GHOST OF MUSTAPHA IS STILL WAITING FOR THE INQUEST.
The nation was promised an inquest into how a humble Sierra Leonean died in a so-called fire incident at his home in Freetown not so long ago. We have not heard anything about the promised inquest since the President of PMDC was thrown out of office within a few weeks of being appointed Attorney General.
Can Principal himself now tell the nation something about this inquest, please? Pretending as if everything is fine with the Mustapha family and that they now have closure on that issue is false. To also believe that we will forget about commenting on this issue after a few editions is equally false.
We want Principal to tell us whether this was an example of the overzealousness of the President of PMDC or a determination by his government to establish the truth behind that so-called fire incident on that fateful day.
The inquest must go on for the following reasons:
1. Let the family of the late man get closure on this issue. As long as that so-called fire incident is considered suspicious there will be continuous cry for justice.
2. The people of Sierra Leone who have been following this case with interest want to be sure there were no death squads going around this country killing people. We must investigate this to send a clear message that there is no hiding place for killers.
3. If that Coroner’s inquest confirms what people suspected all these years, then we will expect trials and convictions for murder, arson and other offences. Besides they call this administration New Direction and TALK en DO. You have talked about the inquest, now go ahead and do it.
4. The longer we delay this inquest the more time we are providing for the wrongdoers to flee the country or take further steps to conceal their crime. And those steps may include doing something to people who knew something.
5. The last time we saw a Coroner’s inquest in this country was in the case of journalist Harry Yansaneh. Recommendations were made by the Coroner for some people to be prosecuted. As soon as the mother of those people crossed over and joined the ruling party the matter died and the Coroner is still recovering from the series of administrative attacks he suffered. Here is an opportunity to do another inquest and implement its findings. We are a democracy.
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