KEISTER OUT OF HIS DEPTH…LEONE STARS IN FREE FALL
We are up against Sao Tome and Principe again on Sunday and that encounter represents the last chance for the so-called professional element of our national team to justify their call up for national duty. We’ve been patient for too long. On the other hand, even if we beat Sao Tome by TEN goals, we MUST sack our technical team headed by JOHN KEISTER as soon as they land at Lungi. We will not be part of any romantic argument about this and that in their favor. There is nothing left in them – in terms of their knowledge of the game. We deserve far better than what they are serving up every time they take to the field.
When we checked out the match statistics done by independent professionals, Sierra Leone dominated possession but could only come back twice to equalize. With respect to Sao Tome, that match was there for us to win by a wide margin. We will not listen to any explanation about tactics, weather or food. We have always provided the needs of our players and officials so we have a right to DEMAND victory.
We know that those in charge of our football are going to throw the following suggestions into the bin but it’s our business to put them up for consideration:
1. It is only by a MIRACLE that Sierra Leone will qualify for Abidjan from this position so let’s kick all those pseudo-professionals out of the team immediately. We will save a lot of money from air tickets and match allowances. Going by the last match only the goalkeeper and Alhassan Koroma should survive the cull. The rest should go.
2. This may appear radical but at the end of this current campaign we should withdraw from all international assignments including friendlies and concentrate on building our teams from the level of our school system. Other countries have done that and turned their fortunes around. The current home-based squad lacks fitness and imagination and the will to win.
3. We need another coach immediately. We NEED a coach backed by a new technical team with a winning mentality. We need a technical team that will take charge of the team and inspire the boys to win. We MUST set them targets and sack them if they fail. There should be no ifs and buts about that.
4. To guide us through this process, let’s take a good look at a report done by Steven Kaifala of NSA after some friendly matches involving Leone Stars. His bosses at NSA were angry with him because he made the report public. All we are interested in is what the guy captured in that report. We need it now.
MEANWHILE PLEASE TELL KEI KAMARA TO SHUT UP
We don’t mean to be rude so we want to respectfully ask Kei Kamara to shut up. While this good people of this country were trying to come to terms with our disgraceful performance against a team that conceded 15 goals in just two matches, Kei was on social media telling us that unless we allow him to dictate things down here, there will be no victory for this country. The guy has still not accepted that he is out of our team.
Kei has a lot of experience playing in the US with brief spells in Europe and he did well on the pitch for us. We know that. What we also know is that he was a very divisive character who spread disorderly behavior inside our national. He was known to disrespect the technical staff at every turn. He broke camp rules and was quick to go on social media to complain about everything, including when a house fly landed on his forehead.
Instead of setting good standards among young players, this guy would rally the boys at the 11th hour before a match and make unreasonable financial demands. He has unsettled preparations in this way before. We know this. We have retired him and no amount of blackmail will bring Kei back to Leone Stars.
SLRSA PLEASE TELL PROVIDENCE SCHOOL TO CLEAR THE ROAD
We want to respectfully ask the SLRSA if their SAFETY CORPS are only on the streets to issue tickets for minor traffic offences and sometimes collect pennies from keke and okada boys. We ask because we cannot understand why they are not doing anything about the many vehicles abandoned on the streets. Some of these vehicles have been left on the street for months, even years. Why can’t SLRSA clear them from our streets and force the owners to pay for that disposal service?
This is the picture of a bus owned by Providence School. One of our readers sent us this photo and complained that this vehicle has been abandoned in this position for months. We really cannot give an ultimatum to the SLRSA but we want to ask them to urge Providence school to move this wreck immediately. Hillside by-pass road is not a garage. There’s provision for brief parking but there is no provision for a scrapyard on that road. We will keep an eye on this from now on.
LET’S DECLARE A WAR AGAINST PLASTIC BOTTLES ON OUR STREETS
We have called attention to this issue in this column many times. It’s one of those issues about which the authorities decided they will completely ignore us. We have to return to it now to remind them that we will not allow them to ignore us and also because by doing nothing about it, things have gone from bad to worst.
Let’s make it clear that we are not against any local company selling soft drinks to our people. We want Sierra Leoneans and their locally produced goods to dominate the market but what we have noticed from the local soft drinks companies is that their plastic containers are polluting our environment and the authorities who cleared them to operate in this country have not told them to stop making huge profits while polluting our environment and in a way contributing to the factors that cause flooding particularly in Freetown.
Here’s what we saw at St. John two days ago. SLRA workers cleared the drainage for waste water to flow freely but two days later the rubbish drawn out of the gutter is still on the side of the street. It’s clear from this picture that the plastic bottles we are talking about are all over the place. We want action now.
1. Cancel the license granted to these soft drink producers until we are convinced that they have put in a place a robust system of cleaning after themselves. We should also put in place a system by which we monitor that to make sure they don’t quickly return to their old ways after one week.
2. Let’s take them to court and get some big money from them for the damage they’ve caused so far or to simply recover the money we’ve spent clearing our drainage system blocked by their plastic bottles since they came into operation.
3. As consumers we should consider an initial ONE month boycott of such drinks to force the producers to clean up now and commit to cleaning regularly. This is not an attempt to squeeze local producers out of business it is a sensible move to end pollution.
4. This government NEEDS to now go to parliament with legislation to ban single use plastic from Sierra Leone. Other countries in our neighborhood have done it. We can also do it.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (24/03/23)
