NACE CLOSING THE DOOR AFTER THE HORSES HAVE BOLTED
We broke the story about Sierra Leone's suspension from the Extractive Industries Transparency or EITI process. We are under no illusion that there are people in government and civil society who knew the outcome of the EITI meeting that suspended Sierra Leone and those same individuals also know what the consequences of such suspension are. But true to form they decided to hide the news from the people. Well, we had our eyes and ears inside the meeting and because of our commitment to the welfare of our people and our country, we decided to go public.
Now the issue is being discussed everywhere and officials of an organisation that credits itself with representing the people's interest have joined in and are busy blaming everyone else but themselves for the mess in which we find ourselves. NACE knew things were going wrong with EITI but they sat back and refused to speak out. Not once did they call the media to tell the people what had gone wrong. We will not accept any talk about quiet diplomacy or all that nonsense or that they still believed that even at the last minute, Sierra Leone would still qualify because "tremendous improvement had been made". So why is NACE speaking only now?
Didn't NACE know that when the EITI secretariat people went on that per-diem tour around the country in the name of sensitizing communities about the EITI, they completely messed up everything and ended up going on blows with provincial EITI partner CBOs? By the way, where is the ELTI lady who led the process? We understand that soon after that event, she travelled abroad and we haven't heard anything about her since. In fact her recruitment is said to have been suspect at best if not fraudulent.
We warn NACE that they must now come out with the whole truth about this disgrace and not wait until we conclude our investigation with the aim of establishing criminal responsibility. Or forever they keep quiet and disband themselves. For now we absolutely blame Commonwealth Marah for failing in his first major national assignment.
Bringing large crowds to State House and getting them to present you with a certificate for something that means nothing to any of us is far easier than championing the process of making EITI compliant. Resign now sir?
WHEN WILL SLPP'S NOVEMBER 17 CASE BE HEARD IN COURT?
We saw an interesting letter recently written by Oponjo Underground to the Chief Justice of this great republic. Well basically, he called the attention of the Chief of our justice system to the fact that once again the Supreme Court has failed to rule on their case weeks after they filed their papers. He writes: "We are intrigued by the disappointing and frustrating information from our solicitors that the file is still before Your Lady (in chamber) and that the Supreme Court Bench has not been empanelled either, to hear our complaint".
Only for emphasis, we have to say that in Ghana where the election also ended in controversy, the case is already being heard. Kenya's own election palaver will soon be decided. Why Sierra Leone? Our courts have acted with lightening speed from time to time, granting injunctions against opposition politicians and parties hours before polls opened and other crucial deadlines. In the SLPP's case, the nation is still waiting for the case to come to court.
Oponjo Underground also writes: "My Lady, we are convinced that you are entrusted for God and country when administering justice so that you will not allow you good self to be prepossessed with any judgment at all, until the whole facts and evidence including the petitioners and respondents have been heard". Strong words, Oponjo but errr...
Here we offer some advice to you and your party on how to deal with the judiciary in such circumstances:
1. Ask Bu-buakei Jabbie to tell the Speaker of Parliament to excuse him for a few days so that he can file more papers and produce more affidavits for the Supreme Court to finally move.
2. Oponjo Underground should copy the example of the SLAJ president Obama Fofana who refused to cut his hair until the Supreme Court ruled on his organisation's case against criminal libel. Within three months, we will have Rasta Oponjo.
3. If both steps fail, then the SLPP should just drop the case and start campaigning for 2018. Even their supporters are getting fed up with all this.
There are hundreds of people inside the Pademba Road jail who have no business being there. The Attorney General said recently that he was working hard to speed up their trials. Frank knows we have heard that too many times and the people are still on remand. Is this not the only country that has more people on remand than convicts? Nice imbalance eh?
HABEMUS PAPAM! But What Says Makeni Diocese?
The Catholic church has a new leader. He is Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis I from Argentina.
All those Cardinals locked up in that holy place were looking to pick up the great job but in the end it was the man from the Latin American country of Argentina who was elected.
We are not sure how the Makeni Diocese will react to this latest move in Rome. We are concerned because when Rome picked Bishop Aruna to lead the faithful in the Makeni Diocese, the priests there rejected the appointment because the Bishop came from the South of Sierra Leone. They argued that there are many qualified priests in the Makeni Diocese who should have been appointed by Rome. By that same logic, we expect priests from the Makeni Diocese to go to the next level and pull out of the Catholic communion because the three African contenders, who are as qualified as the others, have not been elected.
We are expecting a press statement soon on the issue and we will gladly publish it.
Continuing with the Makeni Diocese logic, we also expect the Italians to re-consider their cooperation with the church and its institutions and to warn the faithful to reverse their decision to select Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope, otherwise they will go the way of the Makeni Diocese because they've been briefed by an Italian Bishop who knows Makeni well and is said to the catalyst for the new posture of the Makeni Diocese.
We have a few more interesting days to come!
ARE WE FACING A DRY SEASON OF DISCONTENT IN SIERRA LEONE
It started with Njala University, then it came to Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. Now we hear that Milton Margai College of Education has joined in strikes that have wrecked an education system that has been in terminal decline over many years. These are serious times for education in Sierra Leone and Minkailu Bah will find it difficult to dismiss the strikes as politics in the same way he behaved towards the end of last year.
Probably, the nation should organise a national conference on education as soon as possible. These problems have been festering over a long period. Here's an opportunity now to resolve the problem and end strikes in the nation's universities for the foreseeable future.
We hope negotiations will end the stand-off for the children to return to school.
