DE PA GOES TO THE WHITE HOUSE TO SEE BARAK OBAMA
De Pa is among four Heads of State from Africa invited to the White House in Washington by Barak Obama. We don’t know why. Official sources say they will discuss democracy and trade. On the face of it, those are very important items on the agenda.
But as always with issues like this in Sierra Leone, the real issues are never well reported and put into perspective. It’s the propaganda aspect of the visit that will soon dominate the discussion in newspapers, radio, SLBC/TV and on social media. So we leave that to those whose job is just that.
We believe however that Obama wants to raise very serious issues with De Pa himself. And it’s important that the message is handed to De Pa himself. His Foreign Minister is out of his depth in the new ministry.
We make bold to say that the following issues will sure be on the table in that White House meeting: De Pa will be told to end hardship and deprivation among his people so that they stop taking chances with DV lottery in such huge numbers every year; Obama will also tell De Pa to unite his people by stopping his officials using the “Mr. Jones will come back” rhetoric every time somebody makes a critical statement about the way the country is run. We reference this with the kind of treatment Obama’s ambassador here received just for suggesting the “possibility of a run off” in the last election by the same quarters that chased the UN’s Michael Schulenburg out of this country. By recent developments and their own words, we now confirm they are very close to power.
De Pa will be told to fight corruption in a more serious, sustained and fair manner in line with his pledge that there will be no SACRED COWS in his administration. He will be excoriated for allowing Sierra Leone to be suspended by the EITI Board for non-compliance.
Obama will also tell De Pa to act against his information minister who despite all the nation’s problems spends all his time harassing and bullying the statutory media regulator – the independent media commission – in a manner the vast majority of Sierra Leoneans know are illegal and morally unacceptable.
We hope De Pa will meet the media on his return. By the way, will he be staying at the Waldorf Astoria in New York? We already know how much it costs there. We will multiply that by the number of people in the delegation. And we hear every minister wants to go along. MORE ON THIS NEXT WEEK.
Obama will warn De Pa to tell his ministers who are already campaigning to succeed him to back off and concentrate on their jobs.
And finally, our own De Pa would be told in no uncertain terms not to dream of seeking a third term or make the mistake of imposing his successor on the people of Sierra Leone.
STATE HOUSE RELEASE ON EITI – MORE QUSETIONS FOR MARAH
It’s been a rollercoaster week for government as they tried to deal with the vexed question of Sierra Leone having been suspended from the EITI process. They have tried all the public relations tricks in the books but we appear to be in the same place as on the day Politico broke the story. We will give this fact about Public Relations for free. We would normally ask for a few cents for this but here goes: In Public Relations you have to be able to admit that things are bad when they really are as in the case of our suspension from the EITI process. The spinning should come in when questions about how we allowed this to happen have been asked. That’s enough please!
Apart from bits and pieces of statements full of weasel words from spokesmen who have no idea what the EITI issue really is, it’s only in the last 48 hours that we have been given some idea of what the state of things are in the extractive industry. The government has cleverly shielded from the limelight Commonwealth Marah who was in charge of the EITI. Here we quote from a State House press release:
State House - “…the following list of exploration companies are requested to report payments made to government entities during the period 2008 to 2010. Letters of request including the SLEITI Reporting Templates have already been sent to companies which addresses were identified”.
Politico – SLEITI lists 31 companies and we’ve heard of many of them. Why is it only now that the SLEITI secretariat is sending its “reporting templates”? Are they also telling us that some of the companies have no addresses? They are in briefcases eh? Land That We Love!
Marah will have to face the media. There’s no way out.
OSUOFIA’S CAMPAIGN BILLBOARDS AND TODAY’S REALITY
Can somebody please tell Osuofia to take down all his campaign billboards from those prominent locations in particular Freetown and Bo? There’s one at Congo Cross, another at the Aberdeen Roundabout, and another near the Clock Tower in Bo, etc. We are so fed up with elections which have benefitted us nothing, so much so that we don’t want to be reminded of the whole nonsense over and over again at every turn with those campaign billboards.
We know the guy is still challenging the results and may still be dreaming of a run-off, but the rest of us can’t imagine that happening. He shouldn’t constantly drag us into his Alice in Wonderland fantasy world. Which court in this country is going to overturn De Pa’s mandate? Maybe the Usuofia Court sitting in the Kailahun Court Barray.
If Osuofia can’t afford the money to remove their billboards, we will ask the UNDP to heavily slash the money they give to State House pet called OGI and use the money to pay for the removal of all campaign billboards, posters and banners throughout the country. The nation must now move on.
VIOLENCE GRIPS MODEL JUNCTION: SCHOOL CHILDREN AGAIN
Francis Munu must explain to the people of Bo and Kailahun why he hurriedly and undemocratically imprisoned them by means of a curfew for very minor disturbances when he hasn’t even said a word about the serious breakdown of law and order at place as important as model junction on Tuesday evening. The place was absolutely thrashed by school pupils from at least two of the schools in that area.
We wonder how Munu is policing this city. By just looking at Model Junction with four secondary schools, dozens of Okada boys, all those petty traders and road construction workers, even the most naïve Ordinary resident of Freetown knows the police treat the place in the same way as they treat cantonment road junction with King Herman Road, for example. The police failed again yesterday to detect and effectively deal with mindless violence by people who should be concerned with acquiring knowledge and passing exams. We understand some arrests were made. We are waiting to see if the police will prosecute them and successfully. We can’t allow such unruly behaviour from our students disrupting our lives daily. If parents can’t deal with such anti-social behaviour, then the full force of the laws of the state must be brought to bear on them
THE WOMAN WITH NINE LIVES ANDHER PREDICTIONS
We’ve been hearing extraordinary eschatological testimonies from one evangelical sister called Lynda. She’s been telling us she died and went to the great beyond where she met God, Moses, Lazarus and Colonel Ghadaffi – an honorary Sierra Leonean MP.
According to her, the Colonel asked her to tell De Pa and his people that all mosques built with Libyan money must be destroyed to provide space for churches to be built. Apparently, the cruel dictator has met John the Baptist and has found Christianity. We imagine there will be joy in heaven when an outright sinner who promoted genocide across Africa declares for Christianity. May be he will be made an Honorary MP in heaven.
Some who haven’t listened to the testimony have added their own bits as the story spreads. One lady told us, Lynda says “only five Sierra Leoneans will enter heaven”. That’s scary eh? We believe no politician will be among those chosen five and only one will be a Journalist.
Already Sister Lynda has been condemned by church leaders who talk more about preserving the unity among our churches than about the slim chance of Sister Lynda being a modern day Lazarus. If some Journalist had written this after a deep sleep occasioned by a heavy dose of Achieke, Kan Kan Kan would have DIRECTED that his paper or radio station be closed down, citing PUBLIC DISORDER.
We hear Lynda is asking De Pa to buy a ticket and get a visa for her to travel to the US to deliver a message to the daughter of Whitney Houston. Well we suggest De Pa include her in the delegation going to meet Barack Obama next week or so. We will tell the US embassy that she is the Risen One of State House. Otherwise she can do it by skype.
