FIGHTING CYBERCRIME WITH A POLICE PRESS STATEMENT
In yet another press statement the Force for Good has threatened to hit hard at people threatening the security of Sierra Leone using social media communication channels, especially Facebook and WhatsApp. The language of the statement is strong enough to scare people off such behavior but we have to tell the police that we have been here before. In other words we have seen a handful of other press statements warning people against doing things to plunge Sierra Leone into another civil war or damage the reputations of others. The pattern is that there would always be a brief stop after a strong warning like this before the whole thing resumes with even more power and venom.
So while it’s a good idea to let people know about the consequences of their actions, the SLP will inevitably come under serious attack by the good people of Sierra Leone because they are almost certainly going to accuse the police of hypocrisy and behaving like toothless bulldogs. The SLP must now back up their press statements with action. Ordinary people need to see examples to convince them that the Force for Good means business. Let’s throw the following comments in for good measure.
1. The SLP management must not fool itself. They are dealing with a whole industry set up to continuously do the social media madness they are complaining about. So this is not the work of a few people hiding out in their basements and churning out so much hate speech.
2. The industry is reasonably well funded by people with deep pockets in Freetown and run by their mercenaries mostly based abroad. They are a sophisticated bunch driven by politics. They absolutely want to capture state power and for them the end justifies the means.
3. There is a small cottage industry back home that is dedicated to sharing such materials by means of WhatsApp to as many individuals and groups as possible. This industry also receives some money from the big man to do this. Very well respected community leaders including religious leaders are found in this category. How can anybody explain that?
4. The SLP should also be aware of the hypocrisy of the International Community. They have overwhelming evidence of raw violence on our streets leading to deaths, totally instigated by actors sitting in the safety of Europe, America and Australia but they classify them as activists seeking political asylum and all the rights that go with that status but say nothing about the responsibility. Many Sierra Leoneans are tired of this international inertia. They are waiting for people to cause genocide here before they start setting up tribunals. Meanwhile they are journalists in international custody for what they did in Rwanda. Why is Sierra Leone different?
UNEASY CALM AS THIRD PRESIDENTIAL LIST EXPECTED
Welcome to another Friday. Expectation is high again that another weekend of presidential appoints and sackings is at hand. This time Sierra Leonean diplomats and directors and board members of agencies are in the firing line. There are many such people. Things may not even happen this weekend but expectation is high.
After the elections all the diplomats who came to Freetown to help with the re-election campaign went to see Principal at State House to congratulate him on his victory and to bid farewell because they were returning to their stations abroad. It was a brief ceremony and Principal thanked them for their effort and told them to go back and resume their duties on behalf of Sierra Leone. The diplomat left that meeting feeling good and believing they were safe from Principal’s sword. In the next few days two senior guys among them were recalled from their mission area and re-assigned.
We are hearing from reliable sources that only a handful of the diplomats would remain in their current postings. In fact we know that CVs are flying into State Lodge now as people try to attract the attention of Principal for those positions. The fight is on.
Our job remains to keep in touch with events as they unfold and put things on record. We wish our diplomats all the very best.
As for those running MDA’s some of them ought to have resigned before now because of the poor performance of those agencies over the last FIVE years. We’ll see what happens to them soon. We will resist the temptation to name them here at this stage.
NPSE RESULT IS OUT AND NOW IT’S WAHALA FOR PARENTS
The jubilation that greeted the release of this year’s NPSE results from children entering secondary school will soon die down and for some parents turn into a kind of nightmare. We are talking about those parents with children who failed to hit the grade set by the school of their choice. So the children may have passed the NPSE attaining the grade set by the Ministry of Basic Education but they may face rejection by the schools. It is precisely at this point that the game opens up and unscrupulous teachers and school administrators start taking big money from parents to admit their children. This happens every year, including the New Direction years of Free Quality Education.
We urge the ACC to go beyond press releases and act on the ground to spot teachers and criminals posing as school administrators from taking advantage of parents again and again.
Copyright © Politico (21/07/23)
