MINKAILU BAH’S FIVE-YEAR REPORT CARD
We’ve been trying unsuccessfully to reach Sister Lynda Ngaojia, the “Woman of God” who recently made those extraordinary comments on her encounter with the heavenly host. We want to commission her to behave like the Witch of Endor and tell us why Minkailu Bah, De Pa’s most confident – even if complacent minister – decided to open up to the media recently after making only highly selective and orchestrated appearances in few media events in five years.
While we continue looking for the “Woman of God”, let’s point out a few issues for the minister.
1. Minkailu says he has recruited 6,000 teachers since coming into office five years ago. The figure looks impressive. What he didn’t tell the media was what that figure represented in terms of the real needs on the ground regarding teacher-pupil ratio and quality education. We don’t want to embarrass anybody but we have been to a government-approved school somewhere in Sierra Leone with more than one hundred pupils with only two teachers. We beg the minister to challenge us.
2. Minkailu Blames Teachers, Lecturers and Parents for the falling standards in the education system. Well, he is a parent and he remains on the books of Fourah Bay College as lecturer. He didn’t blame his ministry and the government but his role in all this is easy to see. As far as he is concerned everybody else is guilty but Minkailu Bah who must keep his job as minister and is immaculately clean.
3. Minkailu referred a lot to the Gbamanja Commission report which basically tried to address massive failures in public exams in 2008, just a year after he became minister. We must tell him that we have asked people who are experts in education to study and react to those findings and we have their comments. In due course, we shall publish them. Minkailu will find out that his policy of excluding knowledgeable people just because he suspects they are members of the opposition has hurt education more than his so-called ghost teachers and fake certificates.
4. When the Minister of Education boycotts University Congregation in a college in which he remains a lecturer and on whose campus he resides, it says more about his attitude to education than a few broke teachers selling exam pamphlets to be able to feed their families. One of the best secondary schools in this country – The Grammar School recently invited the minister to formally open their new multi-purpose building paid for by the school. The minister failed to turn up and didn’t bother to send a representative. What does he think the teachers, students and parents of that school think about him. What message does he think that signal sends to the rest of us?
STILL WAITING FOR DE PA’S WHITE HOUSE REPORT
We’re into the second week now since De Pa returned from that historic meeting with Barack Obama. We are waiting to be invited to a news conference where De Pa will tell the people what the meeting was all about and take questions. We live in a democracy so we are not asking for too much.
While De Pa was still airborne on the homeward journey, we warned that the meeting be considered a triumph of the people’s fight to make Sierra Leone a democracy long before De Pa came to power – a very costly struggle in terms of blood and tears.
We urged De Pa not to allow his Spin Doctors to paint it as a personal victory for him or his party. Our warning fell on deaf ears and the spin machine is in overdrive on radio stations, the pages of newspapers and on social networking sites singing thy praise O De Pa, the wisest man in Mama Salone.
We believe De Pa has done very well to keep the democracy the people fought for. He has also added a few things to it as well. But all this sycophancy that minimises the huge contributions of other Sierra Leoneans to our democratisation is turning a lot of people off.
Besides, the real substance of this meeting has been lost in the propaganda blitz that normally accompanies De Pa’s every move. We are not even sure how people will receive any information coming from a news conference on this issue. This is another missed opportunity.
KONOMANYI QUEEN OF KONOLAND VS THE REST OF US
We are witnessing the beginnings of another dictatorship in Kono with Internal Affairs Minister, Diana Konomanyi presiding. Our queen has been on a personal mission to stop Chief Sidikie succeeding De Pa as leader of RED CAMP by 2015 or so. It’s up to Chief Sidikie and his supporters to let that happen, or not. We are calling attention to Diana’s dictatorial tendencies because it’s beginning to hurt the ordinary people of Kono.
Queen Diana has asked Commonwealth Marah to withhold funding for Koidu/New Sembehun council because she has problems with the enterprising young mayor and his councillors. She sees them as ardent supporters of Chief Sidikie and they thus become a legitimate target for attack and disgrace. In a classic sense of throwing the baby out with the birth water, Diana’s call for funding to be cut means the council will be unable to meet recurrent expenditure to schools, the disabled community and women. It would be a blunder of incalculable magnitude if Marah were to go ahead and heed Diana’s call. We will conclude that both of them are part of the STOP CHIEF SIDIKIE project and that he couldn’t care less about what happens to the ordinary people of Kono.
We are watching.
BAYUKU VOWS TO CLEAN UP GUEST HOUSES
If there is anything we know about Bayuku, it is that he is a man of ideas who is not afraid to confront men and issues. Probably too overzealous for comfort. As Chairman of Koinadugu District council, he did his bit but he was always having squabbles with people including chiefs...and also that matter of him playing the national anthem on radio every time he made a speech. We are waiting for his speech and the national anthem on 98.1
Now as Minister of Tourism, he has vowed to clean up the nation’s many GUEST HOUSES. On the face of it, it’s a great idea – the highest standards of hygiene must obtain in all such facilities. Some of them operate well below standards and they have no respect for their customers who use those facilities purely because they have no alternatives either in terms of availability or the prohibitive nature of the relatively good ones.
We urge Bayuku to press on with this initiative. It may result in some good in the end.
We however want Bayuku to start with the dance troupe village at Aberdeen. If he’s been there lately, he will notice that the place is now very close to Kroo Bay in hygiene terms. Long live Agbangba!
THE GREAT ESCAPE FROM MEHERA FERRY: SO WHAT NOW?
Hundreds of passengers who were adrift on Mahera Ferry on the sea between Freetown and Lungi last week must be praising God for their lucky escape. Many Sierra Leoneans who commute between Freetown and Lungi for work face that danger daily and some have been complaining loudly for years.
We know that even in countries where safety is the first consideration in everything they do, accidents happen. But to demonstrate how we treat safety in this country, please try using the toilet on-board the Mehera Ferry. You will notice how neglected basic hygiene is on that ferry and that should help you understand what’s happening with the rest of the ferry.
Even after this incident, we are sure nobody has investigated to find out how come the ferry was blown off course and several lives put at risk.
We note also that even the attitude to work on that ferry is disgraceful. They have no respect for time and they don’t run on schedule, there are beggars, pickpockets and hawkers harassing passengers all the time. The mass of our people use this ferry and therefore they deserve decent treatment.
When NASSIT decided it will go into the ferry business to help that appalling situation, the whole nation applauded them. Now we regret it all as the project was ruined by corruption. Their own ferry serves middle class people travelling abroad mostly.
Next time you plan to travel to Lungi on Mahera Ferry, please get your lawyer to prepare your will. You may not be returning home.
