WHAT’S THE LATEST WITH THE EXAMINATION FOR TEACHERS?
We were told the other day that our teachers in this country would have to take an exam and pass it so that they would be eligible to be licensed to continue in the job. We also read from social media that the teachers were resisting the idea and the powerful SLTU was also not impressed. At this stage we want to know how the whole thing is going right now. In one report we read, dates had been set for the exams to take place in some parts of the provinces as a first step. Did it really happen?
We are not the only people asking these questions because anything concerning people as important as our teachers is a matter of grave concern to us. So the Teaching Service Commission would do really well to tell us what’s going on.
For now we can only say what we think the TSC wanted to achieve with those exams and why our teachers put up some resistance.
1. Maybe TSC has reached a conclusion that some of our teachers are in the same category as some of our players in the national football team, Leone Stars. They are there to make up the numbers and we shouldn’t expect to win anything.
2. Maybe the TSC knows that they can easily do away with low grade guys by simply threatening to set an exam. Those guys would withdraw from the classroom immediately because they don’t want to be examined. The whole exam thing could lead to a considerable loss of prestige for teachers who end up failing. We can understand that easily.
3. Is exam the only method by which TSC can assess and license teachers? How can we tell that the process will not end up like those fantastic performances in mathematics at WASSCE?
CHECKPOINTS REMOVED BETWEEN BO AND JENDEMA: WHAT NEXT?
There is quiet jubilation among people who travel frequently between Bo and Jendema on the border with Liberia to the south. The police have finally removed all the checkpoints they established on that less than 100 mile stretch of road. So why are people jubilating and why are they doing it quietly?
Police checkpoints are normally set up to protect the people against criminals running away from Justine or moving drugs and weapons to disturb the peace of the country. Now, the reason people are celebrating is that those checkpoints were now extortion points. It’s not a secret that the police regularly collect a certain amount of money from each passenger vehicle going to and from the border. The vehicle operators in turn indirectly transfer the cost of that corruption to the passengers. They charge unreasonably big money for a short journey like that.
They are celebrating quietly because those checkpoints may quietly return before long. They’ve been here before. The other point is that the cost of transportation is not likely to reduce because of this action. That’s a fact. So there is no wild celebration.
We call on the IGP to resist any attempt to unnecessarily bring back those checkpoints. Erecting any checkpoints must make real sense. This idea that police should always squeeze money out of people going about their normal business must STOP
Vehicle owners have no choice but to drastically reduce the cost of transportation. They have no hiding place anymore. In other words they cannot hide behind checkpoint charges to kill our people. We are observing the situation.
SOME “CLEAN SALONE BOYS SHOULD BE ARRESTED
What we are about to say here is not true of all the young guys who have decided to make a living by picking up trash from homes across this city to deposit at designated landfill locations. As far we are concerned the majority of them are doing a good job and at the same time earning an honest living. We urge them to continue doing that job in a city where the local authority has almost completely abandoned that responsibility. The FCC’s favorite tactic is to constantly fight with the central government over social media while ignoring their job of keeping Freetown clean.
Last week we published two articles calling the attention of FCC to an utterly embarrassing situation on the road to Fourah Bay College campus. From nowhere a new BORMEH appeared with the consequences for the health and safety of thousands of students who use that road to and from college daily. The FCC refused to talk to us about that. Fourah Bay College was forced to clear the rubbish but as things stand there is no guarantee that rubbish wouldn’t suddenly reappear in that space. No action has been taken to prevent that.
Let’s bring this other scenario to the attention of the FCC. Some of these so-called CLEAN SALONE boys – the criminal elements among them are the ones collecting bags of rubbish from homes and depositing them on our street corners. We have observed this situation for a reasonable period of time and we are confident that we’ve made the correct call at this time.
1. The FCC should properly organize the CLEAN SALONE initiative so the good guys can stand out from the criminal elements collecting rubbish from homes and depositing it on our streets.
2. The push carts they use should be registered and be made to operate in identified zones. They should pay their taxes.
3. Whatever happened to that zonal sanitation thing that the FCC organized in the early days of 2018? Maybe it became a casualty of the big woman’s cable car and overriding love of social media, including Facebook live.
4. By the way, what’s the point of employing media people at FCC if they feel so intimidated by the big woman that they cannot respond to a simple media query about a mound of garbage near a University campus? We know madam ADORES her highly sanitized appearances on selected TV stations but we represent the people who pay the taxes with which she runs the FCC. Why not scrap the FCC media department and use that money to pay your beloved so-called DELIVERY TEAM?
SLFA LEADERSHIP ISSUE ON THE AGENDA SO EARLY?
Reading social media sites, especially those dedicated to sports are awash with a possible contest between Babadi Kamara and the incumbent Thomas Daddy Brima. We don’t want to get drawn into this issue at this time because we are more than a year away from any such contest. Why are people suddenly raising the stakes around this issue? We don’t know but we can attempt to answer the question.
1. We can now say that it’s obvious now that Thomas Daddy Brima will not go unchallenged in the next SLFA elective congress. Whether it’s Babadi Kamara or not is immaterial. The fact remains there will be an opposition name on the ballot.
2. We can also say that the coming congress would be the most intense. Apart from those little inducements that people have used in the past to get votes, this time round solid achievements would be required to sway delegates.
3. The outcome is as unpredictable today as it would be in 2025. Let’s play the game.
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