SLFA "NORMALISATION COMMITTEE" TO SUCCEED CHIRISTIANA THORPE
The so-called Normalisation Committee and their allies in the SLFA secretariat went home last Saturday pleased that they finally pulled off the most fraudulent election anywhere on earth without much sweat. They have a long battle with their consciences to come, but for a few hours at least they were on cloud 9, telling their enemies that nobody comes to the leadership of the Football Association except by their consent.
The whole SELECTION was a truly shameful affair. We have carefully watched about two hours of footage shot by our reporter who did so with world class professionalism to the extent that IG Munu was unable to notice that our man captured some revealing undertones. Imagine a whole INSPECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE taking frontline position at an "ELECTION" boycotted by 90% of the true delegates whose names were announced on radio by the FA itself, a day prior to the organised fraud called Congress.
Now imagine that you have fallen into a very deep sleep after a hard day's work and you dreamed that general elections were due in Sierra Leone again and the SLFA "Normalisation Committee" were now in charge at NEC with officials in the SLFA secretariat supporting them.
Imagine also that you are a member of the opposition party looking to wrest power from the government and the signs are all over the country that you will form the next government.
Imagine too that this was voting day and the compilation of the voters’ register, voting, counting and the declaration of result were done in the way the SLFA organised the last organised fraud they call Congress. You then turn to the leader of the most powerful International Observer Group and he tells you that your candidates were disqualified out of a mistake. You then wake up to find social unrest in the country.
Well that might just happen if members of the so-called Normalisation Committee and their backroom staff at the SLFA were appointed to the position Christiana is about to vacate. Soloprimo and his "Normalisers" think they are in heaven when they are living in hell.
These people like short-term good feelings – houses, cars, bulging back pockets or handbags and some job at the SLFA that brings travelling opportunities and so on. It's all vanity. We all have a conscience. So do members of the “Normalisation” Committee. Or so we hope.
FREETOWN AND NIGHTLY POLICE CHECKPOINTS, WHY?
We've observed that police checkpoints have appeared all over Freetown again, especially at night. We were coming home from a friend's party in the west end of Freetown a few days ago when we encountered some police checkpoints around Congo Cross area. We hate checkpoints for a few reasons:
1. Checkpoints are places where ordinary people are harassed and deprived of their money.
2. At checkpoints only the poor are made to suffer. While our vehicle was being searched by three police officers as if we were thieves, two BIG MAN-type vehicles came by and were waved through by the police officer, one of whom was so drunk that his legs couldn't support his body.
3. Checkpoints when not professionally controlled create the impression the country is unstable. The terrible experiences we had during the war years at such checkpoints are things we don't want to be recalling all the time.
4. Even with checkpoints, armed robbers are having a field day in many areas of Freetown. We challenge the police to release the figures of reported crimes.
5. Instead of such checkpoints, the IG who took direct control of security at an SLFA SELECTION congress where despite crooked efforts only 27 "delegates voted", he could also take direct operational command of anti-robbery squads so that we sleep with both eyes closed.
IS MORIE LEHGHOR A POLICE OFFICER OR A POLITICIAN?
Let's begin by putting a few things on the table: We have a lot of respect for AIG Morie Lenghor. With people like him in the force, we have something to look forward to. He is a bright man and we thank him and a few others for staying put in the SLP, resisting the temptation to pick up jobs abroad. But his performance on 98.1 radio on Tuesday morning caused us a little concern and in a friendly manner, we want to express those concerns as ordinary citizens of this country. We are concerned because unlike his boss who always hails one political party and tries to deride the other, Morrie is cool and calm. So Here we go sir:
1. The presenters didn't tell us from the outset that you were there to talk about the Baldeh case but as it turned out, you found yourself up against a civil society man with a well-oiled experience at such media appearances, so we understood your initial stuttering but try and be better prepared for such media appearances.
2. You made some political statements that are well and truly unbecoming of a professional policeman that we believe you are. For example: On the question of reparation, you started talking about government priorities and all that. You see sir… there are agencies responsible for that. You should have refused to be drawn by the civil society man on those issues and keep your focus on the Baldeh case.
3. It was a real low for you to lose your cool and accuse the NGO of seeking publicity and donor funding by helping bring Ibrahim Baldeh to court. That's the stuff of politicians who hate to be held to account. Don't you know that the whole country gets direct budgetary support from the same donors? So does that mean all the government is doing should be considered as publicity stunts?
4. Many people we spoke to later, told us you appeared to be defending a man internationally discredited by two UN Security Council reports. Your idea that there are many other people who committed atrocities but have remained outside the judicial net doesn't wash with us. Look at the situation critically. These people you spoke about are victims of arms traffickers like Ibrahim Baldeh. Baldeh supplied arms to our people to kill each other, even when a UN ban was in place. Is that not serious enough for you to welcome the opportunity to put him on trial? Left with you Hesseine Habre will still be free in Senegal and Laurent Gbagbo would be at the next ECOWAS meeting as president of the Ivory Coast. And even Charles Taylor. Or are you saying that because you cannot get all the armed robbers to try them none of them should be brought to justice?
ARE YOU SERVING SIERRA LEONE OR THE APC PARTY
We receive a lot of stories from the many Information Attaches deployed to our embassies around the world. We recently read a story in a paper that is very close to State House saying that like ministers, the attaches are about to be re-shuffled. It was even suggested that some of them will be sacked. Now we are inundated with stories written with varying degrees of professionalism by people who are eager to prove that they deserve to be in office. Here, we quote from one of such news items because we want to have our say on the content.
Attaché News – “The ruling All People’s Congress (APC) Party Elections Coordinator Hon. Leonard Balogun “Logus” Koroma, who is also the Minister of Transport ... said ‘The state of affairs of APC branches in North America, Europe, United Kingdom and some African Countries is nothing that we are proud of; therefore the leadership of the All People’s Congress Party (APC) President Ernest Bai Koroma is going to take full control of the leadership of the APC all over the world.’ Said Hon. Koroma.”
TWITTER – We have no problem with the APC trying to organise its branches around the world. But we have a big problem with these ministers spending the people's time and resources organising their political party. What are those branches really about? We understand why you want to "organise" them. A serious leadership challenge is likely to come from the restive Diaspora group. That could disrupt De Pa's Agenda for Prosperity.
Attaché News - "The leadership has set in motion plans that will soon see the Deputy leader of the APC Hon. Alhaji Minkailu Mansaray, the Secretary General Ambassador Alhaji Osman Foday Yansanneh and APC elections Coordinator Hon. Leonard Balagon “Logus” Koroma depart Sierra Leone on a specific assignment: to get the branches back in order and conduct elections in a free, fair, transparent and credible way."
TWITTER – So two ministers who are paid with our taxes will be away from their offices on partisan matters soon. For how long, we don't know. Will they be given per diem and other expenses from the national purse?
We urge APC people in the diaspora to be ready for another round of unopposed elections. They live in countries where unopposed manipulations are rare. But in the Red Movement, unopposed elections are the only way forward and Siaka Stevens is the Godfather as acknowledged by De Pa.
We will return to this in due course. Thank you and Eid-Ul-Mubaraq.
© 7 August 2013
