GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN CAN'T SPIN HIS WAY OUT OF MCC DEBACLE
The great Berater was on radio the other day attempting to spin his way out of the tight corner in which the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) nightmare has put this country. That was predictable, in fact the Berater's appearance is now a source of comic relief for the majority of Sierra Leoneans who are not blinded by partisan loyalty when it comes to matters as serious as the country losing out on such huge development grant because of corruption in government. Sometimes we feel insulted when the Berater goes on radio to tell us how to understand something we know better than he does.
Instead of gracefully accepting the verdict of the MCC an accepting the government has bungled the project, he throws the whole failure on the laps of the poor and totally embarrassed people of Sierra Leone saying it's a problem for all of us. We believe he said so because the government was made to face a reality check in broad daylight. Had the government succeeded, this would have been the line: SIERRA LEONE GOT THE MCC MONEY BECAUSE OF THE WISDOM AND COMMITMENT AND INCORRUPTIBILITY OF DE PA UNDER THE AGENDA FOR PROSPERITY. Because we have failed to make the grade, the Berater says: IT'S A PROBLEM CAUSED BY THE WHOLE COUNTRY. Try another trick bro, this spin tactic is now absolutely threadbare. Isn't it a real shame that Liberia passed the corruption requirement but talkative Sierra Leone failed?
How dare he tell us all of us are responsible? Did we appoint that secretariat that has so many serious questions to answer around the issue for which we were disqualified? Was it the ordinary Sierra Leone who went all over the place trying to rubbish that Transparency International bribery report instead of accepting and working on its findings? Come on man! We are no fools. De Pa and his government must take full responsibility for this failure and we are very sure there will be political consequences in the ballot box in a few years. Long live the good people of Sierra Leone.
WHY SIERRA LEONE FAILED TO LAND MCC CASH
We've been having sleepless nights as we try to find answers to this question. It wasn't easy but we managed to come up with the following:
1. Members of the MCC Board are all SLPP sympathisers who are jealous of De Pa's SUCCESSES under the AGENDA FOR PROSPERITY.
2. Those Sierra Leoneans who took part in that Transparency International bribery survey are totally unpatriotic because they accepted that bribery is a big problem in Sierra Leone instead of denying it was.
3. There are no questions around the composition of the secretariat that presented the case of Sierra Leone. All the people there are clearly above board and they represent the best from the vast human resource pool of Sierra Leone. No kukujumuku appointments were made. hahahah!
4. Kan Kan Kan did the right thing when he attacked the media and Transparency International over the bribery report that we believe went a very long way to damage our credibility in the eyes of the MCC. We should never allow those foreign bodies to say such contemptible rubbish about the land that we love and get away with it without address issues raised in their reports.
5. De Pa is still very confident that this same MCC team is capable of taking us to the promised land where Tanzania and tiny Lesotho - a country within another - have been. There are no questions about them being sacked. In fact De Pa believes the NON-PARTISAN team in Freetown has done a good job so far. Up with technocrats! Funny old world.
EMMANUEL MOIJUEH KAIKAI'S UNFINISHED JOB AS WELFARE MINISTER
Emmanuel came home from the hajj fired up to make his ministry increasingly relevant at the heart of government. He probably had a vision while in Mecca when angels told him to be very hard with a man fighting a custody battle for his children with his estranged wife. Emmanuel angrily confronted the man on radio telling him he would not have access to his children as long as he lives in a single room and sleeps on the same bed with his 11-year old daughter.
So, on behalf of millions of Sierra Leoneans who hate hypocrisy and bullying, we want to raise the following issues with Emmanuel.
1. Does the man in question have a record of paedophilia? As far as we know, the answer is NO. The minister didn't say that in the interview. In fact, the man had spent eight years bringing up the children after his wife had abandoned him.
2. Does the minister know how many MEN in this country sleep in a single room with their children - boys or girls? Does he know how many girls have no rooms to sleep in and are being raped daily on the streets? He should never get us started on this so-called Social Welfare ministry.
3. Let's even use the minister's own logic and assume the man had three rooms with one reserved for the girl child. What stops the man from moving across at the dead of night to do his thing? Is the question really about rooms, Mr. Minister? If you are sure the man abuses his own children, please bring him to court otherwise give him back his children.
4. If minister Emmanuel really cares for our children, how come he's not doing anything about the hundreds who are being used by their parents to beg on the streets of Freetown? We ask the minister to humbly jump out of his PRADO jeep near the CID and Bank of Sierra Leone any day to see the problem we ordinary people feel so bad about. It's happening all over the country. A whole generation is being lost and all the minister does is to bully a defenceless man because he cannot afford a two-room flat.
5. Next time the minister goes to cabinet he should tell his colleagues that poverty levels are unbearably high and the people are suffering. Like him know that all of us want to live the good life but it looks as if only ministers and people close to power can enjoy that. They are more Sierra Leonean than the rest of us are.
WILL GOLLEY REALLY GO THROUGH PARLIAMENT IN SIERRA LEONE?
When we wrote something about this about a week or so ago, we called on our parliament to reject outright Omrie Golley's nomination as ambassador to South Korea because of his role in the most brutal and disgraceful RUF against the people of this country. His work in the RUF was very crucial to the survival of the group. No doubt about that.
We know that with a RED-dominated appointments committee and some passive Green people, conscience or no conscience, the committee will recommend Golley for the job as long as De Pa has nominated him. But we are now going into the main bowl where we expect our MPs to speak our minds. We shall be there to listen. The opposition is hopelessly out-numbered in the House but nothing stops them from expressing their disapproval and anger at this nomination. Even some REDS must be strong enough to speak their minds for the sake of the people of this country and those butchered by Golley's RUF.
We have heard a lot about reconciliation and so on and so forth. Good talk, but as far as we know, Golley has never demonstrated any remorse for the sins of his friends and colleagues in the RUF, nor has he apologised for his own role as Spokesman and Ambassador for the cruel RUF killing machine that we have no difficulty in associating with Polpot's Khmer Rouge. Even Foday Sankoh gave some kind of apology to the people of Sierra Leone. We always knew our day would come. It's here now, Mr. Golley.
PROF. THOMPSON BRINGS "DEEP CHANGE" TO UNIVERSITY OF SIERRA LEONE
There seems to be a new lease of life at the University of Sierra Leone under the leadership of Professor Ekundayo Thompson. We hear his staff call him OKADA - the name given to motorcycle taxis in Freetown associated with being quick and purposeful. So the OKADA is at work at FBC.
Barring any accidents which OKADA's are prone to, Thompson is tipped to do very well in the University of Sierra Leone. But we understand he's on a short term contract. Can we have a second look at that contract please in the light of what is coming from the people of the university community under him?
We applaud the University for the way they organised this year's congregation. It wasn't hassle-free but it was an absolute far cry from the pain and suffering that people have had to be experiencing just to see their children go through the yearly graduation ritual. Thompson has promised "DEEP CHANGE". But in due course we shall ask the inevitable question: How "Deep"? or as Peter Tosh would say, "how far is it from the Bottom"?.
(C) Politico 17/12/13
