FUEL SHORTAGE EMBARRASSES THE NATION AGAIN
Can somebody in authority please tell us why we don't have petrol in this country or why we cannot access it? We have heard some confusing statements from Ayatolla Sistani of the trade ministry as he tries to explain why queues have re-appeared on our streets despite promises that such was a thing of the past. But the Freetown Rumour Mill is on over drive.
Some people told us the price of petrol will reach Le 5,000 before the New Year and that the dealers are playing for time with their tried and tested formula of bringing the nation to a halt to force people to accept any price to get out of jail. Others told us smuggling and hoarding for huge profits in the Christmas season are factors to consider. We think all the factors above are probably responsible.
We have evidence to prove that a litre of petrol is selling for Le 9,000 on the black market in Freetown. That's double the official price. It foes for up to Le 15,000 in some parts of the provinces. So what should De Pa do to end this unnecessary embarrassment?
1. De Pa should immediately sack Ayatolla Sistani. He is either flatly incompetent, or the current situation, backed by the fact that he destroyed Operation WID with his politically-correct mixed messages is part of his elaborate war of destruction against De Pa.
2.Ayatolla Sistani is busy trying to position himself for the presidency to the extent that he couldn't bother with the small matter of fuel being available in the country.
3. De Pa should tell the Petroleum Unit that they are definitely not a law unto themselves and their inability to monitor the fuel situation has left the nation asking serious questions about the reasons for receiving huge salaries for jobs normal civil servants can do.
4. De Pa should publicly apologise to all Sierra Leoneans who have suffered as a result of the fuel shortage in the country and compensate everybody for losing so much to the black market.
WELCOME HOME BROTHERS AND SISTERS: JAH WE DAE YAR STILL!
We want to heartily welcome our brothers and sisters from the Diaspora to Mama Salone. It's always good to come back after 12 months to escape the beginning of the harsh winter in Europe and America and also make a good impression of yourselves to your less fortunate compatriots back home.
It's up to you to decide whether as a nation we are making progress in all sectors, from education to infrastructure. We are constantly calling the government's attention to burning issues in this country but we've either been ignored or told we are too rude.
We've been arrested one after the other and locked up at the notorious Pademba Road jail. The authorities could well decide to halt their campaign against the media, organised from inside De Pa's office, until you return. It will represent some breathing space but it will be a fake picture. The reality is as disgraceful as life inside the jail.
Before you go for your annual lunch with De Pa, please visit the following places with your iPads. Take pictures and interview people around you. You will then make up your minds about where we are headed as a nation.
1. Pademba Road jail - see what we call a prison yard and decide if what you know about the country's Human Rights record is the real thing. The state Human Rights Commission was prevented from working in the prison but Jaycees are exempt from everything here including Sampha Bilo Kamara's decree banning visits by Human Rights groups to the prison. So get on with it.
2. Connaught Hospital - The truth is, a lot of money has been put on making this facility a real hospital but a key question facing you is this: Can Connaught in its present form be a place for healing or accelerated death? Be prepared to witness a real GRON PIG (sewer rat) race in the network of gutters at Connaught. I hope you end up flying the Pied Piper of Hamlyn Town over after your experience at the hospital.
3. Old Road and surrounding areas - We are talking about the road that runs through Wellington, Calaba Town and those places down to Allen Town. The last time we visited, we almost asked for the Paramount Chief of Kailahun before somebody told us we were actually at Jalloh Terrace in Freetown.
We could name a dozen others but please find time to enjoy on the other side of town where life is good. Welcome home!
4. Look around - you do not need much time or effort to do this - for the piles of garbage in the city we once called Clean Freetown.
5. Please do not stress yourselves up too much if the taps are all dry or do not even exist where you are staying. Unless of course if that is a hotel, which we reckon is highly unlikely.
Enjoy your stay nevertheless.
PEACE IN OUR TIME! SLAJ AND BAR ASSOCIATION BACK TO NORMAL
Well, well, as we approach Christmas, we are happy that our organisation, the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists has called us back from the trenches in the unnecessary war of words triggered by a group of people we consider our Strategic Partners in the service of the nation. We said from the outset that SLAJ and the Bar Association should never get to the point where they have to fight in the streets. So when we received a joint press release from the two bodies on Tuesday, we applauded the them.
Here we comment on parts of what the press release said:
PRESS RELEASE - "The two groups agreed to put all differences behind them and now work together in their mutual interest and for the common good of the country. Issues surrounding the Criminal and seditious libel laws, bail policy, basic training to report on legal issues were discussed and deferred for future deliberations".
Politico - Well these are the real issues friends. Let's fight the good fight together. There are many people inside that jail who have no reason being there. We need our Strategic Partners to help us stop a bail bond being used simply to punish people or journalists going to jail for their opinions, genuine mistakes or because of the growing level of intolerance among politicians of critical views. You see they sometimes use state resources to prosecute us. The most recent is the trial of our colleagues at Independent Observer. Can ordinary people like us get the same state prosecutors to fight for us when we are libelled? Interesting eh? Meanwhile, in the prosecution of a former minister in an alleged case of rape, the same heavyweight state prosecutors are nowhere to be found. Tragic ironies and travesties of our time.
PRESS RELEASE - "SLAJ President Kelvin Lewis said 'the Bar Association has been supportive of SLAJ in the past and we look forward to a more amicable relationship now and in the future'...
"Bar Association President Elvis Kargbo stated that, 'it is necessary for SLAJ and the Bar Association to foster a good working relationship in the interest of all Sierra Leoneans.' Both Presidents agreed to discuss issues touching on their membership first before going public."
Politico - We cannot give any guarantees that we shall live happily ever after. The world itself is unstable and unpredictable. But we welcome your statements and let the good times roll again. Merry Christmas!
MAJOR MINORITY LEADER, THE NEW KID?
The lady with certain titanic tendencies is at it, again. As if the opposition Green Movement do not already have enough on their plate, the Minority Leader, Titanic Bernie has taken her party to court. We had warned that their attempt to replace her in the House, her only relevance as at now. But we never at the least expected she would go to this length. What will she gain? Can a party not replace its leader in the House - Majority or Majority? Well with the unsurprising court injunction on her replacement - for now at least - how can she function when the majority of her members do not seem to want her as their leader anymore? Whose support will she enjoy - the ruling Red Movement she and her colleagues are supposed to shadow. This is tragically funny. Well since she seems to be so much gravitating towards the Reds of late, would the best thing for her not be resigning her seat altogether and the accepting the early offer of a ministerial appointment the Majority Leader told Parliament she had once turned down? Either way, her titanic tendencies should be reserved for more progressive things. This is no reason to be macho over. You cannot be a leader if there is no one to lead. Amazing how the leaves are falling of the Green Tree. In the lines of poet Kwesi Brew in his poem The Dry Sesason: "The grasses are tall and tinted, Straw gold hues of dryness, And the contradicting awryness, Of the dusty roads a-scatter, With the peals of colourful leaves, With ghosts of the dreaming year, And soon, soon the fires, The fires will begin to burn, The hawk will flutter and turn, On its wings and swoop for the mouse, The dogs will run for the hare, The hare for its little life."
May Sierra Leone always have a strong and un-fractured opposition.
(C) Politico 19/12/13
