PEACE RETURNING TO PARLIAMENTARY GREEN MOVEMENT?
We can authoritatively reveal that in the last one week or so, we have picked up signals from the parliamentary Green Movement camp that they are actively seeking to make peace in their divided house. We have no reason to believe this will succeed because it is a déjà-vu – as we have witnessed many false starts in this direction. But one of the main guys is pleading with their members and the people of Sierra Leone who pay their salaries, to give them a chance to try this out.
So we are now left to wonder what has changed so dramatically. It's early days yet but here's what we think could have triggered this.
1. They are all simply exhausted after using all the tricks in the books to outwit each other without success - the courts have still not decided and they remain in a stalemate. They have realised too that they were simply helping Red Movement Orsai, Orwai in their third-term bid.
2. Their constituents who are completely fed up with school boy protests and court cases told them they would all be thrown out at the next primaries if the issues were not resolved by Christmas. Time for self-preservation.
3. After Bernie's performance during the IMC commissioner's approval hearings the other day, some of the "rebel MPs" were so impressed that they went to her office and congratulated her. According to those MPs, "her speech is good but her head tie in particular is simply fantastic." Bernie then realised that the so-called rebel MPs were no devils after all. What a difference a short speech and a Yoruba-style head tie can make in the governance of a state. Well, the speech was not so riveting as far as we are concerned but we absolutely agree that the head tie was mmmmmmmwwwwwwaaaah! hahahahahahaha! Somebody once told us Bra Lahai doesn't read Politico. Thank God!
BURNING DOWN HOUSES TO FIGHT EBOLA IN KOINADUGU
What can we really do about the self-declared Independent State of Koinadugu? May be there's nothing we can do. May be we can tell them that the federal government run by De Pa is very powerful and can act when some states, like Koinadugu, begin to behave like they can go it alone. We have nothing against them but in this fight against Ebola, they are becoming a bit of a distraction.
1. When they recently announced they would start cremating people who die of Ebola they shot into world headlines but it affected the fight in Sierra Leone. Many people called us to complain that they would never allow their dead to be cremated because it was totally alien to our culture and akin to going to hell before really going to hell – f you see what we mean. Could that have inspired unsafe night burials?
2. They've announced again that they will burn down the homes of people killed by Ebola and kill the disease in 45 days. Now, for us 45 days is too long to kill Ebola in Sierra Leone or even in the largest district in the country. We want that yesterday but burning the homes of people killed by Ebola is an extremely dangerous strategy.
So where will their dependants live? Where will they live if they recover when even to transport them is a WAHALA? Would that policy be carried to the letter if the houses of big guys are affected in Koinadugu? What if the disease spreads beyond the small communities now affected?
3. In fact, we can't really understand why Koinadugu has been behaving like an Island in this struggle. Official statistics had them down as Ebola-free for a long time and they reveled in that to the extent that even when patients ran from other districts and tested positive in Koinadugu, they refused to own those cases just to stay apart from the infected ones. We can't prove this with figures but we can argue anywhere that most of the cases in the Western Urban area are people who were not ORDINARILY RESIDENT in Freetown. So using the Koinadugu logic is the Western Area truly the worst affected is the figures suggest?
4. With the Independent State of Koinadugu going its way in this fight, where is Lady Diana's prescriptions she calls bye-laws? If Agbangba can ask for the national anthem to be played when he addressed council matters in Kabala, we are not surprised. By the way Thomas Duncan's family home in Texas is still standing.
FIGHTING VIOLENT CRIME: SOUTH AFRICA POLICE Vs. SALONE POLICE
Senzo Meyiwa was a prominent South African - the captain of the national football team. He was killed during a robbery at his girlfriend’s home where he happened to be at the time. Joshua Nicol is easily one of the best journalists in Sierra Leone. He was brutally attacked in his home by armed robbers about three weeks ago. He was stabbed and wounded in several parts of his body. But for truly professional treatment at Emergency Hospital, we fear the worse could have happened to him by now.
Now, here's where we are taking you: already the South African police have a man in the dock for the murder of Meyiwa. The Sierra Leone police have not made any arrest in Joshua Nicol's case. They say, as they always do, THE INVESTIGATIONS ARE ONGOING. We know the amount and quality of material they have at hand with which any rookie investigator should be able to put somebody behind bars within hours of that incident. But, they are still INVESTIGATING. As journalists, we are also investigating - not just the criminals but the way Munu’s boys are handling this case.
Let's also say this to the Munu Boys: Joshua Nicol's case will not die. It will not be settled on any negotiating table. Joshua Nicol's case will be settled by our courts. No amount of foot-dragging will frustrate us.
A police force is a police force. When they brand themselves as a Force for Good, they must live up to that. Our officers are trained in some of the best police academies in the world. We paid for that so they must secure life and property.
NO JAYCEES FOR CHRISTMAS 2014...YEAH!
What would Christmas 2014 look like without our Jaycee brothers and sisters and their friends? Next week is normally the time they start to arrive in the burning sun from cold Europe and America. We don't expect any of them this year because of Ebola. Many of them would still like to be here but they are genuinely scared. We don't blame them. Some Western media organisations have turned West Africa into something else. But who would really miss these guys?
1. TRAVEL AGENCIES - They are doing badly. At least 1,000 Sierra Leoneans would have returned to this country for Christmas.
2. DREG MAN DEM – The BRA U BORBOR DAE YA boys are devastated. They would normally catch a few dollars from Jaycees but they should just forget it this year. Remittances are going where they belong.
3. YOUNG WOMEN - Some strike it lucky at times like this with some Jaycees who end up marrying them and taking them abroad. But the vast majority couldn't be bothered. For them Jaycees are Baa Nya Fayki. They lie through their teeth in Freetown. They quickly change their telephone numbers and close their email accounts when they return. They wait for another Christmas to catch a new victim. Sheyooooor!
4. GRAFTON WATER - Well, it used to be that a distinguishing mark for Jaycees was a Grafton water bottle and a white towel on the main streets of Freetown. The idea is that they have come from a cold climate so they need water to control the heat and towel to constantly wipe their sweat. Even those who left Freetown half way through the year always carry those symbols to demonstrate that they are different from us. Not bad.
The producers of Grafton water would miss the Jaycees but not by much really, because Guma Valley is so bad that we also spend our last pennies to buy Grafton water. But in terms of additional sales, yes.
5. THIEVES - No Jaycee, no Christmas pick-pocketing. It's as simple as that. All home-based people are too clever to allow their pockets to be picked even on Abacha Street – well if there is something in there to steal in the first place. HARDUP WAN KILL WE! We cannot say the same for armed robbery...it's getting worse. This Christmas could witness many armed robberies if Munu Boys continue like this.
© Politico 11/11/14
