EMERGENCY POWER SUPPLY IN 2007: EMERGENCY POWER SUPPLY IN 2015
The more things change, they say, the more they remain the same. The Red Movement started out in governance with an emergency power supply programme. Eight years on they are on their way back to the emergency power supply programme. The first such programme ended with an ACC indictment, we hope the latest one doesn't end that way. We can only hope because this country is spending so much money on trying to get electricity in our homes without getting the results we need.
We now have three ministers running the power system and a so-called utilities company that nobody seems to trust can deliver anything. The only part of the country now guaranteed what we could call an acceptable supply of power is Makeni – the home town of De Pa. We read absolutely nothing into that. That doesn't mean YOU shouldn't. We just want to reference the good things happening in the northern headquarter town.
In the capital Freetown, people are in darkness. In businesses overheads have dramatically gone up as people now generate their own electricity on an almost permanent basis instead of the stand-by generator talk we hear all the time. And now we hear that the new electricity company is going to charge the people for using their own generators. What madness!
1. The EDSA logic is difficult to understand. They don't supply power, when we generate our own they charge us for that...are we in the real world?
2. It's the same way they charge us for meter service even when some areas go for weeks without power. What is the service charge really about? For having dead meters on our walls?
3. So we buy our generators, buy the fuel and lubricant and pay for maintenance just to charge our phones and pretend to be civilized, but EDSA comes along with an oppressive charge.
4. Those who manage to get electricity in Freetown say it goes on and off just like any Christmas decoration.
5. Let's change the law to make it possible for people to go to court when EDSA damages our electrical appliances. We know what the outcome would always be, but we don't mind trying. We want the records.
FALSE CALM IN BURUNDI: PIERRE NKURUNZIZA IS SKATING ON THIN ICE
Imagine this: a president travels to a neighbouring country to be told he risked plunging his country into chaos if he allowed his unreasonable presidential ambition to override his country's constitution. While there some of his own Generals launch a coup and announce his removal from office. He returns to his country by the back door with the help of his tribesmen in the army, arrests his opponents and tells the world not to bother giving him lessons in democracy because he will stay in office come what may so that Al-Shabbab will stay away from Burundi. Al-Shabbab in Burundi?
Well, in the short-run that may be true but where will such power grab land Burundi? We can't answer this question because even a child born last year can do that. But please note that we are not the only ones thinking about it.
1. We don't know what else can happen in Burundi, but a coup is the last thing anybody wants to see happen in any African country. But the way things are going in Burundi, we have good reason to believe we are a long way from total stability.
2. The lessons of Burkinafaso have gone unheeded in many African countries. What's the point clinging on to power when more than half of your population want you out because you have violated their constitution?
3. Now we have a wave of arrests and trials in a court system that legitimised the fraud on the Burundian people in the first place. The Americans have once again called on Nkurunziza to leave at the end of his second term. The African Union believes the atmosphere is not right for elections. But, everybody else is wrong, Nkurunziza is only one who is correct. Long live the good people of Burundi! Keep standing up!
LIFE IS GETTING DIFFICULT DAY BY DAY IN MAMA SALONE: WATIN DAE APIN O?
This is no longer a joke in this our republic. Life is tough, very tough. Even diehard Red Movement partisans who are known to behave like Spartans under mounting stress so as not to appear to be criticising their own movement are now telling us how disillusioned they are with the so-called AGENDA FOR PROSPERITY project. We are only two years to the end of De Pa's time at State House and we still can't see – let alone feel – the prosperity he promised.
We met the following people at a cookery spot on one of the main streets in Freetown (We have many of these on our streets these days. Where is Mayor Bababode? Answer: he is missing in action).
1. DREG MAN - (an unemployed young man who depends on others for his survival. He doesn't want to work hard for his living but believes he can talk his way into people's pockets daily.)
The dreg man told us that they were actively considering the idea of setting up their own political party because that's the only sure way of getting quick money. "Why not"? He asked. "Look at our colleagues who are hanging around politicians; they are very rich. We can also win elections in this country." Well there are many issues to consider in trying to win an election, but that's not a bad idea.
2. DREG UMAN – Well, of course, they are the female counterparts of the group we just spoke about. The difference is that they depend on prostituting for survival. One of them told us that Ebola did a lot of damage to "our business and we have still not recovered." Hmmmmmmmm OK.
3. DISILLUSIONED POLITICAL ACTIVIST – He looked very suicidal. We almost asked Munu Boys to put that guy on suicide watch. We offered to pay for his bowl of rice. After a heavy meal he asked us whether we were planning to run for State House in 2017. "People only do this kind of thing when they want our votes." He was disappointed to know that we were journalists trying to do a story about the link between the kind of food he had just eaten and diseases killing people in this country. Disappointed because our generosity would definitely not continue. Life is hard in Mama Salone. People can't eat SPIN and LIES, and reality is setting in.
HOW MUCH WORSE CAN IT GET WITH SIERRA LEONE FOOTBALL?
Sometimes we decide to allow the many questions around Sierra Leone football to stay away from the pages of Politico. And that's for a good reason. It really doesn't seem, at least to us, that the nation is as concerned as we are because even after meetings at State House of all places we just can’t get it right with the most popular game in the country.
The latest we've heard is that both the SLFA of the queen of football and the breakaway stakeholder group have appointed two rival national football teams to represent the same country. The shadow of what happened in Cameroon during the last AFCON qualifiers is looming large again. In fact Pope John Paul has announced he is withdrawing all the national teams from international competitions.
We are tired with both sides blaming each other for the mess in the local game. What we want now is for the government to be decisive and clear up the mess. Enough is enough!
How can we have two bodies running one game in one country at any one time? May be the best solution is to go for a fresh election after a one-year transitional arrangement that would lead to that election. It should start by the government approaching FIFA with a very clear plan detailing what we want from Sierra Leone football. That plan must also be made available to the people of Sierra Leone.
Johansen's executive believes FIFA is with them and as far as they are concerned that's what’s important because FIFA holds the purse strings. Be that as it may, Sierra Leone belongs to all of us. We are fed up!
© Politico 19/05/14
