ONE TRIBE AFTER ANOTHER - De Pa STRIKES GOLD
First it was the Loko people who flocked to Miatta Conference hall to hail De Pa and assure him of their support come November - No Run Off! They shouted. Next, it was the Madingoes. Youyi Building they went. Their support to the pa they pledged. By the way how many Mandingoes are there in Salone – just that handful at Youyi? Hehehe.Anyway… Then there was this very confused guy who only yesterday pledged his total support to the opposition, rain or shine, but after a heavy meal and some sound sleep, suddenly discovered that actually, his place was at the right hand of De Pa.
He then quickly wrote 500 names on a piece of paper for the attention of De Pa at a campaign rally. “I am not alone!” he cried. Politics is a funny thing eh? All the APC people at that rally and even De Pa believed that the names on that list were genuine and they will all vote APC in November. Yeah...Salonenarcontri eh?
Just the other day, it was the turn of the Temnes. They came to State House bearing a precious gift called No Run Off! They were many. The only people who up to this point have not taken up the No Run Off message are the “STUPID MENDES.” We didn’t take notice of that until COACHIE MANSARAY addressed a fiercely partisan crowd and made the proclamation. Was that incitement or outright disrespect for a normally proud and confident people?
We want to warn De Pa that it is wrong and indeed very, very dangerous to keep mobilizing the people on the basis of their tribes for political reasons. We feel strongly about this. This tribal mobilization must stop now.
Next point, and for the last time: De Pa must come out and unequivocally condemn Coachie’s Mansaray’s statement that “Mendes are stupid” without further delay. It’s neither funny nor will it go away any time soon - in fact it’s going viral.
Let’s also call the attention of De Pa to the fact that many people are outraged that a party political rally euphemistically…sorry misleadingly described as a declaration of support by Temnes took place at State House. The place belongs to the people of Sierra Leone. The Democratic Party will never have a rally at the White House. Can you imagine what will happen to David Cameron’s government if he were to organize a Conservative Party rally at 10 Downing Street? Please! Why this stupidity and bigotry! Why does power drunkenness make our politicians – especially those in power – leaders idiotic election-in election-out!
MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT – TWO MONTHS TO GO
Already Members of Parliament are beginning to feel the heat in their constituencies as they try to fight off challenge from people looking to remove them. The ruling party and its very attractive tickets will have to be very careful not to marginalize the decisions of the people in those constituencies. No doubt many of the current MPs will never return to the House and they should accept that. Some truly big ones are already gone.
It’s a shame however that the politicians are using the same patterns used in the days of Siaka Stevens. Some are now throwing parties for children and young people; they are spending time in rough ghettos pretending to identify with the struggling young people – who for five years couldn’t get in touch with their MPs; there are many mini football leagues all of a sudden all over the place, named after this and that “Honourable”. Come on people, we know how to play the game now and we shall play by our own rules. You can’t fool all the people all the time.
CAN SAPATEH PLEASE LEAVE WAEC IMMEDIATELY?
We know Sapateh is on his way out of WAEC in a few months but the guy has so messed up that we really can’t wait beyond the next week or so. The man has completely lost control of WAEC and the integrity of our public exams is at an all time low. Imagine this if you would: Examiners who marked last November’s scripts have still not been paid; this year, WAEC exams witnessed record level of cheating, almost like 1977 in Nigeria and 1982 in Sierra Leone; the children used mobile phone to send answers across the country and some aliens appeared at centres to write the exams in place of their brothers; WAEC had only a small car with one official and two police officers going all over Freetown delivering examination questions. Some centres started two hours late. Once some students were out in some parts of the city they quickly sent text messages to their colleagues who were only getting started. Inside the centre where grades are captured from answer booklets is a place of real chaos. Crooks have infiltrated those young people charged with that responsibility and even examiners aren’t sure their grades remain the same once the scripts are delivered. Extremely bad business!
Now, if you are on the streets of Freetown and you see half a dozen 16- and 17-year-olds all over the place, they are not out window-shopping, they are looking for teachers marking their scripts. There really is no secrecy about this anymore and let’s not pretend. Sapateh has buried his head in the sand. All he does is read out figures of candidates and create the impression he is in charge. You are fooling only yourself sir. We know you are hoping for some ministerial job should the people re-employ Ernest Koroma as president in November. Just quit now and start praying for your heart’s desires. We can conclude safely that this is why Sapateh now prints WAEC answer booklets in RED and WHITE. Salone and the colour politics eating into everything…
CAUGHT ON CAMERA
This is one disgrace we will not let the SLBC get away with. The National Broadcaster which is only twelve years younger than the mighty BBC must explain to the nation, exactly what happened on live TV during the national news on Sunday 25th June, 2012 between the news anchor and the UDM leader at the end of another of those many vacuous interviews he keeps getting on SLBC. All those who watched TV last night and some of us who have had the good fortune of watching the whole thing over and over again since, are clear that something changed hands. We know what it was but we want to give the SLBC the opportunity to explain itself to the taxpayers of this country who are keeping them alive and on air.
We have only just opened the case for the people. We are prepared to wait another three days to hear from the SLBC. The people have always argued that the news agenda at the National Broadcaster is not driven by internationally acceptable standards of journalistic inquiry but by factors completely alien to newsroom culture. We are waiting for your PRESS RELEASE on that issue.
THE MINISTER AND HER MINISTRY
When was the last time you heard a minister describe her ministry as “useless”? Well one newspaper recently quoted the Diaspora minister of TOURISM as saying just that. We might try to find out in detail why she made that statement but straight away we can say that in Public Relations terms, this was a rope long enough to hang the woman. The minister is perhaps frustrated that she still hasn’t received her cash allocation for the first quarter even as the second quarter is drawing to a close. But you are not alone Madam. Many agencies and departments are in the same position. There is something seriously wrong with money, or the lack of it, in this country and we are all refusing to talk openly about it, preferring to suffer in silence or bring in some empty talk about the country being a works yard. Ask Petito.
But you know we probably should scrap the tourism ministry and concentrate our efforts on the National Tourist Board. Isn’t that a good idea? In fact the Tourist Board receives pittance from the coffers but it is far more relevant and functional than the rest of the ministry. Is there a Deputy Minister there as well?? WASTE or JOB FOR THE FELLAS!? Sorry BOTH.
WHEN IS THE VERDICT IN THE MAYOR’S ACC TRIAL?
The judiciary should know that we have waited for too long for the verdict in the ACC case against the Mayor of Freetown, Georgie Porgie. With the overwhelming evidence in the hands of the ACC, this case should have been done in four weeks even when the Mayor decided to go into the dock to defend himself. We are getting anxious because the elections are here and we need to decide whether to keep some guys in place at the council or clear the whole lot. The other reason is that people need to begin their own charges against the Mayor. The Mayor will be tried under the Cotton Tree with Justice Unisa Awoko Sesay presiding. We have a watertight case against GeorgiePorgie. We hope the ACC case will end soon. Long live the good people of Freetown.
…AND FREETOWN CITY FOOTBALL CLUB WINS AT LAST
The Freetown City Football Club has finally started winning matches. We think that should lift up the spirit of Freetown people a bit but at what cost? The Council spent an awful lot of money during the last transfer window buying almost a new squad. Congratulations boys! We have to repeat our call for the team to be sold or disbanded now. We can’t continue spending such money on players when our municipal schools are in such disgrace. It’s as simple as that.
