ACC SAYS KING BAYUKU IS CLEAN BUT WITH A FEW QUESTION MARKS
It's been a long wait. And for KING BAYUKU of Bintumani Hills, every 24 hours seemed like a whole year. Now the ACC of PILATE FITZGERALD has just told the nation he found no reason to hang KING BAYUKU...no wahala. We were brought up to trust the judgment of PILATE FITZGERALD and his ACC. So KING BAYUKU has something that looks like a CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH except that there is that small matter of a few Bintumani chairs and some few million leones. We trust the king to clear that too.
So we now ask, did KING BAYUKU hurriedly leave office because of this failed corruption probe or the official line of him being sick? We are sure everybody expects the media to ask this and many more questions about this issue.
We don't know how far this no-show would go to restore the good name of KING BAYUKU after all the publicity that followed his RESIGNATION or SACKING from government. There's always a lot of noise following an announcement of some investigation by the ACC. In fact, anybody mentioned in an ACC investigation begins from the point of being practically guilty. BAYUKU, we now know, committed no crime...but let's get some explanation about those Bintumani chairs and cash mentioned in the ACC paper.
By the way, where is KING BAYUKU now? He's been very quiet since he resigned or was asked to resign. Is he in Italy or BINTUMANI HILLS? Long live the king!
We call on PILATE FITZGERALD to speed up other investigations including the one they've been doing before those AKU buses came to town from the home of Chairman Mao. That will surely be interesting after Sahr Jusu's testimony to our representatives and especially as this talk of a PACKAGE continues despite all the issues around UNIT COSTS. We are waiting.
STATE OF EMERGENCY RELAXED BUT THE PEOPLE WANT IT LIFTED NOW
In the end it came down to the will of the people - not Spin Doctors and Ventriloquists. A few people think to keep De Pa happy they must always agree with him even against their own consciences. De Pa should be definitely very suspicious of people who never come up with alternatives, people who always agree with him and hail the GREAT De Pa of MAMA SALONE.
In our last edition, we referred to the SLAJ position and that of many others who called for the complete lifting of the State of Emergency because the time is more than ripe. We re-state that here again. Many of the restrictions have been relaxed but as long as it remains legal, civil liberties are definitely not guaranteed - let's not fool ourselves. State of Emergency must go - completely.
We've been around and about Freetown since the announcement was made. Here's what we found:
1. Ladies of the night have returned to the normal joints in full force...and clients abound. For these people Ebola risk or no Ebola risk, everyday is a normal day at the office.
2. Cinema houses are open again and young people hooked on football are flooding in again. We can't even begin to imagine how those people who make their living from running those video houses would have reacted had EMERGENCY RULE been slammed back in full. They lost a lot of income last year.
3. Alcohol joints are also in top gear once again. Well, they never really closed down even at the height of the Ebola war, but our people are at it again with frightening intensity...LORD HAVE MERCY.
4. We hear football matches would start again soon at the stadium. We can't understand why the league was even stopped. Anybody sick enough to infect another person with Ebola cannot play football. And all the people who attend football matches at the stadium are normally not enough to fill one stand. So what the point of banning football to avoid body contact?
5. But for the rains, the open carnival along the beach would have re-started in earnest. Even now people are all over the place daily. That includes some really big men with nice SUVs. Let's lift Emergency Rule right now. We are tired.
HUNDREDS OF AFRICANS FLEEING ABROAD BUT THE LEADERS COULDN'T CARE
Night after night we see pictures of struggling Africans fleeing the continent heading for the so-called GREEN PASTURES of Europe. We say so-called because those pastures are never green for foreigners - in fact, there's no reason why they should be. Apart from making speeches in conferences, our leaders are behaving as if this was a European problem. The reality is that, this is very much a problem for African leaders.
Those people risking everything in lawless Libya and on the high seas to reach Europe are making a powerful statement about the state of affairs in Mandela's Africa. We know that there are many Sierra Leoneans among those dying to reach Europe but nobody is telling us anything. In fact, there's no discussion around that in this country.
Naturally, the question should be this: how can we stop African children from sacrificing their lives in this way:
1. Let's give the African people hope and a reason to stay on the continent - stop corruption, stop political marginalisation and victimisation.
2. Let's distribute the resources of our countries in such a way that all the people feel they are part of it. Too many Africans have lost hope in our governments. How else can we explain the debacle on the Mediterranean?
3. The examples of a few Africans who fled abroad and returned after a few years as completely changed people is pushing many into making the journey.
4. Disease is another major problem. While we were busy dying of Ebola, South Korea was attacked by the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. They quickly defeated it and moved on. We failed to contain Ebola in Kailahun. Now more than three thousand souls have perished - why, Sierra Leone.
5. The Europeans have the problems on their doorsteps. Instead of dealing with it, they are complaining all over the place. Our leaders should in fact go after them and get them to send back all they stole from our continent during colonial rule. They should also end this wicked international system that keeps Africa down all the time. Fact!
(C) Politico 11/08/15
