RWANDA'S PAUL KAGAME AND THE THIRD TERM QUESTION
It's beginning to look like Rwanda would go the way of Burundi soon on the important question of whether presidents who come to Africa with a constitution limiting them to two terms should be able to change that constitution towards the end of their second term so they can stay in office forever.
Here's this ridiculous news out of Rwanda saying that out of more than two million people, only ten disagreed with the proposal that Kagame be allowed to run again. That he would win all elections in Rwanda is as sure as death is inevitable. We are looking at a situation in which a man who came to power after defeating criminal genocidal forces and succeeded in making his country the envy of many, is well and truly on the road to destroying his own good name.
The fear across Africa is that maybe, just maybe Africa is going down the slippery slope of having a re-incarnation of the Omar Bongo and Gnassingbe Eyademas of this world.
We are watching the deterioration of security in Burundi carefully and the attempted power-grab in Rwanda carefully for obvious reasons. For now, let`s try and see why only TEN of more than TWO MILLION people disagreed with the third term bid by Kagame.
1. Kagame looked set to get 100% but those TEN who objected were actually woken up from a sound sleep to respond to the question put to them by a very stupid government official. They have since regretted their response and are planning to take legal action against that government official.
2. The TEN dissenters were disgruntled because they discovered that the food, drinks and cash sent by Kagame to facilitate the process were stolen by local authorities.
3. Actually, the government officials who put the questions to those TEN dissenters were later found out to have rigged against Kagame because they hate him.
4. Those who took part in the poll thought it was an April Fool's joke
5. In fact, the real result is the reverse...only TEN approved Kagame
GIVE TO MAYOR BABABODE WHAT IS MAYOR BABABODE'S
What is this we are hearing about people refusing to pay local tax in Freetown because according to them, the Freetown City Council has nothing to show for all the taxes they have collected previously? We understand why the people want to take this line of action but we will not be part of any such conversation. We believe that we must all pay our taxes because that's what good citizens do to keep their state running. We urge all residents of Freetown to pay up. Yes pay up and continue behaving like good citizens. For example:
1. We must insist that like the national parliament, all meetings of the FCC must be open to all citizens and the FCC must make sure they invite the media to such meetings in the name of transparency and proper representation of the people.
2. The FCC must also fully comply with sections of the Local Government Act which requires them to publish their budgets for all to see.
3. The FCC must set at least one such meeting to take questions directly from those of us who would be in attendance. And there are many questions we want to ask apart from clarifications about the damage that the Morgan Heritage episode did to our city council.
4. We will also insist on hygiene being the priority of the FCC. No dirty pigs roaming parts of the city, no criminals selling parking spaces in Freetown for their own benefit, absolute clarity about the status of Victoria Park and why people are still sleeping under bridges long after Bababode promised to remove them.
5. After just two sittings, the language and quality of the debate would convince us about what we suspected all along - some of the councilors have no business trying to represent anybody. They should be voted out next year.
FOOTBALL RETURNS TO FREETOWN WITH CRIMINALITY
We definitely do not regret our call for the State of Emergency to be lifted. In fact, we are very sad the Emergency Rule was only partially lifted. It must be removed totally right now. What we regret is that the police have allowed themselves to be caught off-guard again by criminals who are mixing up with the crowds at mini football leagues across the country.
We refer to the unacceptable criminality we saw between KT field at Kingtom and areas close to Connaught hospital. Teenage boys openly attacked people, stole bags and mobile phones and continuously banged on cars after the match. We wonder what MUNU BOYS were doing when peaceful citizens were being distressed by criminals.
In this country, when a journalist says something critical about a government official, he is quickly charged under Public Order laws and locked up at CID. What about that criminal disruption of Public Order caused by those criminals the other day? Is that normal stuff? Even the organisers of the mini-leagues are not held to account for assembling the criminals.
We don't want to provide any excuse for government to ban such sporting activities because we recognise their value to young minds but we cannot equally allow criminals to infiltrate such programmes to distress people. This is totally unacceptable and we are asking MUNU to arrest and prosecute those criminals.
We wonder if those mini-league people ever ask for police permission to conduct their games. Perfectly decent organisations like SLAJ are easily denied permission for very innocuous activities but mini-leagues where criminality reigns is unchecked.
MANY PEOPLE SAY SALONE NOR SWEET O. HOW CAN THEY TELL?
The talk all over Freetown now is this: "SALONE NOR SWEET O." It simply means things are hard in Sierra Leone. We've been trying to find out why so many of our compatriots have suddenly realised that. It's been hard for a long time. OK be that as it may, we went around Freetown with notebook in hand to find out why this SALONE NOR SWEET O BUSINES is now on so many lips.
1. Transportation is still a major problem. The RED buses have only done a tiny bit of the job. Can somebody tell us how many buses were off-loaded in Freetown? Just checking.
2. Many young people are living on the streets. They control the streets. They collect parking fees for their pocket while the City Council is broke. The police are too scared to act. Is that the best way to deploy youthful energy or to collect tax?
3. Too many young girls are hanging around central Freetown and the beachside waiting to be picked up for the night. The number is growing daily. NGOs are busy writing projects. No country can develop by such projects.
4. Freetown has hundreds of churches. Victoria Street alone has FIVE. Well nothing wrong with that. Everybody wants quick salvation. In God's name.
5. The slums of Freetown are packed with new arrivals. The few rich people are building massive houses on land previously occupied by the poor. The only option open to the downtrodden is to look for a place in the slum. SALONE NOR SWEET O.
6. Sycophancy is growing in popularity. Very decent people are doing incredible things just to get something to eat. SALONE NOR SWEET O.
7. We suspect there are many Sierra Leoneans among those migrants dying to enter Europe from Libya. Nobody is telling us something about that. Our people are fleeing poverty and disease at home.
8. Some politicians are unashamedly crossing over to the Red Movement at the slightest opportunity. They have to put food on the table. Carry on guys.
9. Public exams are very corrupt. High School students are chasing their papers all over the country to bribe examiners who we are not sure have been paid their pittance of an allowance for three years. What do we expect?
10. When you hear people calling into all radio programs to praise De Pa, don't blame them. They are simply calling attention to themselves for a piece of the pie. SALONE NOR SWEET O.
(C) Politico 13/08/15
