VEHICLE SALES POINTS AND THE PARKING WAHALA IN FREETOWN
As with many other things, the Freetown City Council has completely lost control of parking space in the Central Business District. Yes we know they hardly have control over anything but this one is up to our necks. The whole area is now an unregulated free-for-all space. The problem has been compounded by car sellers parking their wares on the streets waiting for customers. If it took two years for somebody to buy the cars, they will parked in the same place for all those 24 months.
How come car dealers are getting away with this very wrong way of using the public space with nobody challenging them. We don't want to start pointing fingers here and there but let the Freetown City Council go all over the place and see for themselves the following:
- Finding a parking space is a complete nightmare. Perhaps, this is the only city in the world where the Council knowingly loses millions of leones daily by refusing to organise parking lots and which are a huge income earner.
- The streets have become open hunting grounds for fierce-looking boys who are making a living collecting cash from motorists. They set up rotten tyres and people have to pay to park there. Imagine how much they collect daily. Is that not money for a cash-trapped City Council?
- Please don't ask why ordinary motorists can't resist paying. It makes a lot of sense to pay up. We say so because the boys can go as far as puncturing tyres and scratching your car while you are away. So it's not just paying for a space to park, it's also about the security of your vehicle.
- People building houses and those selling cars are also now taking advantage of the inability of Bababode to run Freetown and are busy taking over whole stretches in an already congested Freetown.
- If the peace and quiet of cemeteries is being breached by criminals, dirty pigs are roaming the streets, some municipal schools and so poor, Victoria Park remains a mess in the heart of Freetown, and entering the Central Business District is now in the hands of street urchins, then why do we need Bababode and his people pretending to be running Freetown?
MIATTA CONFERENCE CENTRE GETS A MAKEOVER...IS THERE ANYTHING WE SHOULD KNOW?
Seriously, we have to celebrate the new thing happening to the Miatta Conference Centre in Freetown. Somebody has finally decided to do something about the place after all these years. When we passed through on MALIMBA Day (Is that a Public Holiday now?), we saw some people giving Miatta Conference Hall a real facelift. When completed, we should be able to hold that place as one public space with some quality that can hold international visitors. So well done on that front.
You see, we are Sierra Leoneans so we know how to relate with things happening in our country. So is there anything people want to tell us about the new development at Youyi Building? Let's see if we can lay fingers on some of the issues.
1. Obviously, it will be put forward as part of De Pa's vision to improve on the infrastructure of this country under his Agenda for Prosperity. No doubt about that.
2. We know why all the new chairs are red - and the carpets that had been supplied few months earlier were also Red. Reason: It’s because the Red Movement is at work so we want to produce something that looks very much like the GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE in China. Aren't they our best friends now?
3. The other thing we suspect our people would want to know is which organisation or individual was awarded the contract? There's no suggestion of anything untoward. But we think that information should be out in the public and indeed the cost of the job to the taxpayer.
4. Now, how would the current makeover affect the cost of using Miatta Conference Centre by ordinary people for meetings and conferences. It's a very important question because they are using our money. Yes, our taxes. And who knows the issue of unfair waivers that could exist for certain people and organisations.
5. Is there a major political conference coming soon -a conference at which major announcements would be made? We heard something like that somewhere. It's good to have a nice conference hall to make or destroy political careers. Long live politics!
CONDUCTING OPPOSITION OR BEING RUDE? WHICH ONE MR. MALEMA?
Journalists like politicians with a lot of fire in the belly. They give us great headlines. And that sells papers. They keep people talking all the time about politics and above all, they keep keeping governments on their toes. Without good opposition parties - such as in Sierra Leone - governments easily go to sleep as they slowly enjoy the sweets of office. So let's have good opposition parties.
But, how can we describe Julius Malema's Economic Freedom Fighters in South Africa? Malema, of the KILL THE BOER fame may be disappointing those who broke away from Jacob Zuma's ANC to work with him. He was supposed to be fighting for the economic emancipation of the black poor in the land of Nelson Mandela by nationalising everything. The very prospect of a man like that coming to power in that country, scares many people. Now the guy appears to enjoy making a nuisance of himself every time there is some state opening of parliament. Jacob Zuma is a kind of red rag to a Julius Malema bull.
Like we said in the beginning, some shouting or noise-making is expected of opposition parties but at which point does Malema think even his own people would rise up and tell him to behave himself and get down to serious work?
We hold no brief for Jacob Zuma. He has performed very badly in office. But as long as he remains in office he should be allowed to carry out his duties such as performing the state opening of parliament and setting out his government's programme. How does it make the Economic Freedom Fighters look good or electable when Malema and a handful of MPs always go all out to disrupt those proceedings to give particularly the international media something to talk about?
The world is beginning to lose patience with noise makers like Malema. He was part of those who brought Zuma to power. He read too much into that, forgetting that there can only be one president at any time. This funny protest is becoming tasteless.
THE TINDERBOX THAT IS MODEL JUNCTION
We can't find a place in Freetown that is more chaotic and volatile than Model Junction on Circular Road. The situation is made worse by the fact that just down the road there was supposed to be a Youth Football but has now become something else - normally ending in open street violence causing distress and loss of income to many innocent people.
Visit Model Junction just after midday and watch from a safe distance how many school children make their way home through that place. On two occasions recently, the police had cause to intervene to quell fighting among students for God knows what. On one occasion, we know that teargas was used to disperse the pupils and those business people hanging around the place. This can't continue.
We recently met a principal of one of the schools to try to get to grips with the situation. He told us that he wasn't aware of any disturbance. He lied like a criminal avoiding jail. We stood there as his children behaved like common criminals.
Add to that the COFA football league which has also brought about its own chaos. The football violence at Parade Street over the COFA league borders around the inclusion of Premier League players in mini league. We can't understand why a guy who plays for a Premier League side would play for any community club in the COFA league? We shall return to this later - but for now we blame it on the woman whose leadership has stagnated football in the country.
(C) Politico
