G4S SAY SORRY BUT HOW CAN THEY EXPLAIN THIS?
We don’t seem to get our heads round what is happening with international security contractors, G4S, regarding their handling of the security contract for the Olympic Games in London. Here is a company that was so lucky to win a lucrative contract but failed badly when the chips were down. The company had to recruit and deploy up to 10,000 guards to secure the games. What is difficult about this? Now the British government has called in the army to take over security responsibility.
So even the British have been infected by the MAC-P bug? Did they get advice from IMATT in Sierra Leone? The two athletes from Sierra Leone have no problem with soldiers going up and down our streets but athletes from some other countries have no experience dealing with soldiers. That could be tricky. May this earn Sierra Leone a gold medal.
Add this latest debacle to the suggestion that British Athletics, the governing body of athletics in the UK, must sanitize their hands, each time, after shaking hands with foreign athletes to avoid infection and the whole Olympic thing is looking controversial already.
As for G4S, this is what we think they should have done to meet the requirement of ten thousand guards:
- Withdraw all your guards from their various locations in Freetown and deploy them to guard duties at the Games. We know they are badly paid for the amount of work they do here; we also know that their uniforms are old and we can’t rule out allegations they are aiding armed robbery but you could still deploy them for you to meet your contractual obligation.
- b. Remember however to cuff them one hand to the other to stop them going to LUNAR house to file asylum claims. Or you tag them electronically so you can call them back each time they approach Croydon.
NDA VEHICLE AGAIN – is it a MAGBANA?
We are calling on Sarah Bendu to order that an urgent fitness test be carried out on the vehicle the United Nations recently donated to the National Democratic Alliance and their Hugo Chavez-sponsored ally, the African Socialist Movement. Not too long ago we called attention to the NDA’s bad habit of using their vehicle as public transport. On that particular occasion we travelled with the NDA vehicle from Makeni to Masiaka together with other ordinary passengers and we paid for the journey. This happened in the presence of a very senior official of the NDA. We are more than convinced he was part of the deal because we had a little argument with the driver over the fares and the big man got involved at some point.
We were hoping the NDA members and indeed the UN who donated it would hold the NDA to account by its own much trumpeted very high standards in public life. We were ignored.
Now we are very sad to report once again that on Tuesday 17th July, between 3 and 4pm, we saw the same NDA vehicle on the mountain road between Regent and Grafton overflowing with passengers. The driver disobeyed all instructions regarding passenger numbers and allowed people to hang on the vehicle like refugees fleeing a battle front in eastern DR Congo.
Instead of organising their convention and getting ready for the people’s verdict, they are busy operating their UN-donated vehicle as a Magbana.
It started on the Freetown-Makeni road, now we’ve found you on the Mountain road between Grafton and Regent. Next time please use the peninsular road, we shall be there too. Practice what you preach please!
PARENTS COLLECT REPORT CARDS; TEACHERS COLLECT MONEY
This mess started slowly but now we appear to have entered a very embarrassing phase in a scandal that even the ACC seems unable to deal with. As with many other things government allowed this cash-for-report-card enterprise to go on for too long. In one particular meeting at State House, a parent stood up and told De Pa directly to act against this rubbish of teachers asking for money from parents before handing over their children’s report cards all the time.
We have heard arguments that teachers are badly paid and that parents willingly give money to the teachers for their hard work throughout the year. Fantastic points! Our take is this: Teachers who are used to collecting from parents and pupils will continue doing so even if they are paid the same amount of money as ACC boss Joseph Kamara or Christiana Thorpe of NEC. They just can’t stop stretching out their hands or black plastic bags to receive what Kenyans call kityu-kidogo.
Next point: Parents give willingly. That is very possible but we can argue that the same parents will not then turn around and complain of being ripped off. If the schools can’t get their teachers to stop asking for money from parents, the government must stop the wicked exploitation of the already grievously poor Sierra Leoneans.
BUS STATION THAT NEVER CHANGETH O BOCKARIE LEWIS KAMARA
There’s no doubt that Bockarie Lewis Kamara is one of the few Diasporan square pegs in square holes in the Koroma government. We have never met him but we could see and feel that he is trying to put in place a road transport system to serve the travel needs of the people. We have to say though that hasn’t even started if his dream is to bring Sierra Leone to the TRANSPORT FOR LONDON standard he is used to. Also, does he think he should have consulted more widely before naming those buses after those people?
Immediately though, we want to call his attention to that OLD BUS STATION on Wallace Johnson street. Why has this place not changed? We started using this facility in the 70s. It’s still the same – ticket touts all over the place, outright thieves looking to distress travellers, absolute chaos, ticket sales people running under-hand deals with conductors and security guards, no respect for time, disrespectful SLRTC officials and just nowhere to sit while you wait for departure. Please don’t tell me about a good toilet or some small place where you can buy a cup of coffee.
The last time we passed by the place, we thought we could write an article using that bus station and a few other places to show why we think that despite all what is being said about infrastructural development, we still have a medieval architecture standing in the middle of Freetown, pretending to be a modern bus terminal.
We hate it when people who pass through that bus station have to be in constant fear that their property would be stolen or that even if they spent the night out in the cold, it would still be possible that the ticket people would tell them ticket do don. Bockarie Lewis Kamara started out on the job by physically going to the place in the mornings to see that people were happy. Why have you stopped sir? You really didn’t need to be so overzealous. Just take the necessary actions and wait for your result in your cosy office.
We are travelling to Kabala next week and we will have another experience out there. Good Luck bro!
WILL De Pa MAKOKORIZE SALONE?
The Lagos State government in the Federal Republic of Nigeria has done what governments of Sierra Leone – past and present – have woefully failed to do over the last twenty years or so. Illegal slum dwellers that live in Makoko are being forcefully removed in their own interest and indeed in the interest of the country. Our governments must have the courage of their conviction and act. This business of thinking about votes even when sending a convicted felon to jail must stop. Votes are good for political survival, we know that. But people love leaders that are courageous and can take decisions with an eye on the future.
How can we Makokorize Freetown? The City Council should clear those parts of Thompson Bay, Cockle Bay, Kroo Bay , Susan’s Bay, Mo’ Wharf that have all been reclaimed by thousands of people to build rickety structures that house many children. The people operate outside the bounds of any family planning program. They are Sierra Leoneans, but we make bold to say that many of them would do better in their small communities away from chaotic and overflowing Freetown. We urge all Freetown Mayoral candidates to make a public pledge that they will MAKOKORIZE Freetown on winning the election. We shall mobilize votes on their behalf. We are waiting.
