CHIEF SIDIKIE APPEARS IN THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION AGAIN
Once again CHIEF SIDIKIE, the second most powerful man in the land of YUGOSOBA has been brought to the court of public opinion on fresh allegations bordering on his inability to service his debts or being a bad businessman or indeed corruption. We hear that CHIEF SIDIKIE is furious that his former American friend has decided to wash their dirty linens in the view of the whole world. This, as they say, is the “unkindest cut of all”, at a moment when the chief needs all his friends to rally around him. CHIEF SIDIKIE has been recovering well after that devastating knock-out punch from Sorious Samura over the Timbergate affair and we are just over three months to elections with the chief uncertain whether his master will go along with him to the ring.
Now the severely wounded CHIEF SIDIKIE is planning to fight back. We are not sure he has any option but to stand up and take on the American Ranger from the 00012 Mountain Battalion.
For the rest of us the ordinary people, from Koyeima to Gandorhun, from Falaba to Mambolo and from Kent in the Freetown peninsular to Lungi, the concern is how far has the whole affair damaged Sierra Leone’s credibility in the eyes of all our friends?
Obviously this event is like a red rag to an opposition bull that has so far been tentative or at best very sporadic in its work. And we should expect that.
The CHIEF will convince himself he has cleared the air after his press conference. Not so sir. In a political sense, BRAND CHIEF SIDIKIE is now a total distraction to De Pa’s bid for a second term in office and he must do the whole nation a favour by putting the CHIEF out of his misery tomorrow.
POPE JOHN PAUL’S HAMMER STRIKES LEONE STARS
Sierra Leone football stands on the brink of another damaging row between players of the national team on the one hand and minister Pope John Paul and his newly-found friends in the SLFA on the other. The minister and his friends in the SLFA have kicked out Captain Obreh and winger Kai-Kamara from the national team.
They are both accused of insubordination and inciting other players to disrespect officials. Well on the face of it, we support anybody trying to restore order in a notoriously unruly Leone Stars side made up of boys who think too much of themselves. So the Pope has our support on that front.
But we have slight concerns about the extent and timing of his action. He has thrown the team Captain and one of the best strikers out of the squad at a time when crucial World and Nations Cup qualifiers are just around the corner. From the look of things, the Pope will soon find himself fighting the whole squad and this is the only trained side we have. There’s yet no plan to replace them with fresh blood and the nation will not accept defeat of any kind in the coming matches. The Pope forced through his action against the media despite complaints from all over the country. He will lose this battle against players of the national team. We have a feeling the players are all in this together and will fight as one. Any attempt to divide and rule them will fail.
We are not asking the Pope not to discipline unnecessarily rude players but we urge him to calculate his action properly and not miss his target.
May be the Journalists of Sierra Leone will help him find a way out of this debacle without losing face – the stone that the builders rejected...
And this small matter of Olof Martesen’s contract money, can the minister tell the nation what the real situation is? The last thing we want is for our country to be reported to FIFA.
FESTUS MINAH – CIVIL SOCIETY, FESTUS MINAH WINE COLOUR SHIRT and then...
Going, going, going, gone. Festus Minah started life as a teacher; he then became a Trade Unionist “advocating for the ordinary man.” His name was synonymous with civil society programs. We still remember some of his many interviews on radio and on his many civil society platforms. But in 2011, he started having doubts about whether the civil society route was the best way to reach his economic and political Nirvana.
Then Festus appeared at an APC event in his home district of Pujehun in RED shirt. As you can imagine, the media understood the message very clearly. Then Festus appeared on TV to deny media reports of his push towards the SUN. He said the Journalists were colour-blind. The truth, according to him was that he was actually putting on a WINE-COLOURED SHIRT and the he was still with civil society. Now folks, where is Daymia Festus? He is chairman for something in the APC party in Pujehun district. Come on Daymia, you could have done this a long time ago and not played this hide and seek game.
So how are you doing with your campaign? Do you really have time to chair the SLBC Board? This job with the party and that of providing badly needed policy direction for a poorly led SLBC. Are you able to do them well and impartially? Have you ever heard people describe any situation as MORALLY UNACCEPTABLE? Come on Daymia, do the right thing please. Anyway, time will tell.
PMDC AND ITS WILL TO SELF-DESTRUCT
Let’s not hide it anymore; the PMDC has split into two, maybe even three or four. One group has returned to its Fatherland, The second group has entered the sunny land which is home to De Pa and his followers, a third group is wavering but leaning towards De Pa and the final group has stayed behind CHARLO WISE alias The Dalai Lama.
Before we deal with our real issues here, let’s give some free media advice to the wavering group with that facade of “absolute loyalty” to PMDC. We ask you to please remove Soccoh Kabia as your spokesman. He is a brilliant man but he is the most boring politician ever interviewed on radio. He sends the audience to sleep even when making a great point. What do you think?
CHARLO WISE will vehemently deny this but the truth is the PMDC was bound to come to this sorry state. It was a ramshackle coalition of disillusioned diehard SLPP operatives, political upstarts and those with the do-or-die battle to stop Solomon Berewa, who hurriedly assembled for the bruising encounter with the quintessential Freetown-based lawyer who was pretending to be a man of the people. The euphoria that followed the removal of Berewa lasted too long. Now De Pa has put a knife of the weak threads that held this ramshackle PMDC together and they have fallen apart. Those thinking they can keep or improve the PMDC’s 2007 success level by kicking out CHARLO WISE are living in dream land. CHARLO WISE is PMDC and PMDC is CHARLO WISE. In typical legal fashion sir, We submit that the only thing now is for you to unveil PLAN B. We have about three months to go now.
CHOLERA GRIPS SIERRA LEONE
It was a long time coming but Health Minister Zainab Bangura finally announced what was already known to everybody – cholera is spreading and killing people in Sierra Leone. When that precocious journalist at SALONE TIMES, Thomas Dixon first published the story, a government press conference tried to pooh-pooh it. The government owes him and his newspaper an apology.
Although Zainab in her usual style dominated the press conference, it came out clearly from the professionals that the cholera problem we have now is very serious and we must act to stop it from spreading further.
Let Zainab also admit that the nation’s food chain is not in good condition. Unless the ministry deals firmly with the unsanitary condition of all places where our food comes from, we are doomed. This is one country where bread is sold out in the open and on top of piles of rubbish – Magazine Cut – Fourah Bay Road junction and that so-called J. ONE bread are examples. We have some of the filthiest markets and water is just not available. De Pa should never try telling us about clean drinking water. Some houses, particularly in the central and eastern parts of Freetown have no toilets and the City Council cannot care less. Let’s fight this cholera from when it begins. Zainab must stop this talking too much and showing off. In fact when are you taking up your new job with Ban Ki Moon? We do tire!
