THE ‘PAOPA’, THE ‘SOSALI’ AND THE ‘KIMIT’ PLUS SOMANO KAPEN = CONFUSED GREEN MOVEMENT
Chief Somano Kapen was on Radio 98.1 the other day to talk about the recent events in his Tower of Babel we call THE GREEN MOVEMENT. In his inimitable style the chief tried to get to grips with the issues affecting his party and recent moves to restore law and order to the former ruling party. There’s no doubt that the chief is a very brilliant man. And he is not the kind of man to shy away from controversy. Good attributes for a politician anywhere in the world. Long Live the Chief!
But we want to pick a few points with him here and for good reasons:
Firstly, at certain points during interviews, the chief stops political communication and goes into a classroom mode. We learn a lot from your experience sir, but people can be easily turned off by such academic posture in political communication. The use of those tired Shakespearean quotes makes things even worse.
Secondly, when you have a commodity as bruised as the GREEN MOVEMENT to sell, the best thing to do is pass your message quickly using the kind of imagery that most people can relate to.
When Chief spoke about the PAOPA, SOSALI and KIMIT in his party and then proceeded to explain them as used in his local dialect, what was he thinking? The GREEN MOVEMENT story is not very pleasant these days even for his members so only people writing some academic paper will be interested in such thesis.
We’ve been trying to put names to these three groups in the interest of our readers. We should be ready in the coming weeks. So watch out. Meanwhile, when is your next radio appearance sir.
THIRD RATE SALONE PLAYER BLASTS FEMALE JOURNALIST
If Alfred Zagalo Sankoh turns out in the national colours of this country any time soon without PUBLICLY and UNCONDITIONALLY APOLOGISING to Journalist Francess Bernard of the state broadcaster, those who invite him to such matches would have made a public statement about themselves.
They would have told us that it was right for Offie Jebbor to have blasted Pope John Paul the way he did the last time and must remain in office. They would also have told us De Pa was wrong to have fired that RUDE so-called Deputy Minister and his boss for their unnecessary use of salty language.
We hold no brief for Francess. We know her as a very decent young Journalist who is very passionate about her job and she loves this country. Nobody can convince us otherwise. She did her job professionally and does not deserve insults from a misfiring footballer who has failed to justify his place in our national team. What is wrong with Francess calling attention to an injured player being invited to warm the benches during national assignments?
1. We know there is a syndicate in the selection process. The players doing their stuff in those nondescript leagues in Europe want more international caps to boost their chances of making it big. All we want are players who are fit and play regularly in their clubs. We don’t want injured players to be invited to the national team.
2. Some of these players don’t even have clubs in Europe. Some spend all their time on thebench. They are worst than former Dutch international, Winston Bogarde who spent five years on the bench at Chelsea. He made it to world headlines the day he was sacked.
3. The SLBC are not saying anything about this attack on their staff. They think it’s a job for SLAJ and its affiliates. Pathetic institution!
4. After winning a match, former Costa Rica coach Paulo Wanchope decided to attack a journalist for his reporting. Wanchope was immediately sacked. Is Zagalo a SACRED COW?
5. We stand by Francess. We are ready for a long struggle to restore her dignity. No backroom apologies. We want a written statement.
HILLSIDE BY-PASS ROAD INVADED BY PETTY TRADERS
Is there any place in this country where we don't have people selling some of the most ridiculous things around? We call them petty traders but we think they are well below that. What does one make selling five dozens of oranges daily? How does one justify that in the context of all the hours one spends in the burning sun?
Instead of telling these unfortunate compatriots of ours to go back to the land and be large scale producers of oranges, politicians are busy lying to them about how much they love them and all that nonsense.
Our real concern here is the damage being done to the beauty of the Hill-side By-pass road which is not even complete, in fact 75% of the work is still in oblivion but shanty settlements are already springing up around the stretch from Dwazark Junction to Model.
The biggest casualty of this petty trader invasion is Wallace Johnson Primary School. There is very little learning taking place in a section of that school. Instead of protecting their school, we recently saw a City Council worker collecting dues from the very traders besieging their school. The children of the most poor can't get education even in their own school. What is this? We are coming back to this in a much more sustained way.
The Dwarzark Junction area is also being slowly occupied. By the time the government decides to throw them out, there will be outcries about people being denied their means of livelihood. Those who should act are pretending to be blind to this illegal occupation while corrupt council workers go around collecting dues.
Bababode is simply not able to do his job as Mayor. We can't see him going up for a second time. He should never attempt that. The council has collapsed.
SLFA SECRETARIAT IS ROCKING…MAJORDISMISSAL COMING SOON
We are standing by to report the sacking of a senior member of staff in the secretariat of the SLFA. Our sources there have told us that the appropriate hammer is now available to drive the nail into that worker’s administrative coffin. We understand that the person who will be sacked soon has fallen out completely with the QUEEN.
Well, SLFA is a place of shifting alliances. Boundaries are fluid. When people are sacked or they fall out of favour with authorities, the next moment they appear in other groups. It has happened with referees, football administrators and even messengers. So expect somebody to change sides soon. Life does not start and end at the SLFA. In the name of friendship, journalists are waiting to receive the fallen angel. But we have no sympathy for that person.
Meanwhile, we understand that a member of Johansen’s current team will soon make his intention to take the FA’s top job public. That person has powerful backers. He is not among Johansen’s known critics. The coming congress will unmask that individual and after that, let’s expect the civil war in the football family to intensify.
(C) Politico 10/06/16
