LESSONS FROM BREXIT: LET’S HAVE SIERRAEXIT FROM AU NOW
The implications of Britain’s decision to LEAVE the European Union are still being discussed around the world. Even those who campaigned for the so-called BREXIT are taking stock of the consequences of their action. And some of those who voted to LEAVE are regretting their actions because of the enormity that is panning out before their eyes. We hear of more than three million signatures having been collected to force a re-run. That is a joke and a travesty of democracy - even though Ireland had a re-run over the Lisbon Treaty. Different circumstances though. So, please let there be no re-run. We are tired of hearing about BREXIT. Let the will of the British people be respected and let the world move on.
In fact, we are asking for our own politicians to go to the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa and put in some papers asking for Sierra Leone to leave the African Union. Let’s call ours SIERRAEXIT. Here are some of the main reasons why we should leave the African Union before the end of 2016.
By the way, we are prepared to take part in any debate, anywhere in this world to make the people’s case against the meaningless AU towards which we pay a lot of taxpayers’ money. Victory for SIERRAEXIT is assured! The difference though being that De Pa will not allow any dissent for his REMAIN campaign even outside his party let alone within his party. Never mind his cabinet. So much for free speech and freedom of conscience! But here is why we want a SIERRAEXIT:
1. The AU has always failed in peacekeeping. The latest is in Burundi. It was a spectacular failure. They agreed and shouted to send peacekeepers to that country, with or without the consent of John Pierre Nkurunziza. The AU pulled back just when it was time to give the order to move. Cluelessly cowardly! Many more lives are being lost in Burundi on the AU’s watch. Shame! And now we hear some of their peacekeepers have not been paid for six month.
2. Most Africans still need visas to travel to most other African countries. And the paperwork can be so frustrating and often impossible. We are clearly not a United continent. Foolish!
3. Look at those shameful xenophobic attacks against other Africans in South Africa in particular and indeed in other parts of the African soil.
4. We have a Pan-African parliament sitting in South Africa, of all places, speaking to itself. The members are not directly elected to serve in that parliament and some of those selected by our parliaments to go there have questionable mandates at home - let alone…
5. We have no idea what they talk about in that parliament or whether even their own member countries are listening to them. Yet we bankroll them.
6. We have no idea how much money Sierra Leone is paying in membership dues to the AU - or even to run that undemocratic parliament - despite all our struggles back home. That money, whatever it is, could be saved for something else!
7. The AU is completely cut off from the people and must be scrapped.
8. It is an old boys’ club for presidents in smart Armani suits enjoying the good life while their people die in the Mediterranean without they batting an eyelid. We wonder what sort of leaders the continent has!
“PRESIDENT’S DIARY” ON SLBC? HERE WE GO AGAIN
This is beginning to look like the Kabbah years all over again - and even WORSE! We don’t understand how much more time De Pa’s Spin Doctors really need on Public Television to spin his message, and why. They completely dominate the SLBC even now. There appears to be a covert rule at SLBC to keep all critical minds out of the place in favour of the many members of the glorious LAYBELLEH COMMITTEE. They go there day and night to SING THY PRAISE O De Pa. Thou art the greatest man that ever walked this earth.
Now as De Pa’s second and FINAL term draws to a close, the Spin Doctors say they need more time on Public TV to talk about issues in De Pa’s DIARY. Well, we understand the slot has been approved already.
We have a good idea about some of the issues that will be recorded in that diary. In fact, is this really about De Pa wanting to engage more with the people or THE BERATER wanting to make his position in the big house relevant?
We plead with De Pa to allow ordinary citizens like us to contribute to the entries in his diary. Our contribution will be significant enough to impress the old man. Here we go:
1. There are really tough times on the streets. We call on De Pa to stroll around Freetown in the evening on any day and see people eating and sleeping on the streets and the general despair among especially young people. We cannot allow so many people to fall through the cracks. This should go beyond just text messaging people and hoping they will change their attitude - with or without the involvement of the useless ABC Secretariat.
2. De Pa needs to address the attitude of some of his ministers. They are only concerned about the sweets of office. They drive in big vehicles, live in big houses, travel business class, all at our expense. Yet they couldn’t care less how we get on with life. They spend very few hours in their offices - and even those are hardly productive for the state. It is mostly party politics that goes on there. The rest of the time they spend on Whatsapp or chilling in exclusive places.
3. We will also do a priority entry in De Pa’s Diary about all the fire incidents in government buildings. This is getting out of control. The Mines Minister’s office is the latest to be gutted by fire. The people need real answers to these persistent fires. The Fire Force people always promise to investigate but we see no reports.
4. De Pa must also address education. Deep inside his cabinet it is known that our education system is in crisis, like never before. There is a complete loss of command and control by the Commander in Chief of Education, Bra Minks.
5. We have a few reports from the Auditor General. We want to make them part of the discussion from De Pa’s Diary at SLBC. We are quite sure our people now understand why we asked for this space. In discussing these issues, we call for a complete rejection of political correctness. Good Luck.
ROTTEN VEHICLES MESSING UP YOUYI BUILDING
Let’s not hide anything here; the parking area at Youyi Building is a mess. Apart from the cars not being properly organised in that sprawling compound, the number of rotten cars abandoned in the parking area is too high for them to appear to have gone unnoticed for so long. When we did a rough count last week, we picked out about twenty rotten vehicles in the front area alone. We saw a few more in the Miatta Conference Hall entrance area too.
We believe that sometimes we don’t seem to get the importance of Youyi Building to the political administration of this country at all. Otherwise, we wouldn’t allow the place to become a scrap yard.
Also on Youyi Building’s fence with China House and those roadside garages are cookery shops and car wash points. Does anybody really care about the condition of that place? Among those cookery sellers and their car wash counterparts are those BENGHAZI BOYS who spend the whole day smoking the Callie Weed.
There is a lot of security grandstanding at the main entrance but the entrance to Miatta is as wide open as the Atlantic Ocean. In fact that entrance area is now a market centre. This is the only country in the world, where people go to an exhibition, buy stuff and then re-sell them in the same area at inflated prices.
We have simply lowered the entry requirements - if any there are - into Youyi Building so badly that the security of the building and the people who work there is now an issue of real concern.
ON JOHANSEN’S WATCH SALONE U-17 FOOTBALL SQUAD OUT OF TOURNEY
Sierra Leone’s nervy win against Sudan recently was a really bright spot in a rather bleak picture of football in this country. We were then looking for more good news from the SLFA but we couldn’t find any. The Executive Committee is about to announce a major sacking at its secretariat. There are backdoor moves to prevent that happening but so far we have no reason to believe the committee will hold back.
Then came news that our Under 17 squad has been withdrawn from a continental competition despite the consequences awaiting the country – an almost certain ban for about two years. Is there anybody left in this country who still believes Johansen can run Sierra Leone football - or any football outside her team which had to buy their promotion to the Premier League!?
The unofficial reason we are hearing from the streets is that there is no money in the SLFA to finance the squad. We don’t want to take issues with that. However, we have been trying to find out the real reasons why our squad was withdrawn. Here’s what we found out.
1. This lack of money talk is clearly intended to make the new minister look bad.
2. Johansen is more concerned about the outcome of the work of the 7-man committee identifying SLFA delegates.
3. Actually, we don’t have an Under 17 squad. Those hastily brought into camp would all have failed the MRI scan. They are over the age limit.
4. Where do we really expect to get an Under 17 squad when there is no proper league in this country? Even COFA league is packed with so-called Premier League players. This is a real joke, guys.
5. The SLFA has still not settled their bills with two local doctors who did the last MRI scans. The doctors would have complained to FIFA. That’s football for you, fellow Sierra Leoneans!
(C) Politico 28/06/16
