“Bouting” at STATE HOUSE EMBARRASSES De Pa
We still don’t know how was it came to pass that two people who are paid to keep the most important person in Sierra Leone safe, went into blows inside the fortified seat of power otherwise known as State House. We know De Pa was very embarrassed by the action of these two men who allowed the animalistic tendencies in them to overwhelm their sense of reasoning.
We may be accused of pushing this a bit too far but we suspect this is something that has been building up all this while. Working at the presidency is not easy – petty jealousies over who gets frequent access to De Pa, who travels abroad with De Pa the most, with huge implications for per diem. We once heard that an Ariogbo was invited to the place to sort out some funny happenings there. And some people still wonder how come two ADCs died in quick succession.
We think the nation deserves some explanation as to what the British-trained Chief of Staff has done about this. Can we humbly ask if these men are still working at State House? We want the Chief to thoroughly investigate this matter because, already, the rest of the security staff would have fallen behind the two combatants in terms of support and that would be disastrous for De Pa’s safety, if he sees where we are going.
Nobody is saying people shouldn’t disagree; even violently but when such disagreement results in open combat, the law should be applied. We should never allow any of those police officers to turn State House into the Tower of Babel. Chief, please send them away while you investigate. Do not create the impression that they are the only people who can work at State House.
SO MUCH FOR DECENTRALISATION AT MOHS, HERE COMES ZAINAB BANGURA
We congratulate Zainab Bangura on her recent UN appointment. We wish her all the best in the hope that she will do well. Zainab has been flexing her muscles lately with a ministerial decentralisation program of her own at the ministry of health and sanitation. We understand that Zainab cannot have her two deputies with her under the same roof so she asked them to look for offices in other departments in the ministry.
This is what we now have: Deputy Minister No.1 is at the central medical stores building at New England and that other man who still doesn’t have a proper work schedule – in premiership football terms, he is surplus to requirement – has been asked to go to Cline Town and take over the medical officer’s office until aunty Zain goes to New York. This is one area in which we have a big problem with De Pa. What is this man who believes the rest of Sierra Leone owes his so-called Makona River people a debt of gratitude because they occupy small patches of Sierra Leone territory doing in government? Let De Pa tell us what value the Makona man has added to government business. The nation has provided him with a vehicle, housing allowance and all those other little things that come with such office. We want Zainab to further decentralise until our man ends up in Buedu where he will spend his days eating boiled cassava and kainda while drinking what he likes most. Shed this excess baggage right now.
SLPP STAYING TO FIGHT IN PARLIAMENT THIS TIME
Isn’t it strange to hear that this time the SLPP parliamentary party refused to boycott proceedings in parliament like they’ve usually done at the slightest provocation? These are strange times eh? Boycotting parliament is not necessarily a bad idea. It’s widely used around the world by opposition MPs to press home views they think deserve to be part of public policy-making. But in Sierra Leone, the main opposition party has used the tool so much that it is now very blunt. It has lost its relevance.
In fact the people of Sierra Leone have the opportunity once again to evaluate the SLPP in opposition and determine whether the party is ready to return to State House. They will argue about the effectiveness of their tactics in the legislative process but truly speaking, how can it be right that a group of people sent to parliament to make laws would always walk out of the House every time they disagree with the ruling party? We expect such issues to be decided by the force of the arguments on the floor of the House. But O ya!
We understand the complaint about the APCs desire to always force issues through using their overwhelming numbers, backed by Paramount Chiefs and spineless tangerine boys who are not sure where their loyalty lies.
Supporters of the SLPP are hoping that their party doesn’t pull out of the election 24 hours before polling day. It will be the end of that political formation.
POPE JOHN PAUL DISHING OUT POLITICALLY-MOTIVATED BANS
It seem like we wake up every morning to the news that Pope John Paul has unilaterally “banned” a few more Sierra Leoneans from the National Stadium. We have no idea where his powers come from. From our own little understanding of political governance, people can indeed be banned from public places but there will have to be a judicial process through which judges will have to be convinced about the arguments in that direction. As far as we know, the Pope has been issuing the “bans” without any due process and he passionately believes he is right. The Pope’s human rights credentials are increasingly coming under strain and the last things he wants is for the Supreme Court to declare his actions ultra vires. He will be dead as a politician. His high-handedness is as unnecessary as it is totally unproductive.
But while De Pa pretends not to know what’s happening and how to react, here are a few more bans that we should expect.
1. Lawyers who make critical comments about the judiciary – BANNED
2. Journalists who criticise IB Kargbo and De Pa – BANNED
3. Doctors who lose patients and blame lack of equipment – BANNED
4. Politicians who are rude about Christiana Thorpe and her NEC – BANNED
5. University Lecturers who blame Minkailu Bah for poor salaries – BANNED
6. NPA and Guma Valley staff who call at the stadium to collect their huge debts – BANNED
We suspect that by the time you finish reading this paper, the whole Politico team would have been banned from the stadium.
