Alpha Kanu in Port Loko – you can’t fool all the people all the time
It’s one thing to go on some radio stations in Freetown early in the morning where some interviewees treat you with kid gloves and tell outright political lies and get away with it. It’s another thing to come face-to-face with the real people who will soon make that ultimate decision about your political future.
Kothor Alpha Kanu met his own people on Eid-Ul Fitr (Pray Day) in the town of Port Loko. He was there with his usual message from De Pa. How the people received the messenger and his message is what we are concerned with.
Kothor Alpha was roundly booed and asked to leave as he rose in his “majesty” to address the congregation on the Agenda for Prosperity and this and that. Kothor was shocked beyond belief as the people abandoned the town field which he wanted to turn into a political assembly point. They also refused to eat from his house – quite unusual. This is the biggest disgrace a man can face in Africa.
We don’t want the opposition to read too much into this in terms of how the people will vote in the coming election. It may well be true that the ruling party is facing a rebellion but the real message behind that action at this time is this: We don’t want to see this messenger anymore, no matter what goodies he brings. Did De Pa get that?
Kothor also received some rough handling recently from the people of Lunsar. He returned to Freetown feeling empty but he put a brave face on things and went all over the place singing glory Alleluyah, Salone don change.
In his own interest De Pa must remove Kothor Alpha from all frontline party activities right now. Yes we know he is the publicity secretary of the APC but... In the Ivory Coast when people are in deep trouble even with the state, their last option is to run off to their homeland where they will be totally free. If Port Loko was Ivory Coast, we wonder what would have happened to Kothor Alpha.
Disgraced Mayor says he will be back. Hmm...another Charles Taylor?
The Mayor gave an interview to Politico in the first few hours on being fined for corruption after his conviction, and then sent home to return in thirty days with Le 170 million or return to jail for three years. You will agree with us that it was an interesting interview. The Mayor opened up the possibility that he could return to office soon.
First of all, we urge the former Mayor to reflect on the events of the last few weeks of his life, completely devoid of the jubilation that greeted the court judgement mostly by APC partisans, and concentrate very keenly on what people call real-politik.
The ACC told us during the same week that they were considering an appeal for the other counts on which the Mayor was acquitted. Does the former Mayor now understand why any celebration might be a little premature?
We suspect the former mayor may well have been thinking along these lines after all the dancing and the tough talk about returning to frontline politics in November.
For the rest of us, the concern is, our city is really on its knees in the area of sanitation, street trading is creeping in on us all over the place and other basic services that City Council should provide are non-existent. Look at our municipal schools. These schools are the first contact with education for thousands of our children but the physical condition of the schools is deplorable.
The entire 1,000 or more other people coming forward for the Mayor’s job are taking on a really tough job. We know some of them personally and we respect them for the decision they have taken. Winning the election could be easy but picking Freetown up again is definitely the most difficult part of the job.
EMPTY MINISTERIAL OFFICES - WHERE ARE THEY ALL GONE?
By some accident we discovered that a good number of ministers and deputies were out of Freetown either distributing Ifthar (Sunakati) or helping MPs and potential MPs lobby for APC party symbols. We were concerned that all the businesses we were trying to transact during last week went un-attended to.
We have to raise some of these issues because it cannot be right that party politics will take precedence over the business of the state. And you know, our friends were in their ministerial cars and perhaps on the usual per diem and might well have slept in government housing. Our representatives in parliament did not approve of that expenditure and we are right to cry foul.
In opposition, De Pa cried out loud about ministers and civil servants putting the facilities provided for them by the state in the service of partisan interests. We are really sorry to say, it’s worse now on his watch.
Look at this: all the press attaches in our embassies are deeply involved in partisan politics, abusing the opposition and critical minds, using the facilities provided by the state and receiving salaries from the state. Let De Pa tell us if that is correct. Please don’t give us your usual Mr. Jones-will- come-back reply, meaning if we don’t allow them to do so the evil SLPP will come back. How about all those vehicles run by ministers and civil servants that are criss-crossing the country as we write?
We have once argued in Politico that the more things change, the more they remain the same. This situation has changed for the worse.
SALONE OLYMPIC RUNNER DOES A RUNNER IN UK
That some members of the Sierra Leone delegation to the Olympic Games will do a runner and try to stay in the UK was the worst kept secret in this country. We hear that the 100 meters guy who came a distant last in his heat and his coach have decided to stay put in the home of the Queen. And what’s this talk about them having a valid visa till November?
This country has a history of this kind of behaviour or misbehaviour, our whole team including ministry officials once claimed asylum in Australia, our youth football team did the same in Finland and now these two people are trying to do the same. It’s a shame eh?
The Paralympics will start in a few days time and guess what, Sierra Leone has only one athlete but once again we have dispatched eight officials. This is ridiculous! This ceaseless search for per diem at the expense of the state must definitely end at some point, please. As for the AWOL boys, we leave them in the comfortable hands of British Immigration – tea or coffee please?
Arsenal, sell Arsene Wenger
The English Premier league is back and our young people are jumping up and down arguing and shouting about this or that team. But we cannot fail to notice that wily old Arsene Wenger has firmly established himself as the cleverest trader in the EPL.
Here’s our list of the deals he’s made in the last few years.
Thierry Henry, Alexander Klheb, Mathieu Flamini, Giovanni Van Bronchorst, Cesc Fabregas, Kolo Toure, Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri, Robin Van Persie and Alexander Song. We are monitoring the situation of Danish International, Nicklas Bendtner who is almost out. These are all world-class players.
While other managers are busy trying to keep their players, and bringing in new ones, the old beast is selling and licking his lips for his commission. It’s difficult to keep unhappy players in your team, but we think Wenger has not always exhausted all possibilities to keep such high calibre players.
The club may have a healthy bank balance but the long-suffering fans of Arsenal will have to wait for another five years for any decent trophy. The next person to leave Arsenal is Thomas Vermalen. We are not soothsayers but keep watching.
Arsenal fans will realise very soon that the real person they need to sell is Arsene Wenger.
