WAITING FOR THE HARVEST OF PRINCIPAL’S FARM
We are planning to go along with Principal when next he visits his farm. We hope only a handful of the usual hangers on will make it because they are always there in large numbers either taking pictures or pretending to be explaining something for the benefit of social media. We know a lot of people would feel privileged to be seen around the president but please if you are a minister of something totally unrelated to agriculture unless you can prove that Principal actually asked for you to be around, please stay at home with your family or go to your own farm. We have complained a lot about this attitude of ministers going after presidents all over the place and for a time we thought the New Direction would change things but some ministers have failed to read our mood and in that area at least, they are beginning to look like Tolongbo.
We hope Principal will invite us to the harvest that we believe will take place any time from now. Having said that can Principal now tell us how many of his ministers have farms? Wasn’t that a condition for them continuing in office? We ask now because once again we are hearing some noises about ministerial merry-go-round movements, even sackings. We will not be surprised if some ministers are sacked because they have already dug their own graves already.
Do the ministers have farms? We want all of them to step forward and invite the media to visit their farms. Please don’t rent farms and claim them to be yours. We will investigate. Thanks our dear ministers.
PEOPLE LIVING WITH DISABILITY AND THEIR MISERY HOME ON PADEMBA ROAD
Are the political leaders in this country telling us they’ve not seen the misery at that camp for people with disability near Pademba road prison yard? When we say politicians we mean both those in government and those in the opposition. Maybe you’ve not seen the place because you are always in your nice well-air conditioned SUVs doing whatsapp, so let’s help. Coming into the center of town from the west end of Freetown where almost all of you live, this misery camp is located just after the walls of the prison to your right.
We urge those dealing with disability issues to visit that place and see the human misery we are talking about. When the occupants moved in there in the days of King Messi, there was public outcry because people knew what the place would become before long. An attempt to move them on was thwarted by a government minister who thought it was politically unwise to do that. He told a radio station that he had the support of King Messi. Now we call on the New Direction to do something NEW.
1. Move those people out of that misery camp and re-settle them in a reasonably dignified place immediately.
2. No need to create a colony of people with disability. They are normal people with families like all of us. Help them re-integrate with their people and start small businesses. Where were they before they moved to that place?
3. Demolish that building which was gutted by fire in the days of the NPRC – more than TWENTY years ago and build something decent on that land which is a property of the Ministry of Works.
4. It will not be easy to do what we asking now because the occupants will resist having settled down all these years and some hypocrites will back them purely for political reasons but this is where political will is required.
5. That done, all the raw sewerage flowing down to the main Pademba road – Campbell street junction will be gone. Let’s end that disgrace now.
SEWA GROUNDS MARKET CONSTRUCTION: HOW FAR ARE WE?
This market project was one of those flagship projects that Red Camp Mayor Morgan Heritage was running all over the place with until he found himself in hot pepper soup with the ACC. The rest they say is history. In fact that’s how the Sewa Grounds market has now become a Lazarus project waiting for Principal to wake it up from the dead.
One of these days we will ask for permission to take a comprehensive look at what has been done so far out there. This is a failed project that attracted the attention of the Commissions of Inquiry.
Rawdon and Howe streets have been taken over by petty traders who were allowed to occupy those streets while they waited for Sewa Grounds market to be completed. Now the traders have made those places permanent homes, much like Abacha Street. That’s not good enough.
We really need somebody to stand up and tell this nation what the story is behind the collapse of that project – inadequate funding or corruption? What is it? We are quite sure work came to a halt long before the election that swept Red Camp out of office. So we ask again, what went wrong?
If we don’t get a swift answer to these many questions we will be left with no alternative but to compel the new Mayor of the Sun to answer our questions through the Access to Information Commission. There is no escape as we represent the people of Sierra Leone. We have already prepared the request we intend to send to the commission. Answers and more answers please.
HENRY STREET IS NOW A GLORIFIED PERMANENT CAR PARK
Let’s be clear from the start that Henry Street is not the only street now being openly used as a garage, a parking lot or some glorified scrapyard. This is a short, very tight street that has suddenly become the main parking are for many people. And those who recklessly park on that road have zero regard for other road users. They expect people to be quiet and pretend as if all is well.
So here’s the point: we hold the Mayor of the Sun totally responsible for this mess, for while she is either on twitter or taking a cup of tea at Bicentenary House or on one of her many trips abroad, Henry street and other parts of the city have simply exploded into illegal parking areas on her watch.
What is difficult about working in line with the road safety authority to clear Henry Street and any such places in Freetown? The Mayor appears to have ceded parts of the CBD to street gangs who now collect parking fines around. We remain seized of the matter until it is solved.
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