HELLO MR. ABSENTEE E.R.S.G
To “Schulenburg” or not to “Schulenburg”? That’s the question that is weighing down the new Executive Representative of the UN Secretary General to Sierra Leone Jens Toyberg-Frandzen. Since the denied persona non grata of Michael Von Der Schulenburg it seems his successor is avoiding being “Schulenburged”. So he has kept so quite that he is proving useless in his post. What can the head of the UN in a country that is going through keenly contested elections be quiet and invisible like Jens is? No presser, no media interviews, no meeting with civil society organisations, or even local authorities. Oh sorry oh! May be Mr Ban warned him against “meddling in his own job” by meeting with Sierra Leoneans? Or is it like London 2012 after Beijing 2008? The bar too high. We can provide a tall stool for the Absentee ERSG to stand on. Some songs he should learn to sing...
Shanaia Twain’s “From This Moment on”. Hope he changes.
Michael Jackson’s “Man in the mirror”. He will surely see himself and make that change.
Bob Marley’s “Buffalo Soldier”. Is he here to only take away money while the people are impoverished?
We will return to this topic.
LAME DUCK MAKENI APC MAYOR THROWN OUT AT LAST
Mayor Moses Sesay of Makeni City Council will spend his last few days in office discussing with his ghost writer the various chapters of his memoir in that office. The man has just been slaughtered in his own abattoir with an unbelievably crude knife. Well, for the memoir - there will be a lot to write about in his short five years in office. He is truly an interesting character. We hear the late Mama Alice had to plead with APC people in Makeni, or even impose him, to make him Mayor and that it was because of the old woman that he wasn’t impeached for incompetence in his first year in office.
What was he doing with four IPADS and why was he always quarrelling with Journalists in Makeni? Here was a young man given the opportunity to serve, only for him to mess up so badly.
Somebody told us last night that this was not the end of the story as the Mayor is planning to let the APC know they have made a big mistake dropping him. If he gets the SLPP symbol, he wants to prove he was more popular than his party. This is shaping up to be an intriguing contest even though we hear the SLPP will say NO THANK YOU. Winning that seat for the SLPP in their GROUND ZERO will be like a hurricane stronger than Katrina and Andrews combined. By the way the last chapter in that memoire will be FIRST MOTHER WAS MY GOD MOTHER.
MINKAILU BAH PLAYS POLITICS WHILE MMCET BURNS
The Minister of Education is now busy dividing his party in Yele and other places in Tonkolili district in the same way he has driven this nation’s education system into a big problem from which it will not recover soon. Minkailu will be long gone as education minister by the time the nation begins to feel the real impact of his square-peg-in-round-hole appointments.
How can we explain this: MMCET Congo Cross did not take exams in the third term; Lecturers are now said to be demanding money from students to facilitate the manufacture of grades. Final year students are also being asked to pay for their lecturers to supervise their dissertations. All of this is happening on Minkailu Bah’s watch. The guy is so comfortable that he is travelling to his home district to campaign for votes while the nation’s future leaders are being put through the worst type of education ever. The nation has been calling attention to the tragedy at the Education Ministry for a long time without De Pa acting. He will feel the political consequences of his inertia soon.
PANIC GRIPS Salone AS CHOLERA DEATHS RISE
Sierra Leone is in panic mode. People are running helter-skelter trying to find answer to the big question, just how did we get to this stage. Today more than 245 of some of the most vulnerable people in society have lost their lives to a disease that is easily preventable. Nearly 15,000 more have been knocked down by the dreaded disease that has now spread to 12 of the 13 districts of Sierra Leone. In fact we hear it is now in all the districts but for some reason the 13th is being kept for now.
So what do we have here? Sierra Leone is responding in its usual style: De Pa makes a big declaration calling the problem a national emergency; the international community throws money at the problem, Charles Mambu of Health for All Coalition discovers a line and an opportunity, he appears on some radio stations and soon other organisations are cutting and pasting project proposals to access international money targeted at fighting cholera. There is money to be made and political points to be scored with just two months to go.
We are living in the same country where people will fight and kill their friends for saying the city is filthy and that the government is failing badly. For some, criticism of the government can only come from SLPP supporters. Ordinary people who are dissatisfied with the way their country is going should never speak up. It’s a sorry state to be in.
For De Pa to drive around Freetown spraying cash at destitute cholera-prone people as if things are quite normal is as deceptive as his abiding belief in his political infallibility. We shall see.
THE SORRY STATE OF YOUYI BUILDING
We are calling on De Pa to declare the condition of YOUYI BUILDING a National Emergency issue and hence put all state resources at the disposal of the failed Minister of Works and maintenance, this time under the active supervision of the people, to clear the mess at the heart of Sierra Leone’s political establishment.
We now outline why we think only this strategy will save the gift from the People’s Republic of China.
1. The SLRA needs enough money to completely reconstruct that street near Youyi Building and give it a name - Youyi Building Street, or Beijing Street for example, because it has never had a name. We don’t want any patchwork, please.
2. In the process of doing that, SLRA be mandated to clear that disgrace called a scrap yard and the dumpsite that’s causing so much problem for everybody in the area. We have been to many countries in this region and we have never seen such rubbish so close to a main government building. De Pa must do this immediately, election or no election. It’s a real disgrace.
3. The carwash that those lazy young men have established inside Youyi Building must be dismantled next week. The place is an eyesore. The boys are harassing visitors to the place, stealing from them and above all they consume marijuana freely and openly. How can we allow this to happen? People visiting our ministries are greeted by rough and fierce boys high on marijuana just after driving past a huge scrap yard and a dumpsite. Every day our most senior people in government drive pass the place and turn a blind eye to the mess. Politico will escalate this struggle to unbelievable limits if no action is taken next week.
4. We don’t want Petito, the failed minister to tell us that we have no money in this country to repair the lifts at Youyi Building. For four months, people have been struggling their way up that building in pain. We will not accept that. Unless we treat places like Youyi Building with the respect they deserve, this government and any other one will look very light, even weak and unsophisticated in our eyes.
POLICE COLLECTION POINTS – THE PEOPLE’S BURDEN
IG Munu can go on radio and say anything about new vehicles and communication equipment and bla, bla, bla. The reality is that his officers have no communication equipment and have resorted to the use of mobile phones. When we consider the risks associated with the use of mobile phones with the kind of companies we have in this country, we can only pray that God continues to remain ceased of all matters pertaining to Sierra Leone.
To make matters worse, police officers at the many checkpoints around the country are busy collecting money from drivers and waving them through without checking anything. What’s the point of setting up check points when all you do there is to extort money from vehicle owners. No clever police argument can change the reality on the ground. We have seen this naked, daylight robbery with our own eyes. We have nothing against police stopping and searching vehicles on the highways. We have a very serious problem with them using what is a legitimate police duty as a way of stealing from the people. This must stop!
PAUL KAMARA, KEEP THEM BANNED
We are not exactly big fans of Pope John Paul of the Sport Ministry but we absolutely agree with his decision to ban two of the most unruly players in the national team. We disagree with the Pope on many things including his drunkenness with power that makes him believe he is not subject to any laws and can unilaterally ban citizens from public places without a court order.
On the banning of Kei Kamara and Obreh though we believe he is right and he should stand firm. He must resist the cynical attempt by Isha Johansen to play the good girl political heresy and “apologise” on their behalf and so get them into the team. The two boys masterminded the disgraceful behaviour by our team at the stadium recently when in the presence of tens of thousands of people including strangers, they humiliated the minister by refusing to shake his hand. Our players are doing us no favours coming here. We are paying their bills for everything and we give them decent per diems and match bonuses better than what other public servants – who work harder and better – get. So what rubbish is this?
These boys play in nondescript leagues in the south and east of Europe and North America and they pray for the kinds of opportunities we give them to play for their country. In fact such invitations increase their stakes in Azerbaijan and Moldova. How can we then accept their rudeness towards the minister? Obreh and Kei Kamara must not join the team unless we are perfectly satisfied that they have regretted their actions, not because of any political point-scoring by any FA candidate.
Sierra Leone can survive and be happy without winning games but will die with such rude people all over the place.
Press on Pope John Paul; this is the last chance we have to stamp our disciplinary authority on this team. As a final word, our coach is not helping the situation anyway. He has no confidence in his own ability; he makes the wrong tactical decisions all the time and he believes his future with the team rests with Obreh and other players being happy with him. We must consider sacking this guy before the end of the year.
