Twitter the Sierra Leone Gossip (06/12/19)

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF DISABLED PEOPLE 2019

We are observing International Day of Disabled people throughout the world. There were very little signs of that on Tuesday in Sierra Leone but that doesn’t make the observance of the event any less important in our country. To highlight the challenges facing disable people in this country, we return to the camp at Pademba road, near the Public Works Department, PWD.

Are the political leaders in this country telling us they’ve not seen the misery at that camp for disabled people near Pademba road prison yard? When we say politicians we mean both those in government and those in the opposition. Maybe they’ve not seen the place because they are always in their air-conditioned SUVs doing whatsapp. 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 a 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. And King Messi agreed. So as part of our observance of this day we must do the following:

1. Let’s move the disabled people out of that misery camp and re-settle them in a reasonably dignified place immediately. They are also Sierra Leoneans.

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. The Freetown City Council is responsible to clean that mess.

WHO OWNS A COMPANY CALLED SIERRA ORE?

Months ago we asked certain people to voluntarily step forward and tell us all they know about a company called Sierra Ore. Journalists get to know about a lot of things – sometimes as soon as people start planning them. In some other cases people meet many times trying to launch some initiative but they end up disagreeing, falling out completely and dropping the idea. In other cases, they eliminate each other and the idea either dies naturally or a few of them emerge with the idea and profit from it.

In all of this they put a confidentiality clause is place to the effect that they MUST not tell anybody about it. In other words nobody should talk to people outside the group about the project until the group decides to go public. It is precisely at that point that the first bits of information land with a journalist in some corner. This is just one way in which we get to know about things. They say walls have ears.

This applies to the Sierra Ore situation. We now desperately need some flesh on the bones of this group that we were told wanted to do something interesting in the mining sector just as Rado Yokie threw a grenade into the operation of some mining companies in this country.

Another tactic common with journalists is never to publish all of what we know about something at the same time. We normally keep probing and probing until the subjects of that journalistic exercise cooperate and speak out or the journalist grows completely fed up with those concerned failing to talk to the people and then begins to drip feed information to the people.

So now, on behalf of the good people of Sierra Leone we ask: is or was Sierra Ore intended to take over the operations of one of the companies recently attacked by Rado Yokie? Who are the people behind Sierra Ore please? Clearly, a few questions unanswered. The next time we return to this story it will be to publish what we know so far. Just a little hint: we have seen the handwritten notes of one of those who were in attendance.

AS CONGRESS DRAWS NEAR, STAKEHOLDERS ARE ROCKING

On the surface of things the coalition put together by Rodney Michael for the last SLFA election that controversially brought the queen to power is still intact. Scratch that surface a bit and something unexpected will emerge. The coalition is looking shaky and that may well play into the hands of the queen and her supporters who have been working hard to break through that guaranteed 90% of the 47 delegates of the SLFA congress. Nobody should underestimate the work the queen and her people are doing right now with the delegates.

Some of the planks in that coalition are falling apart. For example Kanaseiu and Kasho-Holland Cole are no longer at WAFA and the organization appears to have fallen on the lap of the queen. For example: how can WAFA suspend their own member for standing up for the interests of the winner of their own league who are waiting to enter the Premier League? That makes zero sense to any serious observer.

A few days ago we were briefed by somebody who was a strong pillar in that coalition. We left the briefing convinced that person was there for the taking. We heard uncomplimentary things about some of the people in the coalition and the possibility of things falling apart completely.

Many lovers of the game who have had to wait all these years for the elective congress to throw the controversially elected executive out of Kingtom are already expressing alarm at the prospect of FOUR or SIX more years of confusion and under-performance.

Make no mistake, if the coalition does not get its acts together by Christmas, they will fail woefully.

MUSA TOMBO IN GOAL DROUGHT WITH EE LIONS BUT NOT AT APPROVED SCHOOL

When was the last time Musa Tombo scored a goal for EE Lions? When he tore up his contract in Sweden, returned home and immediately went into a local cookery shop for a big bowl of rice and crain – crain with mobile phone cameras pointed at him, we always knew something was desperately wrong with him.

How else can we explain this? After going through such traumatic events as described by his friends at the time, surely all Tombo needed was to quietly go home and rest and then discuss the failed contract with his family and move on. However, within a week or so of his inglorious return he was seen playing six-a- side football in some small corner.

Musa told the world he was returning home to help the national team qualify for the coming World Cup. That was a very stupid reason to give because the team is packed with foreign-based players, some from the very country Tombo left in a hurry. The latest action by this man confirms what we said following his failure to hold down his contract in Sweden. For the records we re-state some of them here.

1. Tombo is a promising footballer but his biggest undoing is his inability to understand the world around him and how to adapt to his environment.

2. Even on the football pitch Tombo is certainly not the most intelligent. He gets the obvious goals but nothing spectacular to mention. See how poor he was recently against FC Kallon.

3. He is not fit in any organized system. He was totally unable to cope with the training regime in Sweden and all that goes with such international contracts as regards personal lifestyle.

4. Here he has a contract with EE Lions but he is always seen playing in small leagues and picking up injuries. For how much longer will EE Lions cope with this nonsense before sacking this man?

Twitter the Sierra Leone Gossip (06/12/19)