RULING PARTY WHIP AND THE POLICEMAN
The world is witnessing an extraordinary event in the great democracy called United Kingdom. A big official of the senior party in the coalition government, the Conservative, is under pressure to resign for taking his government position too seriously. Chip Whip Andrew Mitchell reportedly used the F word on a police officer at Downing Street, the office of the British Prime Minister, describing him as “Plebeian.” Mitchell agrees he released a few words at a police officer but denies using the words quoted in newspapers. He has apologised but he is still in serious trouble.
While we admire the British public for holding their politicians and all public officials to very high standards in office, we must ask the inevitable question, if Mitchell were Alpha Kanu for example, would he have even apologised. Or Paul Kamara, (the guy who thinks the whole nation owes him a debt of gratitude for his “fight for democracy”) would he take public outrage seriously and apologise. No way! After all he has said that even chicks are more expensive that Sierra Leonean women, among other things.
This is what was likely to happen were Mitchell De Pa’s minister: He would flatly deny an incident like that ever happened; all the newspapers seeking De Pa’s interest would viciously attack the newspaper that broke the story; Mitchell would appear on 98.1 FM to accuse the opposition SLPP of stage-managing the whole affair; the police officer involved would be sacked and De Pa would pretend he heard nothing. He doesn’t want anything to stand in the way of his two-term agenda. Democratic accountability is good. Cameron is also looking for a second term, you know. Ahhhh Salone and our farcical democracy.
ALPHA KANU’S BODYGUARD AND GUINEAN BANDITS
Continuing with our theme of democratic accountability, the nation is still waiting to get full information from Alpha Kanu on the circumstances that led to the killing of the police guard assigned to him by the STATE OF SIERRA LEONE. We know that the poor man was killed in Guinea by alleged bandits and his vehicle stolen. Kothor Alpha is praying for this matter to go the way of the Haja and Alhaji ABUJAS but we strongly feel that as a people, we deserve a thorough explanation as to how a serving police officer assigned to a government minister was killed in a neighbouring country, away from the man he was supposed to be guarding. We’ve been told that Kothor has contacted family members of the deceased to address the issue. There’s nothing wrong with that.
However, as a country, Kothor has to answer many questions.
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What was the police officer doing in Guinea – sent on personal errands or what?
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Was the SLP informed that the officer was travelling out of the country?
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What are the real circumstances of his death?
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Are Guinean authorities investigating?
For more than 20 years the British have been fighting hard to arrest and prosecute the killers of Police Officer Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in London. They have also swiftly arrested the man who killed two
other police women in Manchester in the last two weeks. Let’s hear the truth about this affair now.
We must be part of the investigation in Guinea and WE NEED ANSWERS PLEASE. We will not allow this to die or covered up or else the ghost of the deceased will haunt Alpha and his friend the officer was sent to guard, we
understand, against his will.
CAMPAIGNING AND DOING GOVERNMENT BUSINESS: WHERE’S THE LINE?
It’s not the first time we are raising this issue and because the authorities have ignored us, we feel compelled to bring it up again. We don’t think the authorities are treating ordinary taxpayers with any respect with this kind of attitude. This must stop now. We have seen government vehicles being used by ministers and political party operatives
involved with so called Electoral College matters or naked campaigning in different parts of the country. It simply means that the struggling people of Sierra Leone are paying to run parties they don’t necessarily trust.
The ordinary people are paying for the fuel, spares, salaries and per diems for the minister, his bodyguard, driver and those self-appointed Special Assistants. Why are government vehicles not parked at Youyi building with politics now all over the place? De Pa complained bitterly about this when in opposition. Now, he has more ministers and deputies in government probably more than this country has ever had, and they are doing the worse in terms of their handling of government vehicles. THE MORE THINGS CHANGE...
NORTH AND WEST? NO – EAST AND SOUTH? A BIG YES – UDM O’YEA!
Now the chips are falling in place. Give us another week and the whole plan, hatched in one of those dark cellars will come to light. It’s amazing how Or Bangu deluded himself into thinking that all of us will fall for that little trick of his when he declared his movement a party that will “redeem” the nation.
From the outset the plan was clear: Margai (we call him The Dalai Lama) was at the time of the formation of the UDM found to be unreliable as far as the APC cause was concerned. He was beginning to have second thoughts about the so-called alliance with the APC. IB KARGBO once said, “We don’t need Margai to win an election” and even said he was talkertive when broke and that he was a beneficiary of De Pa's largesse.
First Step: Or Bangu checked out of the PMDC and quickly set up his own movement claiming that his strongholds were in the south and declared the region his political base.
To many this was against conventional wisdom. A northern politician with no historical links to the south boasts about drawing all his support from that region. Again we saw through that: He was to exploit the contacts he made with southerners during his days as chairman of the PMDC on behalf of his new pay masters.
Second step: The symbol of his movement was to be a palm tree. Threw the opposition into more confusion. The PPRC stepped in and cleared the mess.
Third step: Or Bangu was to direct all his fire at the main opposition SLPP party. The first time in the history of world politics – an opposition party spends all its time attacking another opposition party. Meanwhile the ruling party which controls the people and their resources is left free to run riot – perhaps so long Or Bangu shares in the spoils or loot.
Final Step: Or Bangu will fill candidates in all seats in opposition strongholds in the south and east and then leave the northern and western flanks open in the belief that De Pa will have a clean and easy run. The result will be, UDM will steal significant votes from the SLPP in the south and east and De Pa will sneak in for the most-sought-after first round win. There’s nobody in Sierra Leone who didn’t know this was the plan. Welcome to the politics of what’s-in-it-for-me.
THE ORPHANS of DAMASCUS – SIERRA LEONEANS IN SYRIA.
We still don’t have clear answers concerning what happened to all those Sierra Leoneans who were living in Colonel Gadaffi’s Libya during the revolution that ended the colonel’s 40-year reign. We saw on TV how black Africans were treated by the new rulers of Libya. They were accused of being Gaddaffi mercenaries and were killed or locked-up in
very bad conditions. We have read reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch but our government hasn’t said a word on the fate of our brothers and sisters.
We know that there are many Sierra Leoneans in Syria, the country that has now become synonymous with senseless killing and destruction. What is the situation with those Sierra Leoneans? Our FOREIGN MINISTRY has not issued any statement to the good people of this country. In Fact JB Dauda has just wrecked what little diplomatic movements were taking place in that foreign ministry. The man is completely out of his depth in there.
Look at the man’s political history: SLPP then APC then SLPP, now APC. If UDM came to power in the near future JB Dauda was ready to become Minister of Local Government. We tire!
RODNEY MICHAEL “INSULTED” MINISTER KAMARA, Right? His exact words, please?
Here’s the narrative on this issue as propounded by Pope John Paul: Rodney Michael, presidential aspirant for SLFA presidency is BANNED from all football activities because he has “insulted me.” We are tempted to ask what Michael actually said – word for word or verbatim as they would say it in the dead language. It’s not enough to try to get us to believe your narrative; we must be told the real words.
In fact the issue has spread to accusations of racism and exploitation of Sierra Leonean wealth (strong stuff) but we want the real words now. The Pope says he has the blessings of De Pa and his government. For many weeks, we
doubted that but when De Pa moved to stop FIFA banning Sierra Leone recently, we concluded he knew all what the Pope was doing. Well, sir, we have to inform you that your people are fed up with your minister’s unnecessary meddling in the affairs of the FA and his garrulousness. The Pope wants Isha Johansen to be the new FA president. He has said that on radio many times. It seems like the only way he can do that is to prevent Rodney Michael from running. Your minister is determined to do that and those who run football are also determined to stop him. The FIFA ban is surely on its way now. When ego clashes with decency and fair play.
THAT LUNGI HOTEL
There is a relatively new hotel just 100 metres from the entrance to the Freeown International Airport at Lungi, but already it is run down. From the outside, Sierra International Hotel looks pretty cool. But inside, it is as run down as the Airport Hotel itself which charges $132 for nothing but to sleep, if you can fight off the mosquitoes that is. We
saw a lizard crawling on the sub-reception which by the way is unmanned. You cannot walk in the room barefoot. The tiles lack any smoothness and are dusty. There are rats running amok in the ceiling. The doors are well... A guest hardly sleeps with the ghettos dotted around it playing reggae music and smoking maijuana all night long.
Yet this is the first impression for someone who has to overnight at the airport on arrival or last impression on departure. So much for our AGENDA FOR TAINT.
