WHAT DID THAT “WORLD BANK” OFFICIAL SAY TO DE PA?
We now have to ask the World Bank to further clarify their role in the coming elections. The other day, De Pa told a huge gathering of party loyalists and sycophantic civil servants that the WORLD BANK had effectively confirmed he would remain in State House for another five years. We had our doubts as to whether an institution like that would go all the way to get involved in such a way in an election in a country that holds very little or no stakes on the world stage. Even if it did. Since it came from De Pa, we believed it. In Africa, we respect our leaders to the extent that we call them Excellencies – they make no mistakes and tell no lies.
Now we have a situation where the World Bank is dissociating itself from De Pa’s comments at Miatta at the OGI forum. By the way only the OGI takes itself seriously.
We think De Pa should put the World Bank to shame by telling the whole country the details of what his “World Bank” contact told him about his organisation’s views on the coming election.
Why was it necessary for De Pa to disclose the private conversation he had with the “World Bank” official? Who was this “World Bank” person in fact?
We have just dismissed the World Bank statement about “concentrating only on development” in countries like Sierra Leone. We know how they operate and we suspect a flippant official actually said something to De Pa which he in turn may well have stretched beyond limits. It was an appalling breach of confidence on the part of De Pa. The good thing is we can now confirm that the World Bank is not neutral in our elections, press release or no press release.
THOUSANDS OF UNCLAIMED VOTER ID CARDS, HOW MANY WILL VOTE?
We can’t understand what is happening. How can we explain this? There are thousands of ID cards in NEC offices throughout the country that nobody has claimed since the collection process ended weeks ago. We are putting the figures together but what we have, so far, represents a percentage that could win what many neutrals predict will be a tight race in November. We wonder whether those thousands we see almost everyday now in rallies have all collected the ID cards to prepare for November 17.
During registration, many politicians went all over the country to get people to register. They provided vehicles, water, and food to keep the people registering. We know that in particular parts of the country, the people received cash both to register and for
registering. Now they need the same facilities to go to NEC offices to collect their ID cards and there is nobody to provide them.
Many of those enthusiastic and vociferous MPs who played the trick have lost their seats in primary elections and have since lost interest. We must warn that rallies in Freetown are mightily deceptive. We must never rely on them to make any decisions as to where the vote is going. If people refuse to collect their ID cards and therefore cannot vote, then we stand on the brink of an election with a low turnout with implications for the legitimacy of whichever government will emerge. NEC should think of new ways of getting people to pick up their ID cards.
We have a mad idea. NEC should set up mobile distribution centres and employ more staff for that purpose. This is just a mad idea.
PPRC WHAT’S THE TRUTH ABOUT SOME OF OUR PARTIES?
We have nothing against any political party. We believe they all represent some of our people and they add to the diversity of our political mosaic. And that’s a strength we must all celebrate. But you know what; we don’t like it when these parties make false claims just to remain on the register of NATIONAL PARTIES. We have looked carefully at PPRC documents and we are absolutely sure that some of these parties are not fit to be on the ballot. This is why we feel any attempt to treat them like national parties will be a false move that some of us will resist.
NEC records show that only TWO parties have been able to field in candidates for all positions being contested across the country. That the others have failed to achieve that has nothing to do with political strategy but all to do with their inability to give practical effect to their so-called national character.
Look at this: The RUFP office in Kono is located in an abandoned petrol station on Konomanyi Street. In Bo, the PLP office was completely locked down on rally day. Journalists who went there to interview party officials were told the place was abandoned weeks ago.
Like we said, we want all parties to step forward and take part in the coming elections but we can’t have a race in which some contestants are required to put in more than the others. It’s like Olympic officials in the last games in London changing the rules for the 100meters so that some athletes were made to start first with others following a few seconds later. The whole thing would have descended into an unbelievable farce. Let the PPRC be strong in monitoring whether these parties have functioning offices even under their noses in Freetown and act on the results. That’s all.
GOVERNMENT VEHICLES AND THE CURRENT CAMPAIGNS
We want to re-state an earlier call we made to the government not to misuse the facilities the country provided for them in their various state offices. We gave them living quarters or for some, we gave them cash to pay their rents. We gave them cars with drivers; we bought the spares and provided fuel and we gave them all sorts of allowances to keep them working on our behalf. Now they are campaigning to retain those positions by ensuring victory for their party. We warn them to use their private vehicles and drivers and keep our vehicles away from partisan politics. Not all taxpayers believe in the ruling party’s agenda so don’t use their money to promote that agenda.
In opposition, De Pa was very strong on this point. In many speeches in parliament and in other places, De Pa blasted the government over the issue of using government vehicles for private and partisan events. He was also very hard on civil servants joining the ruling party to campaign for votes. We don’t want De Pa to go down as the man who ticked all the right boxes while in opposition and the wrong ones while in office.
For example: Is Karamoh Kabba a civil servant or a politician? We know that the post of director in any government ministry is a civil service job and the occupant should be a civil servant. Our ambassadors must also realise that they are being paid by the state and not by the ruling party. So must our information attaches. Why is Karamoh Kabbah all over the place, from one radio station to the other with his Dioula accent campaigning for De Pa? We don’t think that is why we are paying his salaries.
“MY MINISTRY IS USELESS” SAYS TOURISM MINISTER
We bet she doesn’t want anybody to remember this gaffe at least at this particular time when the APC is fighting to retain power. Somehow we think the minister wasn’t too far off the mark with her remarks. The national tourist board is a great institution with a highly experienced professional running it. May be we should strengthen it further and close down this “USELESS MINISTRY” forever and of course send the minister back to America to work in that country's own tourism industry.
This is one Diasporan politician that has failed very badly both in parliament and in the executive arm of government. By the way madam, what is happening to WELLINGTON TIMES newspaper you started while you pretended to be MP in Wellington? The woman can’t even get a newspaper on the stands and we trusted her with a ministry as demanding as the ministry of tourism.
De Pa’s love for US East Coast accent has caused a lot of wahala in this country over the last five years. The Anti-Corruption Commission has had a conversation with many of them. Others are just waltzing their way from place to place. And by the way I understand that one of the US east coasters, Dr??? Sho-Sawyer was given a symbol to run for parliament? Whatever happened to the money at State House for which he was thrown out. We will visit that shortly.
