Or Bangu ATTACKS ANOTHER DIPLOMAT – WHERE WILL THIS END?
Or Bangu’s Macbethan logic is in full gear once again. Every time somebody says something he thinks the APC doesn’t like, he declares them enemies of Sierra Leone and goes for the kill. The formula is a tried and tested one which we are very familiar with. We doubt very much if Michael Owen, America’s man in Sierra Leone will be made to
go the way of Schulenburg because Or Bangu and his master don’t like him saying “there is the possibility of a run-off”in the coming elections.
We can’t understand what is wrong with that statement. In fact Owen is not the only one talking about “the possibility of a run-off.”
Hundreds of thousands of Sierra Leoneans and other nationals who understand Sierra Leone’s voting pattern are saying the same thing. Is Or Bangu going to throw his fellow Sierra Leoneans into the sea?
Or Bangu has told Politico he is “not here to win the 2012 election”, so why does he get so angry every time somebody talks about a possible run-off? The chips are falling in place eh?
If Or Bangu is so concerned about outsiders interfering in our elections, what did he do when De Pa himself told the world that the World Bank had told him the elections are “a formality”? If a Canadian envoy had said so about the opposition he probably would have denounced his own links with the North American nation. Come on Or Bangu, we are too intelligent to allow you to tell us how to interpret simple English. Don’t patronise us.
Meanwhile here are some lesson notes on similarities and differences you need to note:
AMBASSOR OWEN AND ERSG SCHULENBURG – A FEW SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES
Ambassador Owen – He represents the most powerful country on the face of this planet. We are talking about the only Super Power.
Schulenburg – He represents the UN. The UN depends on American power and money for its very survival. America has a veto on who runs the UN.
Ambassador Owen – He represents a country whose diplomats are not ordered and bullied around by any country let alone fries. There are always serious consequences when American ambassadors are expelled from any country.
Schulenburg - In fact Sierra Leone has a history of expelling UN diplomats. From Lwanga to Okello and from Angelo to Schulenburg. The UN keeps sending others to do the same boring and unproductive things like funding the OGI project at State House. The only known similarities between Schulenburg and Owen are that they both have MICHAEL as their first name and they are both tall and upright – literally and figuratively.
United States is NOT United Nations – forget about the common word UNITED. One can be weak as to give in to foolish blackmail and undeclared personna non gratta but the other definitely cannot.
United States ORDERED the dreaded Foday Sankoh to come to Freetown to meet Secretary of State Madeline Albright after all else had tried and failed. Meanwhile Sankoh took hundreds of UN peacekeepers hostage.
More similarities and differences in subsequent editions of POLITICO.
So Or Bangu has a passport from a country very close to America, so he understands how American power manifests itself. America will not allow its diplomats to be disgraced anywhere.
We think De Pa should close Or Bangu down and end this mis-directed UDM hyper-activity and tell him he cannot harass the ambassador for speaking about the “possibility
of a run-off “in Sierra Leone. We are all talking about that sir.
INTOLERANCE ON THE STREETS: SLPP POSTERS PULLED DOWN, ACTIVIST STABBED TO DEATH.
Siaka Stevens Street, very close to our office was thrown into confusion on Tuesday. A portrait of opposition presidential candidate, Julius Maada Bio was torn in broad daylight by a ruling party man. It had only been up for a few hours close to President Koroma’s own portrait which had been there for more than a week. Green party men
were very angry and it took swift action by the police to restore law and order. But we still await a police statement about this which Munu and his fellas would have done if the attack was the other way round – remember the Goderich Street traffic COMBOLO?
Anyway... a day later, an SLPP activist was buried in Freetown amidst loud cries of harassment and intimidation of political opponents. He is reported to have been stabbed by an APC supporter in the east end of the city. Police say they are investigating and we don’t have all the facts. We don’t even know if anybody has been arrested several
days later.
We are quite sure these actions were not sanctioned by the party these people support. That’s why we want to hear the APC condemn these actions with all the force they can muster. If Sierra Leone is a democracy, then let it be. We cannot go to gatherings of democratic nations and claim to be members of those bodies and then return home
and turn a blind eye to such brazen acts of political intolerance. Long live democracy!
RALLIES SLPP AND APC
Rally oh rally!!! We understand that USUOFIA decided to send his running mate to Kono because he knew turnout would be lower than expected. So when his running-mate Booker Washington Kadie went there, she managed to stay the course because she is used to talking to students in class even when there are only two of them present. KONO, OH MY KONO. KONO E KONO FAA.
And by the way we have been wondering why De Pa called off his own rally in Freetown on Monday? We hear they were not sure they could bring into town all those fellas they ferried in for the Nomination Day rally under the false pretence they were all Freetownians – resident and registered.
EX-GRATIA PAYMENTS FOR FORMER OPPOSITION MPS WITHHELD...BUT...
We are hearing loud cries from former opposition MPs about their ex-gratia payments running into more than Le 100 Million having been withheld by the APC government of De Pa. According to them, their colleagues from the ruling party have received theirs. Well if that is true, we think it is totally unjust for this government to behave that way.
But as ordinary citizens, we cannot understand why these mis-firing former MPs deserve such huge money in the first place. They have the best conditions of service while the rest of society is living in penury. Considered in per-capita terms, they receive more than Kenyan MPs who are among the highest paid lawmakers in the world.
Next time these MPs want to complain about money and facilities, let them do it inside parliament when there are no journalists. We can’t be crying for a few cups of rice while those we put in office also cry for hundreds of millions of Leones.
EMPTY OFFICES AT YOUYI BUILDING – WHERE ARE THE MINISTERS?
In the last few days we’ve been visiting Youyi Building to see how many of our almighty ministers are in their offices. Our teams went there three times in two days and found only two ministers in office up to late morning. One of the two returned late afternoon and was having a meeting with some activists till late that evening.
Our investigative journalists found out that some of the young people in the meeting included a group of people who regularly send text messages to all radio programs, praising De Pa. The others were the boys now putting up De Pa’s posters all around - nothing wrong with that.
So where have all the ministers gone, please? Following our complaints about the mis-use of government vehicles, a new directive has been issued to them. They’ve been told to remove their flags and cover their license plates with a black piece of cloth which is an additional offence. Do these people really think they can hide from us? Didn’t they go to great length to make themselves conspicuous from the rest of us by flying flags daily? Didn’t they buy vehicles only the state can afford? Was it the people who gave Pallo Conteh motorcycle outriders and sirens?
You can’t hide guys; we know all the vehicles you bought with our money. On behalf of the good people of Sierra Leone, we ask all Permanent Secretaries not to allow any minister to withdraw huge money from their ministries until after the election. Otherwise these Permanent Secretaries will be implicated.
ANOTHER CLEANING DAY PLEASE
We know De Pa is very busy these days...we hear he is hardly ever in Freetown. Well that’s the nature of the game. De Pa is fighting for every vote. Good work Sir.
Be that as it may, can De Pa now declare the Cholera Emergency Over and order a day of prayers for those of our compatriots who died needlessly of this disease? The word out there sir, is that our country is still gripped by cholera. Or can the ministry of health under Borbor Sawyer update us about the true state of the disease? We know how to pick our way through his grammatically-challenged speeches.
A lot of money poured into Sierra Leone to fight cholera and people have made a lot of cash. We are not asking for receipts, we are only asking De Pa to declare the thing over or order his man from Makona River to update the nation about the state of the disease.
By the way, can we have the last cleaning day before the elections? WE BEG OH! Freetown is really filthy. After all these rallies, rubbish is piling up. The City Council is dead and we have been left to provide our own services.
HOW THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE CAN STOP VIOLENCE ON ELECTION DAY IN SALONE
On Election Day, there will be many young men, yes men waiting to be mobilised for the purpose of committing acts of violence on behalf of politicians and political parties. We believe the English Premier League can play a big role in taking those people off the streets during the entire voting hours. We know that will impact the turnout
but it’s better to have low turnout than having people wounded and killed and voting disrupted in many places.
The EPL can re-adjust the fixture quickly and feature the following round-robin games starting 7am on November 17. Here we go:
First match - Arsenal Vs. Manchester United
Second match – Manchester City Vs Chelsea
Third Match – Charity - Barcelona Vs Real Madrid. (All teams must feature their first eleven players. Proceeds will go towards supporting non-violence campaign in elections in Sierra Leone. By the way, not all NGOs will lay hands on that money.
Fourth match – Chelsea Vs Arsenal
Fifth Match – Manchester City Vs Manchester United.
The special fixture ends at 7pm. By that time counting is complete in many areas and trends probably showing a “possible run-off” would have emerged. Sorry Or Bangu, we shouldn’t say that. We are only taking chances because we cannot be thrown out of this country. We are Sierra Leoneans – and unlike you, that's the only nationality we
have.
