WILL PRINCIPAL’S VISIT CHANGE SULIMA FOR GOOD?
It was so nice to see Principal on the beach in Sulima on the southern tip of Sierra Leone. He was on the final leg of a two-day visit to Pujehun district, one of the most neglected places in Sierra Leone despite all its potentials. The whole country knows that Sulima is a wonderful place for tourism but those people who matter in the sector, including the minister spend all their time in the Freetown Peninsular as if a place like Sulima does not exist. We saw her in sparkling GREEN and white dress attempting to show Principal a place she knows nothing about.
Principal and wife put on powerful, smart casual clothes but our dear minister was dressed like she was about to welcome Queen Elizabeth at a state banquet. Some of the leaders of Sulima told us that in her three years in office, they could point to nothing concrete that she has done for Sulima as a good place for tourism. She has spent more time with CHINA NICKI than talking about a place that can change the district of Pujehun and indeed Sierra Leone as a whole.
We hope that Principal will now issue very clear instructions to our gorgeous minister on what to do about Sulima as a tourist destination in this country and make the necessary resources available to change the lives of the people down south.
The first thing to do is to pave the FIFTEEN or so kilometer road to Sulima from the main highway leading to Liberia. We can’t understand why King Messi’s government did not include that little stretch in the package that the European Union paid for. If that was already set in stone, why didn’t the government pay for it knowing the great returns that this country will accrue from a booming tourism business in Sulima? Principal should make that road a priority in the next budget. We are watching.
BEGGARS POSING AS COMEDIANS DISRUPTING TRAFFIC
What we saw at a place called FIVE FIVE, to the edge of Waterloo heading out to the provinces the other day was bad, very bad. We saw three beggars dressed up as what we know locally as comedians blocking vehicular movement and begging for money. The three guys stood in front of vehicles with outstretched hands asking for money from each vehicle heading to Freetown. Why are these guys so desperate?
Frankly, we’ve seen this kind of behavior in the heart of Freetown. We just want to make the case that the practice is not restricted to Waterloo but in Freetown many drivers were not amused and it would appear as if the police moved in quickly and kicked them out. They may return at some point but we’ll see.
Those beggars in Waterloo were doing this less than ONE HUNDRED yards from nearly half a dozen police officers whose job was to ensure the free flow of traffic in that chaotic junction. And they should never tell anybody that they were not aware of what was happening so close to them. They cannot be controlling the movement of vehicles while allowing three beggars calling themselves comedians to cause a gridlock because they want people to feed them.
By the way, what kind of comedy is that? These guys should just look over their shoulders in Nigeria and see how far comedians have gone. They will see how powerful, rich and sophisticated their counterparts are. We believe that will inspire some of them at least to behave themselves, try to be more organized and FUNNY and stop naked begging on the streets of this country.
IG Sovula’s men arrest people for parking in prohibited areas because they disrupt the flow of traffic, they should now arrest these beggars for doing the same and for endangering their own lives in the process.
SAVAGE STREET BRIDGE IS BACK IN SERVICE
So traffic is flowing again on Savage Street? This is an important link between the central area of Freetown and the west. When the bridge collapsed several months ago, it caused serious suffering for commuters, including thousands of school children who previously used it daily. The re-opening of the bridge will now free up traffic along Old Railway Line, particularly on the bridge near Saint John, which was also a subject of some wild social media post urging people to avoid it because it had allegedly shown some cracks and might also collapse. That was quickly dismissed by the Sierra Leone Roads Authority, SLRA.
Many Sierra Leoneans were not surprised that the bridge suddenly went down one evening and it was only by the grace of God that lives were saved. At the time King Jimmy Bridge in central Freetown collapsed and killed six people, according to King Messi’s government, there were concerns about the safety of Savage Street Bridge but no action was taken. Months after King Messi left office, we found ourselves in a mess at Savage Street. We should avoid that at Old Railway Line.
So we have our bridge back. Let’s use it well. It was paid for with our money. We thank Minister Peter Bayuku Conteh and the contractors. We thank the community people for being so patient.
KENEMA AMBULANCE SERVICE IS EPILEPTIC
Frankly, if those in charge of the Kenema ambulance service cannot manage that vital service they should simply resign and go home. What is an ambulance service if the vehicles cannot move because there is NO FUEL? That’s according to those brave people who spoke to us in the great city of Kenema, the home of Senior Prefect. Isn’t Senior Prefect the self-proclaimed POLITICAL LEADER OF KENEMA DISTRICT? We don’t even know what the job is about. Please understand us for assuming that making sure there’s fuel in the ambulances is part of the Term of Reference.
We are ready to work with other newspapers to provide space in our publications over the next month or so to mount a campaign for donations from all over the world, a kind of global fund-raising effort to provide adequate fuel for the ambulance service of Kenema for the next two years at least.
The more we hear such a story, the more we begin to wonder what Principal is doing with some people in those offices. How can somebody holding a public office as important as that allow fuel to run dry in those very important vehicles? It took a journalist to bring the situation to light with the man at the center of things dodging all the time, refusing to speak to the media even with things looking so bad. Salaries will soon be paid and the person in charge of that service will be smiling all the way to the bank. We have no idea how many pregnant women or road crash victims will suffer and die because emergency rescue vehicles have no fuel.
We call on Principal to sack some people right now and send a message to others that such a conduct cannot be tolerated. Those sitting at Youyi building who should sign papers and release fuel for Kenema and other ambulance services should also be sacked. When MPs told Austin Demby to fight against civil servants who are busy killing the system, this is what they were talking about. Here is your first FIGHT sir. When things go wrong in that ministry, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE.
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