TWITTER 4TH DECEMBER
THE NEW CABINET, THE HOPES AND ANXIETIES:
WE GIVE SOME CLUES
Last week we saw two documents in some local papers. The first one listed the names of people who its authors claimed would have been ministers had Osuofia won the presidential election. The second had the names of other people who, according to the paper, were being considered for certain positions in the new government. Well, well, well the first list had the name of our editor as proposed Minister of Information and Communications. We were shocked. The next day we called an emergency meeting and asked him, as we say in journalism, to clear the air. His reply was, “it’s a wicked lie”. And smiled. The meeting lasted five minutes.
But in the spirit of this period of uncertainty as to who’s in and who’s out of the new cabinet, we can now give our own clues. Like the NEC results and Christiana Thorpe, in the case of the cabinet, only the president is 100% sure who will be with him in the executive. In this edition however, we shall deal with a few ministries and personalities in the last government.
a. Minister of Tourism – Victoria Saidu Kamara – It will take a miracle for this woman to return to cabinet. She it was who was quoted in the local press as describing her ministry as “useless”. Besides that we can’t see what that ministry is doing at all. May be in terms of downsizing the government, let’s scrap that ministry and strengthen the National Tourist Board. They are very professional.
We note too that the minister was unable to run her Wellington Times newspaper. It was on the streets for less than five weeks and we also can’t remember any landmark contributions she made in parliament before her appointment. We are sure she will be on the plane soon bound for Oklahoma.
b. Minister of Education - Minkailu Bah - Bah will probably survive the first two years of De Pa’s second term. Beyond that we can’t put a dime on his survival in cabinet. We are also sure he will probably be moved from the ministry of education in the soon-to-be-announced cabinet. Our education system is worse today than when De Pa came to power in 2007. Minkailu’s likely destination will be the ministry of works. De Pa wants him to at least now do the road leading to his FBC quarters which is worse than the Kailahun road. We also saw the ministry of labour in the frame for Bah because Gaima will be sacked again and permanently, this time.
C. Minister of Information – Ibrahim Ben Kargbo – All commentators agree that Kothor will finally land his much-coveted dream political job – Minister of Foreign Affairs. The old man enjoys air travel. There’s not much work to do there as this country has no independent foreign policy to push through international bodies. We reckon our minister will be glad to go to pointless and boring climate change and internet regulation conferences even in faraway places like Venezuela.
Kothor will use this new assignment to solidify his membership of the STAR ALLIANCE of about six international airlines and clock more air miles and so on and so forth. Good luck Kothor!
d. Minister of Transport and Aviation – Vandi Chidi Minah – He is a fairly decent guy who will survive in some role in government but we are not sure it will be in the same place. We urge De Pa not to put him in the ministry of foreign affairs anymore. We don’t want him using every conference opportunity to go to the Caribbean with his wife – who is from there. There are some fantastic coconut plantations and indeed great local beauties in Pujehun but Chidi just can’t resist the pull of the Caribbean woman and coconut. But give him some decent ministry. He is the first minister that we know to turn in a bribe to the Anto Corruption Commission. Some of them would have chopped it and asked for more.
e. Minister of Mines – Minkailu Mansaray – An implacable and ruthless APC enforcer, Mansaray is definitely a member of the new team. We suspect he will stay in place or move to the new ministry of petroleum or the ministry of finance to replace the politically-wobbling Samura Kamara. He is definitely out. But appointing Minkailu to finance would be as suicidal as Kabbah's appointment of JB Dauda and John Benjamin to that ministry. But can Minkailu do any worse?
We shall continue in the next edition.
CURFEW LIFTED IN MILITARISED BO AND KENEMA
We slept in a city under curfew for the first time in more than ten years. In fact the main road leading to Bo outside Masiaka now has something like four new checkpoints operated by armed soldiers and police, menacingly attempting to check all vehicles – they really check nothing.
Out of journalistic curiosity we decided to see how the curfew was enforced in a city that never sleeps. We left our hotel 20 minutes before the curfew was due to come into force and drove round the city absolutely sure that we would be back at the hotel just before ten. Bo was deserted and we saw soldiers behaving as if Bo was Goma in DRC and there were M23 rebels everywhere.
At Shellmingo, one of them attempted to stop our vehicle but he pulled back when we all looked at out watches as if on cue.
Next day we travelled to Kenema, the other city under curfew. We saw about sixty armed soldiers with yellow arm bands driving past. We were told they were deployed to guard the courtroom where SLPP supporters were being tried for alleged riotous conduct. It was almost as if a treason trial was taking place. The boys were refused bail, yet again, and sent to prison to await the ruling of the magistrate. The trial was really quick. How come other trials have lasted a lifetime?
By the evening the curfew was lifted and young people poured onto the streets to start night life once again. We don’t know why both towns are so militarised but we think it’s not in anybody’s interest to continue building tension in those two towns.
Serious questions are now being asked about this new police habit of slamming curfews for small “public order offences”. It started in Kailahun and appears to have ended for now in Bo and Kenema. Where next?
MAD MAN ARRESTED AS RITUAL MURDERER
There was some drama at the Bo police barracks last weekend. About a dozen soldiers and an almost equal number of police officers sent the whole place into panic on Saturday when they suddenly started military manoeuvres suggesting they were about to launch a surprise attack on an enemy. About 100 ordinary people soon flocked to the area. Within a few minutes, we saw about four soldiers holding a man with a head load in a plastic bag with blood dripping on his face from the bag. “We have a big catch here” said one of the police officers and they began talking about ritual murder.
The bag was taken from the man before he was later forced open the smelly content which was scattered on the grass nearby the police station. It turned out that the man who was by this time being vigorously questioned by police and soldiers about ritual murder, had actually stolen cow entrails from some abattoir and was on his way to making some good soup for the evening. He was very angry and he uncontrollably shouted intelligible words. The guy was released and the soldiers told to stand at ease.
Can we stop this MAC-P thing and send the soldiers back to the barracks please? This is certainly not a prudent use of military resources.
ELECTRICITY! ELECTRICITY! ELECTRICITY:
BUT THE CITY IS VERY DARK
The dark days are here again. We are not in any haste to criticise De Pa’s government because since 2007 we have witnessed an increase in the supply of electricity in a large part of Freetown at least. We will refuse to listen to anybody who tells us about water levels at Bumbuna and so on. Bumbuna was planned with the rainy season and the dry season in mind. Somebody is telling us that De Pa is now home and dry for the next five years so he will inevitably go slowly. Again we cannot say so but we need answers to this urgent question: Why has our city been so dark since the election results were declared?
We are prepared to wait for two days for a plausible answer otherwise we shall have to say all we know about what Zubairu Kalokoh and his people are up to at NPA. Trust Politico!
MASSAGING THE FIQURES OF SIERRA LEONE’S GROWTH RATE
Dear Ministers of Trade and Finance
One of the things to work towards after the elections would be the economy but in the first place always remember to tell us whenever things go bad like you would bluff when they are suggested to be good with the economy.
When the IMF and World Bank gave their estimates and projections of economic growth at 51% it was a huge political capital and you campaigned with it. When it was revised to 32% you gave no explanations.
Now we know that it was further revised to as low as 18.5% on the eve of elections. But like World Bank and IMF, we were prevailed upon not to go to town with it on condition that things would be fixed almost immediately after the elections.
Instead of doing what they came here for, the WORLD BANK is busy interfering with the elections and proclaiming De Pa the winner even before Sierra Leoneans voted. They came back to deny they ever did that but nobody believed them. De Pa was right. He is back at State House and the WORLD BANK president’s word has come to pass.
Long Live the World Bank, Long Live unwelcomed interference in African elections. They can’t even talk about the Freedom of Information bill they have spent a fortune promoting. At least many in Freetown now know where the World Bank office is located.
(c) Politico 04/12/12
