PREPARATION FOR CAMEROON MUST START NOW
Things are settling down now in Sierra Leone after that unprecedented and massive show of support on the streets of Freetown for the national football team, Leone Stars. The boys were returning home after defeating their counterparts from Benin to qualify for AFCON 2022 scheduled to take place in Cameroon. So after 25 years, the Green, White and Blue flag is flying again among those of elite football nations in Mother Africa. Well done boys and thanks to the government of Sierra Leone for providing the cash and the political motivation to drive our players into AFCON.
After all the dancing, singing, speech making and rest, we now have to prepare not just to participate but to win the tournament. Let nobody tell us it’s impossible. We can do it. We now have to adequately prepare so we don’t go to Cameroon and embarrass ourselves by becoming the whipping boys of our group.
Our experience with such a tournament goes back 25 years so we can say with some justification that there is very little knowledge around now about how to prepare for such tournaments in Africa. Things have changed a lot since all those years ago.
We are not experts in preparing national football teams for continental competitions so all we suggest now should be considered as part of the many voices of ordinary Sierra Leoneans who are hoping and praying that the AFCON trophy lands at Lungi Airport.
1. The Sierra Leone Football Association, under their new leader, should work with the National Sport Agency and the Ministry of Sport to quickly present a plan by which we will win the AFCON to the government. The plan must include a budget for every event connected to that endeavor – training, friendly matches, travel, everything.
2. Coach Keister has done extremely well but he needs a lot of help between now and January and we expect him to be totally honest about his personal needs to guide our team through. This is not the time to be fighting to protect personal spaces.
3. We believe that our AFCON team should have as its backbone more than half a dozen home-based players. We will not compromise on that at all. We celebrate our boys playing abroad but we have some powerful young players at home. They MUST be in the squad. They should not be hurriedly flown over to Cameroon at the last minute.
4. We call on coach Keister and the rest of the coaching staff to be very strong in dealing with the players. We know of several acts of indiscipline that we are not reporting for now but we warn that in future even the BEST player in the team will not be allowed to misbehave and get away with it. We will not mention names at this time. We have made the point and we hope people understand us.
WHO KILLED FBC LECTURER ARTHUR SMITH?
Hours turned into days, days into weeks, weeks into months and the whole country is waiting for the CID to put the killers of FBC lecturer Arthur Smith before a judge in the High Court. We know that investigating a murder is a painstaking business but the fact that the nation has not been updated about their investigations since those initials statement were obtained from a few people has compelled us to now remind the good people of Sierra Leone that the CID have not arrested even a rat for the killing of a diligent and harmless man in his home.
The late man’s colleagues have complained bitterly about the lack of security cover on the FBC campus but no serious action has been taken and we are not aware that they are still bringing the necessary pressure to bear on the CID to find the killers of Arthur Smith and the college authorities for them to make sure their lecturers are safe. Even now we cannot understand how criminals can stroll into any college campus anywhere in the world, kill a senior lecturer and leave without been caught months after the murder.
We are not aware of what the family is doing but we want to encourage them to do everything possible to keep the killing of Arthur Smith on the agenda of the CID otherwise we have reason to believe that they have tossed the file into some corner and are busy doing something else. The family MUST launch a campaign so they can get justice for Arthur Smith. Please don’t allow the murder of Arthur Smith to go the way of the many unsolved crimes inside that CID building. We are with you. Good Luck!
WHERE ARE THE ALLEGED EDSA CABLES THIEVES?
We saw a few guys under arrest by the police on social media the other day. They had huge bundles of EDSA cables near them with commentary indicating that they were caught stealing those EDSA cables thus throwing many communities in darkness for weeks. Meanwhile complaints about blackouts in Freetown for the most part continue on the same social media.
Whether those people in the police net were mere criminals stealing and selling EDSA cables to feed themselves or their action is calculated to achieve political objectives inspired by sinister opposition forces is not our business. What we want is for them to be brought before a judge so they can be tried and convicted for stealing from their grandchildren and destroying their nation.
For good reasons we believe that EDSA and the Ministry of Energy should adequately mobilize journalists to cover such trials so that cable thieves would think well about the risk of turning up at transformer locations to steal from the people. We say this because when such people have been arrested in the past, there is a lot of hype particularly on social media and suddenly things go quiet and the supposed enemies of the state are released by the police and told to go home and enjoy happily ever after. In fact it is also in the interest of our Force for Good to keep the media informed about such cases even when the trials are ongoing.
Following a drastic increase in vehicle theft recently, the police arrested a man at Waterloo, just outside Freetown with the media in tow. One of the stolen vehicles was found in his compound. The police also found the parts of cannibalized vehicles all over the place. That raid was all over social media but the police went completely silent about the matter despite being bombarded with questions about the progress of the investigation. The same is happening now with the alleged EDSA cable thieves. What is wrong with the police updating us periodically about these cases?
Anyway, we want to call on Agba Kanja, the Energy Man, to pay attention to the cable thieves damaging his reputation as a hardworking minister. Otherwise the police will quietly release them or do such shoddy investigation that leaves the courts with no alternative but to dismiss the case.
PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE LUNGI-FREETOWN FERRY SERVICE
We appreciate the people operating the ferry service between Freetown and the airport town of Lungi. They are doing a good job under very difficult circumstances and we wish them well but as always we want to call their attention to issues we believe they should deal with to improve that vital service. This is based on what passengers have told us over a reasonable period of time and our own observation when we decided to put those complaints to the test.
1. We don’t know if those boys who run into the ferry each time it slams to pick up baggage for passengers are registered with the ports authority or the ferry operators. We believe they should be registered and given uniforms so people can identify them easily. They always look so threatening and shabby.
We like the fact that they are putting bread on their table through hard work but let’s organize them a bit. There’s just the risk that an unidentified baggage carrier would steal some baggage or snatch a mobile phone from an unsuspecting commuter. No doubt, we will hold the Ports Authority responsible for allowing them to operate in their facility in the first place. Act Now!
2. We call on the ferry operators to deal with the bed bug menace on their ferries. We have experienced bed bugs in the so-called FIRST CLASS area. That’s not good enough. It’s as easy as getting pest control people to do a good job on them at the end of the work day. We will check this out again after a month.
3. Seriously guys, a FIRST CLASS service MUST be a FIRST CLASS service. What’s the point of paying more to occupy a space that is easily invaded by people selling all kinds of funny stuff and even beggars? We should also mention those guys playing uncontrollably loud music and selling fake compact discs to people. Those who pay for first class service should get what they pay for. Thanks
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online (21/06/21)
