FINAL CLUES - DE PA’S CABINET: WHO WILL SURVIVE?
Minister of Agriculture – Dr. Sam Sesay
Dr. Sam Sesay has a good grip of his ministry and we believe he is on the right track with the nation’s agriculture. Some of his estimates of Sierra Leone’s agricultural productivity level have been wildly too optimistic. We suspect it’s been based on false figures from his professional staff or his own exuberance, not an attempt to deceive the nation for political reasons. If Dr. Sesay remains in government and we have no reason to suspect otherwise, it will be in the Ministry of Agriculture. We will be surprised if De Pa takes him out.
Second term presidents are full of surprises and we should expect some soon.
Minister of Defence – Alfred Pallo Conteh
This flamboyant guy is also likely to stay in government. He represents that powerful EKUTAY group in De Pa’s New APC as a protégé of former president Joseph Saidu Momoh. He is presiding over a peacetime military so his ability to perform has really not been tested – the Somalia deployment will test that if he remains in charge of Defence. Apart from MAC-P how can he be tested? He is idling all over the place. Conteh’s handling of the Wounded in Action soldiers issue was a disaster. His love for military camouflage uniforms and acting like a war general are what he will miss most if he is sacked or moved. Like his colleague in Agriculture, he could be in for a rude shock.
Minister of Trade – Dr. Richard Conteh
Simply put, things are not looking good for Dr. Conteh. We hear De Pa is not impressed and so things could prove disastrous for him. The fuel shortages under his watch could prove costly for him. But there are not many Lokos in government so he could just be retained for ethnic balance. De Pa told BBC that his own tribe is under-represented in his own administration – Loko or Limba or Temne????
Minister of Works– Alimamy Petito Koroma
His performance with the roads has been nothing other than a deliberate propaganda project implemented to get De Pa a second term of office and that’s in the bag. Now the roads, particularly in Freetown are littered with potholes. Those under construction were disgraced during the rains. But Petito could be rewarded for the second phase of Koroma APC.
We are not sure where Petito will appear in the next government. Should he fail to re-appear, we will count him as part of De Pa’s surprise package, full of Christmas gifts. But for a man who many believe is being groomed to lead the APC ahead of the next elections in 2017/18, dumping him could be punishing him for his Macbethan ambition. Becarefule what you wish for.... We suggest, if he should be retained in cabinet, he be moved to Social Welfare giving his background at the Council of Churches of Sierra Leone. He could as well be a good man to manage the Hajj.
Minister of Local Government – Dauda S. Kamara
The local government minister is a respected old APC operative. He has been in public life for an amazingly long time after a brief teaching experience at the Prince of Wales secondary school. He was ambassador to Guinea in the days of Siaka Stevens. He served in Germany and became an MP after the restoration of democracy following the NPRC coup, then he became a minister in Koroma’s first term. He was Koroma's running-mate in 2002 but as they say here “dog dream lef na dog belleh”. His ambition was never achieved.
We think Kamara is planning to retire from active politics – retired and tired. If we are wrong and Dauda Kamara wants to stay, De Pa will find room for him. The biggest threat to people like him is this talk that De PA wants to rejuvenate his government. He is very old hand now. How about some Presidential Advicer post? Certainly NOT a cabinet minister material any longer.
MINISTER OF ENERGY AND WATER RESOURCES – O. ROBIN-COKER
He came into government following the unexpected sacking of the bearded professor who is said to have spent more time in the air than in his office. Under the Prof. Electricity supply was reasonably good. Once Oluniyi took over, things went down. It’s now so bad that we have no excuse but to apologise to Kabbah Tiger and restore his pride as a member of our families.
The last we heard about him was his bullying of an electoral officer. Meanwhile light business don bad off. We will not say a word about water. It’s not available even at the offices of Guma Valley Water Company. Even in parliament toilets have not been flushed for days owing to the lack of water. Twitter has had to apply unorthodox means to bathe and flush.
We are unable to say conclusively what De Pa will do with him but many people would not be sorry if De Pa sacked him. De Pa could do that safely – no political consequences.
So there you have it. In three editions, we have given some clues as to what to expect in the coming days when De Pa announces his next government.
He asked the old guys to go back to work until that big decision is made. As far as we know, things are on hold. Some ministers have already bidden farewell while others are very speculative. Some have spent the last week or so running government business by mobile phone. This was a typical conversation that took place between a Permanent Secretary and his boss just the other day:
Minister - Hello Permanent Secretary, do you have any letter for me from State House?
Permanent Secretary - No sir.
Minister – Huh! Ok. See you soon. (Watin dis Pa dae pan ba?)
HANGING AROUND DE PA AT HILL STATION
Did you attend the burial in Makeni of the cousin of De Pa? Hmm. Trembling ministers and other (prospective) political appointees were there like bees. But that's for anther day. Today...Hill Station Lodge of De Pa.
We tweeted a lot about people hanging along the road leading to the official residence of De Pa in the run up to the elections last month. At that time we noted that all sorts of groups were turning out to express support for De Pa. They waited for hours daily – rain or shine. We couldn’t understand why instead of going about their business while waiting for voting day, these young people chose to hang out at Hill Station the whole day. The elections have come and gone and the area around St. Augustine’s Church has new friends.
This weekend we strolled past many SUV’s in the same area, long after the church was over so let nobody tell us they were attending church service. We counted more than 70 of such vehicles, the owners of which were all trying to get on to De Pa. When will this man have time to do his job and rest?
Please, not everybody will become a cabinet minister or an ambassador. Of course, the football soldiers who fought to get De Pa re-elected are all gone to their daily struggles again for another five years. Now it’s the turn of those big people who travelled to neighbouring countries fearing there would be trouble in Sierra Leone. They want all the posts so they can continue stealing from our people. Good Luck to them.
UDM IMPLODES OVER ACCOUNTABILITY QUESTIONS
The United Democratic Movement is on the brink. The party leader who only a few hours to polling announced he was pulling out of the race and throwing whatever weight he had behind De Pa, is facing serious questions from his key members. His people say he has failed to account for all the monies he raised in the name of the UDM.
So while Or Bangu was busy trying to hold other people to account for their actions in national life, disgruntlement was growing in his own backyard because he saw no reason to tell his colleagues how much money he had raised in the name of their party and the sources.
We hope the PPRC will soon receive financial reports from all political parties detailing monies raised and spent in the last campaign. We have no faith in the truthfulness of the report the parties will present but we have to have something to play with. The money put into this election is bigger than the national budget. We strongly believe so. And we know which party spent the highest amount of money.
This abiding belief that money can solve all problems is wrong and this nation will soon know where all those monies came from and why. The UDM’s showing in the last elections is abysmal and nobody gives them a chance at winning any election in this country in the foreseeable future.
THE SORRY STATE OF YOUYI BUILDING: DOES ANYBODY CARE?
Our readers would probably accuse us of being obsessed with the condition of Youyi Building. This building houses many ministries and other government agencies but it should be a bit of an embarrassment now to any Sierra Leonean. Youyi Building has been without elevators for the longest time. Even at the best of times, the service was epileptic. Some government officials whose offices are located on the middle to top floors struggle to climb the stairs. We know of situations in which government ministers have arrived at the basement of the building and asked their staff to bring their documents for them to sign after which they would jump into their vehicles and speed home.
To make matters worse for this very important building, a group of marijuana-smoking young men commonly called Benghazi Boys have occupied the southern end of the building where they smoke freely at any time of the day. They also harass car owners visiting Youyi Building for money and other favours. They do so unchallenged.
There is also an unusually large number of disabled people who position themselves at the main entrance to Youyi Building asking for alms in the most aggressive manner. We have nothing against disabled people but we think this loss of hope that drives them to behave this way is simply unacceptable.
To make matters worse, as you approach Youyi Building, cast your eyes towards the FSSG wall close to the top towards Old Railway Line and you will see a mound of rubbish higher than Kilimanjaro and a scrap yard for cars messing up the whole place. This is the fourth time we are calling attention to this eyesore. Every time we pass by, we find deteriorating conditions. Well this is all we can do. We are not Mayor Bode Gibson. We are not the minister of public works nor are we the ultimate guy, De Pa.
MADAM TORISM
Twitter hinted last week that we would be bringing to you a reaction from the minister of tourism to a tweet we ran. Well, we thought she had done the decent thing to call our attention to what she alleges to be her success. But we now have received recording of a press conference she had in fact called alleging before she called us. She alleged there that Twitter had embarked on a campaign of calumny against her, threatening to go to IMC or to court. We are very responsible inm our practice and we take full responsibility for our actions hence not afraid of thinly-veiled threats. Therefore we are re-evaluating our approach to her claim that she has put Salone in the Guinness Book of World Records for Sampa Dance. We will return to it shortly. Hope she is not sacked by the time we do.
