GHANA ELECTION RESULTS OUT IN TWO DAYS: IS CHRISTIANA AROUND?
In Ghana, John Mahama will remain in power for four more years. The Electoral Commission of Ghana announced that he was the winner just two days after voting. The opposition is complaining bitterly and they may go to court to argue it out. Already police have clashed with demonstrators. We are watching that with interest and good luck to Ghana.
Our concern here really is why in a country with 14 million voters and as diverse as Ghana, election results can be announced in two days while in tiny Sierra Leone whose population is almost the same as the population of the Ghanaian capital alone, it takes 10 days to get results and even that is not clear and comprehensive.
We know Christiana’s days at NEC are numbered but we don’t think we should encourage any other NEC chairman pretending to be head of state between and election and the declaration of the results. There is absolutely no excuse to keep results for even four days, let alone ten, just because the NEC chairman wants to focus all eyes up to their hills for that long. Come on! We have had to endure Christiana’s tenure as NEC boss in pain. Look at this:
Ghana – Biometric Registration and System of voting - 14 million voters – results declared in 2 days
Senegal – Biometric Registration and System of voting - 6 million voters – results declared in 2 days
Sierra Leone – Biometric Registration, NO BIOMETRIC SYSTEM OF VOTING - 2.6 million voters – results declared in 6 days
Something is definitely wrong with someone.
DEMOCRATIC KOROMA APC MEETS UNDEMOCRATIC CONDE
Let’s put a few things on the table on this matter before we begin. Guinea is by and large a good neighbour despite the small matter of their soldiers still holding ground in Yenga, which is Sierra Leonean territory. There are huge migrant communities from both countries living in peace. The volume of trade between our two countries is big and we should be proud of that.
But we have a big problem. Our democratically-elected president has just visited Guinea and had talks with Alpha Conde whose democratic credentials are in total ruins.
Here is a man who struggled to remove the military-backed regime of the late General Lansana Conte for years, putting his own life at risk in the process now trying to concentrate all power in his hands. Conde is everything in Guinea – a kind of l’etat c'est moi approach to state governance.
Since coming to power with that miraculous election “victory”, Conde has refused to conduct legislative elections. The people have demonstrated time and time again but Conde has refused to move. We really hate the fact that our own president who recently put his political fate in the hands of his people in democratic elections has rewarded undemocratic Conde with a visit just after his re-election. Pretty much like Tejan Kabbah parleying with the undemocratic leader of the narco-state of Guinea Bissau, Kumba Yala.
We have no idea what Koroma and Conde discussed but we hope our president told him in no uncertain terms that there is no half democracy. Conde cannot continue running Guinea without a parliament. We know why he is refusing to face his own people again: The man who won the last election in the spiritual world, Cellou Dalein Diallo is like an object in the mirror – closer to power than he appears.
By the way, did the president raise with Conde the issue of the many Sierra Leoneans incarcerated for the flimsiest of reasons without trial?
Did he also ask questions about the outcome of the investigation into the killing of the Sierra Leone Police officer, assigned to Alpha Kanu as bodyguard? Alpha Kanu wants the nation to forget about the poor man’s brutal murder and the stealing of a vehicle that belongs to the government of Sierra Leone. We are waiting for the president to talk to the nation on these issues. These are serious matters.
THE REPUBLIC OF OKADA IN SALONE – CLASSIC TWO-STATE SOLUTION
Please friends this is no exaggeration, to solve the problem of brazen robbery and general lawlessness of our roads, we have to create two states: The Republic of Sierra Leone where we want to live in peace under a body of laws that is equally applied to us all without regard to tribe, political colour and the size of one’s bank account.
The other state will be called the Republic of Okada Land where the thousands of Okada riders and their executive and their political backers will live and run their own government. In fact we have taken the first steps towards creating the two states. Now the Okadas have their own police officers who have taken over road traffic management from our own police. They are a real nuisance on the roads. Why should Munu delegate that responsibility to the Okada police when there are traffic wardens serving as auxiliary to his own men and women? Next step, the will have their own police stations, courts and prisons and before we know it, they will build their own parliament, appoint ministers and ambassadors and then go the UN to seek full membership which they may get before Palestine does. Apologies Mamud Abass.
Munu talks about fighting lawlessness on the streets of Freetown and doing away with street trading. Come on IG, we know this is all hot air. We ask the IG to take a walk along Sani Abaca Street in plain clothes and make a phone call between Sackville Street junction and Eastend Police. We want him to feel and understand what ordinary people encounter daily. So much for SLP Force for Good.
INTERNATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION DAY: HOW ARE THINGS JOE?
We wanted to accuse the ACC of going extremely slowly in arresting and prosecuting corrupt public officials but we have just realised that the elections were here and any high profile prosecution would have handed Osuofia a huge propaganda coup. How that would have helped, we don’t know.
So after the elections and those Michael Jackson style magic steps on the balcony of the Lotto Building on APC rally day, can the ACC boss now file all those appeals and bring more of the people stealing government money before a judge? It’s great to visit the home of Pele and get many local papers to publish stories about your trip but for the rest of us, we want you to just get on with the job. By the way how is PROJECT 2017 shaping up or are some guys just telling lies at you?
DANGER LOOMS AT BANK COMPLEX KINGTOM – BUT WHO CARES?
We can’t understand why the authorities at the Bank Complex at Kingtom are behaving as if they have no idea that there is danger around. When calamity strikes we will not accept any press release expressing “heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families” because Bank of Sierra Leone can avert that possibility by calling in the experts to fill up the hole under the lawn near the main hall. The sea has eaten deep under the structure and all the Bank of Sierra Leone can do is put some small board near the lawn with an inscription warning people to keep off because of danger.
How do you build a house in a place like that without being alive to the fact that the sea will relentlessly hit the wall and with time undermine the very foundation of the building?
The Bank Complex hosts some of the most important conferences in this country. When parliament building was undergoing refurbishment, it was the complex that hosted our lawmakers. We hate to say this but as it is now, we run the risk of getting into a situation in which the nation’s great and mighty will be hurt in the event of the building giving way as a result of the destruction of its foundation by erosion.
May be it’s happening because of GLOBAL WARMING, who knows? We will not listen to the bank telling us budgetary constraints. They can just go ahead and print more money like in Idi Amin’s Uganda. We remain ceased of this matter. Trust Politico.
STARVATION WAGES AT G4S – WHERE’S THE MINISTRY OF LABOUR?
The security company G4S must explain to the people why they are paying their guards just over thirty POUNDS STERLING or Le 240,000 a month. This is unbelievable.
You see, the Ministry of Labour is the real problem here. We know how much individuals and businesses are paying for each guard. Even if we subtract a generous overhead cost, it will still be inhuman to pay the guards that amount of money. But we have a ministry that cares less about the people they are supposed to be protecting. We know what happens in Liberia with companies like G4S.
We feel sorry for these guards with their faded, threadbare uniforms out in the cold every night. We know G4S lost big money in that failed London Olympic contract but they have to be careful making up for that shortfall. We are assembling materials to help us deal with specific issues having to do with this company and the way it treats its local staff. Slavery ended here centuries ago.
