OLD CHIEF MINISTER GOES MUTE ABOUT OUR DISGRACED DIPLOMATS IN GERMANY
When will Old Chief Minister tell us something about that widely publicized attack on our diplomats in Germany? The guy is pretending as if nothing happened in that country when we have pictures of at least one diplomat in hospital being treated and another under police guard for about half an hour. Surely, the good people of Sierra Leone deserve to know what happened to those they sent to Germany to represent them.
The silence of the normally media-loving Old Chief Minister suggests to us that he has lost control of the narrative. This is the first time he’s been challenged in this new role. This is quite different from him attending set-piece events and taking pictures for his newsletter. That newsletter is generally well written but why has Old Chief Minister refused to speak about the attack on our diplomats?
WESTERN AREA MINISTER IS MISSING AGAIN
The last time we saw our minister for the Western Area she was visiting her counterpart in Accra, Ghana. She has since gone missing again. What’s really going on? We have been trying to answer our own question and here’s what he have been able to put together so far:
1. The minister is still trying to set up her office somewhere in Freetown. After that she will run down to HRMO and ask for civil servants to be transferred from other ministries to join her. There are many civil servants idling away somewhere inside Youyi Building. Let’s deploy them to the ministry of Western Area.
2. Actually, our minister needs time to develop her own Terms of Reference. Principal did not expressly say what he wanted the minister to do. This is a new ministry so she has retreated to a place unknown to work. She wants to be left alone.
3. The minister brought back a lot of paperwork from her study tour in Greater Accra. She needs time to read through to see what she can take out of those documents to be implemented in Freetown. Why not? We paid some good money to set up that meeting and cover air-fares, meals and per diem.
4. We recommend that the Western Area minister travels once more for now at least to meet with the minister of the Federal Capital Territory in Nigeria to learn more skills to prepare for this new job.
5. Maybe the real issue is the minister is running away from the media. How can anybody accept the job of a minister and at the same time dream of keeping the media away? That’s impossible. And please don’t go thinking that we should only come around to cover set-piece events. We enjoy digging and digging to find the news. We are doing that right now on behalf of our people.
LEONE STARTS HEADING TO TURKEY: IS THE NSA BOSS OFF AGAIN?
Apart from travelling all over the world with the national football team, what else is the NSA boss doing in that little corner just off Wilkinson road? All we know out here about Ken Brima is his burning desire to always be in football delegations along with his friend at the Ministry of Sport and that Queen Johansen hostage at Kingtom. And this is definitely not about his love for the national team. It is neither about the pleasure of traveling to other countries, nor is it about getting things done properly on the ground. It is about per diem and something else but we are waiting for the final word from the ACC before we reveal.
Here is the head of a new and potentially very powerful agency that should be at his desk developing and implementing strategies to improve sports in this country, flying with the national football team to every little engagement like a friendly football match just to collect cash. We have been trying to figure out what this guy does when he joins our team on such assignments abroad. In fact, we have never seen him travel to Makeni, Kono and Kenema when Leone Stars play local friendlies. The rate of per diem for local travel is ridiculous, so what’s the point?
We have been trying to convince ourselves that the NSA board has nothing to do in this situation but we believe those professionals who sit on that board can tell Ken Brima to stay home and work. Nothing is difficult about that. What does he actually do on those trips? If it’s about government money, the NSA has a finance department.
Friendly matches are only for technical people who use it to identify players and try out their strategies for all emerging issues having to do with the game. We call on the board to immediately tell Ken Brima he should not travel to Turkey. We can’t keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. Let this man stay home for once.
MANAGERIAL SACKINGS GATHERING PACE IN THE EPL
If Arteta and Solskjaer were managers for Newcastle and Tottenham they would be on the job market right now. These managers have been on the edge of being sacked at different times since the start of this season but have miraculously survived. Bruce and Nuno of Newcastle and Tottenham respectively have not been so lucky. As we write this they are out in the cold hoping to receive a phone call from somewhere.
The thing is, the whole world knew that whether the Saudis bought Newcastle or not Bruce was going to be sacked anyway for poor results. The man simply lost the Premiership plot and was just waiting to be sacked, probably on the advice of his lawyers. The lawyers must have been very interested in the severance package.
Nuno did extremely well and possibly had the option to extend his stay at Wolves but chose to drive down to London to work at Tottenham.
Bruce like Mark Hughes is not returning to managing in the EPL any time soon but Nuno can still hang around and see what the hectic Christmas schedule brings along. It's looking like there is trouble ahead in Norwich and we hate to say this but Everton is also not going well with Benitez.
Premiership managers are like coffin sellers – to make money, they have to hope and possibly pray for a colleague to be sacked for them to get new jobs in the same way the coffin sellers pray for people to die so that they would make money.
Antonio Conte who was on the brink of joining Manchester United about two weeks ago is now at Tottenham replacing Nuno. He has moved to the north of London after spending some time with Chelsea and doing well there. We warn though that if he doesn’t allow Kane to move out, he will run into the same difficulty before long.
Arteta and his friend Ole are hanging on by the skin of their teeth but night is drawing nigh as we enter the busy Christmas period.
Copyright © Politico Online 03/11/21
