CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS AND THAT NOT-SO-HIDDEN HAND
As the parliamentary enquiry into how some civil society groups spent a whopping 51 million Euros in election-related activities in 2012 gets underway, we promise intense wall-to-wall coverage. We expect to hear a lot about per diems, fuel allocations, mobile phone top-up bills and SENSITIZATION workshops plus many more.
Consultancy fees and overseas travel costs are also major areas of budgetary allocation. So we are excited at the prospect of seeing those who hold others to account, giving account of themselves before a parliamentary committee. Long live democracy!
But those groups that are to be quizzed are exactly those that were dragged to court by an MP following a Paramount Chief election which he was alleged to have tampered with. That case of criminal libel was dismissed. Could it now be that this is a situation of my case in my own court where I preside as Judge, Jury and Executioner? They say it's no witch hunt and we are inclined to believe them. But please let them allow us to ask the following questions as ordinary citizens.
a. Are these the only Civil Society groups that were engaged in donor-funded election-related activities?
b. Do the leaders of parliament really expect us to believe the coming inquiry has nothing to do with the failed attempt to use the courts to clip the wings of those vocal civil society groups?
c. After all the main donors and Election Observers have praised these organisations for their work, is this kind of parliamentary inquiry truly necessary? That's given the background we have just mentioned.
d. Is Sierra Leone not sending the wrong signals about the way it treats critical Civil Society groups?
e. Could it be a wider swoop against the critical voice to remind them of some long hands so they are emasculated? WE are just wondering and asking. And we will keep doing just that.
A "MODERN" AIRPORT WITHOUT FIRE ENGINES: ARE WE DREAMING?
Our country has been in the headlines again in the last 48 hours for some awful condition at our airport that could clearly have been avoided. No doubt, a lot has been done to bring the airport to international standards. We deeply appreciate that. But can somebody please tell this nation how we came to this situation where we are running an airport without a credible fire service. Let's not even imagine what would happen in case of some emergency.
Logus and Kan Kan Kan are running all over the place announcing the imminent arrival of Delta Airlines from the US to operate scheduled flights from Freetown. These people are joking.
The board of the Sierra Leone Airports Authority and the Civil Aviation Authority must come to State House for a meeting with De Pa that must surely culminate in them going the way of Oluniyi and his NPA gang. We are fed up with this mediocre way of running important state institutions if only banking on and basking in political connections.
Many people have been seriously embarrassed by the refusal of BA and Kenya Airways to fly into Freetown. How many people have lost their jobs and business opportunities because of this ineptitude? This is how we find ourselves in poor positions on international rankings.
Inevitably, we ask, where was Logus in all this? He may well have been doing one or more of the following duties which prevented him from dealing with the fire engine wahala at Lungi.
a. He was busy organising rush hour commuter queues at Lumley
b. Perhaps Logus was inside the engine room of the ferry observing the movement of the engines but carefully ignoring the worst toilets in the world on those ferries
c. May be he was too busy launching telephone hotlines to SLRTA, in case of road accidents. hahaha
d. Or he was at the CID making a 17-page statement to get his "brother" arrested because of an innocuous text message asking him to clarify something. (Is it our turn now sir?).
e. Assuming we are wrong on all the previous counts, we are quite sure he would have been in some meeting, possibly in Kono, promoting De Pa's third-term agenda. De Pa says he is not interested but Logus believes the nation cannot survive without De Pa's "Transformational Leadership". Please transform the airport first sir. So we say to De Pa: What is good for Oluniyi is good for Logus.
ROAD CONSTRUCTION PUJEHUN-STYLE: IN DE PA'S NAME
All those earth-shaking machines that suddenly appeared on the streets of Pujehun town on the eve of De Pa's arrival in the town last week have now pulled back to a secret location. Hahahahaha! What kind of impressionism is this? We are quite sure even De Pa was not fooled by this threadbare trick.
Since 2010 when an unknown company entered Pujehun and other places to implement one of the best projects this government has undertaken, the people have been treated to sub-standard work and dust in their lungs.
Under the cover of darkness, the machines left the town and all the road blocks were removed. We beg Alhaji Emmanuel Moijueh Kai Kai to prevail on De Pa to visit Pujehun at least twice a month and spend two nights visiting different parts of the district. At this rate, it is De Pa's successor who will commission those projects. We know the people who are behind the companies implementing those road projects in Moyamba and Pujehun.
DIRTY LANGUAGE GALORE AND JAW-BREAKING SLAP - HELLO SLFA
Sierra Leone has been badly let down again in matters relating to football. This time not by the players. They never disappoint anyway because they always lose. This time it's the administrators of the beautiful game - both hold positions of power and authority, Wonder Boy of FC Kallon and the Queen of the SLFA. Here's what we expect them to do now:
Wonder Boy must hang his head in shame for being so rude to or about a woman. All the accounts we've heard so far about what happened at Kingtom are clear that during a heated exchange with a football administrator loyal to the queen, Kallon let fly unbelievable expletives that shame Sierra Leonean womanhood. He admitted on radio that he made those rude comments about the Queen.
When we assembled Kallon's disciplinary record on and off the pitch since his return to local football, we saw many bookings and scathing comments from football officials. Having played at the highest level, we expect him to always resist provocation on and off the field and avoid being drawn into a messy situation like the one in which he finds himself now.
We are equally embarrassed by the behaviour of the queen of the SLFA. In her usual MUMU style the Queen has refused to speak to the media but by all accounts of the incident, including those close to the SLFA, confirm she did land a devastating slap on Kallon unprovoked by anything physical. The Queen has turned a significant corner in football administration and she cannot recover from the consequences of this disgrace.
We think the queen must resign now and let the SLFA get a fresh start. No half-hearted apology will suffice. She must go now!
She has made no serious effort to reconcile after coming to power in an election that set a new record in terms of being flawed.
She has surrounded herself with sycophants, one of whom actually caused the current problem by slavishly running to her office to report what Kallon had said. This is the level to which the SLFA has sunk.
(C) Politico 11/03/14
