THE MAKENI BYE-ELECTION AND MAKAMA ROAD
It seems even in the home of De Pa there is deceit galore in politics. During the recent Bye-election that saw the Lebanon Garbage Man (LGM) win by the skin of his teeth, there was work going on day and night along MAKAMA ROAD. Caterpillars were brought in as men worked under light. The LGM assured that the road would soon be completed. But lo and behold, since the election - the tightest such poll anywhere in the land of De Pa - the machines have been parked and the work abandoned. During our last visit there, people thought we were representatives of the LGM and they pleaded with us to ask him WHY D WOK DON STOP. We merely referred them to other such gimmicks. And we reminded them of the fact that the man’s mandate was being challenged in court by MKM. hahahahaha
DE PA MEETS STUENTS AND FBC LECTURERS TODAY
We smiled and rubbed our hands with glee but we also asked several questions. You may want to ask over what. Well, over a State House notice we saw announcing a meeting between De Pa, the FBC administration, students who protested simply because they were asked to pay fees, and the ministry of education (we don't use SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY because it is useless under that ministry).
Well, we don't understand why the college administration felt compelled to suspend lectures for two weeks just to allow for students to find their fees and register. What guarantee exists that two weeks will be enough for them to raise the funds needed - or why are depriving those who have already paid? But more pertinently, why are the students protesting against the college administration for not allow them to attend lectures without having paid their fees? They should be protesting against the central government to remove all fees. Or more attainably, to force the government to pay subsidies to the college under the guise of two-thirds of all fees, so the college can raise funds to run itself and pay its staff. So what is the meeting about? Does De Pa not know that his government has still not paid its obligation to the college? We want to hear what De Pa wants to hear in this meeting, and what he will do other than paying what his government owes the college.
THE QUEEN, HAPPIER NOW THAN THE POPE
Among those who must be laughing and showing all her teeth at the recent government shakeup must be the QUEEN OF SALONE FOOTBALL who CEMENTED her relationship with Pope John Paul to win the rigged SLFA presidency just to spend most of her questionable time in office fighting the Pope. Well, now Pope John Paul is no more. But before the QUEEN starts to jubilate, he has a newspaper oh! And that is where he cut his teeth in fighting for sports in MAMA SALONE.
And by the way we understand that there will soon be an association of SACKED ERNEST KOROMA MINISTERS. But De Pa doesn't want that, so he is cleverly bringing them back in like old wines in new bottles. To keep them quiet and silent.
THE WAR CRIMINAL IN THE DOCK AGAIN TODAY
When the former Kamajor Director of War, Moinina Fofana was being freed in March last year to serve the rest of his term in Bo, he looked very elated. The conditions of his release were read out to him in English and translated into Mende. Twitter was there! He agreed and vowed to respect all the terms of his unprecedented conditional early release. Among those conditions were that he should stay in Bo and should not do local politics AT ALL. Now he is back in custody on allegations he has breached one of the terms of his freedom. We know the matter comes up in court today and he is presumed innocent until otherwise proven to be guilty. So we will leave that. But if what we hear is true - that he appeared at a political event of some senior ruling party officials, we would like the court to shame the politicians as well. It takes two to tango. This obsession for power in this country by any means necessary is reaching braking point.
THOSE FLOWER POTS ALONG WILKINSON ROAD
Whoever the contractors are to supply those flower pots along Wilkinson Road, they should be investigated, the contract terminated and criminal charges pressed if money not paid back. And those who awarded the contacts should also be probed. Can you believe this: Even before the flower pots are lined up on the road some have started caving in - they have even smashed completely. We know that procurement is the grandmother of corruption especially in Sierra Leone where every political party activist has become a contractor overnight, but this is shocking.
Just a quick mathematical formula for you to ponder: If seven flower pots out of 10 smashed before the flower was planted inside them, how many remained for the flowers to be planted in them and how many after the flowers were planted? Don't tell us your answers, tell them to those who are in the habit of awarding inflated contracts through backdoors for commission.
Meanwhile some of the roundabouts on our roads don't cease to amaze us. Look at the Aberdeen roundabout - unnecessarily massive while the road that goes around it is laughably small even for a motorbike. The same goes for the Bottom Mango roundabout at Wilberforce. The only two things you see there are the colossal roundabout and the gigantic AFRICELL decor. The roads are hardly visible, never mind passable. So much for 21st century engineering!
(C) Politico 17/03/16
