SHE CAN’T TOUCH EVEN HER OWN PARTY WITH A 10-FOOT BARGE POLE
Men in grey will soon arrive at the doorstep of Bernadette Lahai, parliamentary leader of the Green Movement. Things are moving so fast that we cannot guarantee she will still be in place by this time next week. And the normally media-loving MP is running away from the microphone – amazing!
We have seen the charges against her as documented by the rebel MPs and they are serious indeed. In true journalistic tradition, we've been trying to get hold of Bernie over the last few days but it appears she is not prepared to speak to the media. At this point, any journalism school will tell you that DOOR-STEPPING is justified in the interest of fair reporting. We might try that soon on Bernie’s return from South Africa.
The document we have seen accuses Bernie of engaging in divide-and-rule tactics, repeatedly ignoring her party functions, operating without reference to the party executive, being too cosy with the Red Movement, thereby allowing many off-side goals and scoring some own goals too against her party and those Sierra Leoneans who think the Green Movement is a true people’s opposition.
We too have serious issues to raise with Bernie, the leader of the country’s opposition. But we must warn that she must not be removed from office simply for Osuofia’s total power grab to be consolidated.
LOVE AT MIDNIGHT – De Pa MARRIES THE FOI BILL AT LAST
This country will definitely have a Freedom of Information Law in place before next week’s cabinet meeting. We can hear you saying: There they go again! We understand your concerns. The nation has been waiting for more than ten years. So what has changed for De Pa to finally agree to be wedded to the FOI law so close to midnight when hundreds of thousands of people who’ve been campaigning to get the marriage done have almost given up?
We shall be in parliament for a pre-legislative hearing today and then cover the full session in the House on Friday. In the process we will also be witnesses to history being made.
There are many who will be celebrating the passage of this bill into law.
1. Some NGOs will run back to their principals with glad tidings singing Joy to Sierra Leone – an early Christmas present indeed. The next phase of funding for SENSITIZATION will come through very quickly.
2. Journalists will congratulate themselves for having played a part to bring the law into operation. And even before the structures are put in place and the relevant personnel appointed some journalists will have FOI requests waiting for matters restricted by the very law.
3. Government of Sierra Leone will now go to their donors with a law in place to trigger more funds and discussions that were definitely put on hold because the country had mysteriously stalled on passing the bill into law.
Let’s be absolutely clear: It is the powerful people abroad who hold the purse strings who made this possible. Left with local agitation alone, the bill will never see the light of day. We have a feeling that for some projects, the move is too late. Welcome to FOI.
20, 000 IMAGINARY KAMAJORS AND ACTUAL LAND MILITIAS
When The Dalai Lama of the PMDC told the whole nation he would mobilise 20, 000 Kamajors from Gbangbatoke and other parts of the south to come to Freetown and help defend his land, there was a huge public outcry. He was even locked up on “suspicion of subversion”. We still can’t say why the guy is not in court. Munu doesn’t believe the nation ought to have been told why they have still not put The Dalai Lama on trial.
Munu and others knew that even the logistics of assembling 5,000 men is not available to The Dalai Lama but they needed to keep him quiet as his cry for land had reached De Pa’ household and his skilful manipulation of the media was beginning to get the ears of the powerful international community.
But let’s put that to one side. What about the land grabbing militias roaming Freetown urban and rural these days? These are real. Munu and his men have seen them at work. What is he doing about them? These men are trained and ready to be deployed at short notice and they have destroyed many lives, what about them?
It’s alright to have gone on radio to analyse the issues around why any reference to Kamajors could easily be classified as subversion but what's Munu view on gangs of trained and lawless armed men roaming Freetown and its environs who continue doing their things unchallenged.
There is a very big risk of serious confrontation because people are increasingly coming to the realisation that Munu is not willing to deal with land grab militias, so they will defend themselves by any means possible.
COMMISSIONS OF INQUIRY WITHOUT ACTION – WELCOME TO SALONE!
We've spent the last few days reading some reports from Commissions of Inquiry set up by De Pa when he came into office in 2007. We noted some really interesting stuff from their findings and recommendations. Next we tried to match follow-up actions since Government WHITE PAPERS followed those reports, to real actions on the ground. We can only say that we were left very disappointed.
This didn't start with De Pa. We have a long experience with Commissions of Inquiry and we are not sure things will change any time soon. Our job is to point these out for the authorities to know that there are some animals on Manor Farm who know that goal posts keep shifting further and farther in the direction of a few people. As far as those animals are concerned, THE MORE THINGS HAVE CHANGED, THE MORE THEY HAVE REMAINED THE SAME. Didn't Tejan Kabbah appoint a man named and shamed in an official inquiry report to high place in his office despite loud public objections including a walkout led by De Pa in his days in parliament?
TRANSITION TEAM REPORT - Whatever happened to that "BUSY CHRISTMAS" report, we can't say. Somebody please help.
SEMEGA JANNEH COMMISSION – Actually, the Gambian judge came here, invited a few people to Miatta Conference Centre, asked a few questions and collected his fees and left. Where is the report, and what is the government's position? Is this not a serious issue?
KELVIN LEWIS REPORT – BO WAHALA - Ok, we know that upon the release of the report, some politicians and ordinary people were promptly arrested, locked up at Pademba Road jail and put on trial. The case dragged on and on. Notorious police officers and ruling party vigilante boys recruited by Hurricane Musa Tarawallie are still free. We have no evidence they were even questioned. Meanwhile, the authorities fervently believe that Maada Bio hurt himself on that day to gain political sympathy in his undisputed stronghold. Long live the Political Ventriloquist and the Vuvuzela boys.
JENKINS-JOHNSON COMMISSION – The erudite lawyer whom we have a lot of respect for must be absolutely livid that his report was so watered down by means of a government White Paper that its whole exercise was robbed of its essence. That's all we can say. But even at that what has been done to the accepted recommendations? We hope a class action will soon be instituted in the interest of the downtrodden Kono people.
SHEARS MOSES COMMISSION – PRISONS DEPT. AND GENDEMA DISTURBANCES – The prisons department is worse today than the period before the jailbreak which caused the sacking of Moses Showers and the setting-up of the inquiry. Things are so bad behind the walls that they will not allow a well behaved body like the Human Rights Commission to visit. There have been at least three jailbreaks since Showers was thrown out of office but the beloved son, Bilo is still on seat.
As for the Gendema thing, we can only say that it's a shame that in what we call an accountable democracy, the Hurricane went to parliament for another appointment and got a standing ovation. Why would De Pa make that kind of nomination in the first place? Whatever happened to the commission recommendation for Musa Tarawalie to be shot out of public office!
MOUNDS OF RUBBISH RETURN TO YOUYI BUILDING STREET
We’ve been complaining about 5,000 or more potholes in Freetown over the last two months or so. No Street is more pathetic than Youyi Building Street with its craters like those dug by atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima. As if all that wasn’t enough, a mound of rubbish higher than the FSSG wall, is quickly creeping on the seat of government work – YOUYI BUILDING.
We thought this was now a thing of the past since Bababode removed the garbage dump and scrap yard from Youyi Building Street in his early days in office but as we now know, the rubbish has returned with vengeance.
Youyi Building is now under constant surveillance by the police against a possible Al-Shabaab attack but the mound of rubbish close by, could easily become a hiding place for the terrorists.
In fact, Bababode and those in charge of waste management in Freetown should consider their future in politics and public administration because of their failure to deal with the rubbish in this city.
© Politico 17/10/13
