WHEN WILL OUR PARLIAMENT DEBATE THE AUDITOR GENERAL’S REPORT?
We are respectfully reminding our parliament that we are still waiting to witness the debate of the Auditor General’s report. We don’t know how much longer we should wait though. Is there anything our representatives want to tell us about the delay and the growing suspicion that an attempt is being made to avoid debating the document in any substantial way?
Perhaps the biggest problem facing Sierra Leone is the relentless and wicked politicization of everything to the extent that even matters tied to the very survival of the country are thrown into politics. When that happens the two main parties go into their trenches to begin their elaborate partisan sniping. At that point an open national debate on an issue as important as the Auditor General’s report becomes collateral damage.
In King Messi days there was a big fight between parliament and JFK’s Anti-Corruption Commission. We still have a copy of that speech delivered in the committee room of parliament by Cherry Peppeh asserting their right to first debate the speech.
All we are asking for now is for this speech to be debated. Then we will move to the next stage. We however want to fire some shots signaling where we stand on this issue.
1. We will not accept any quick debate on an issue as important as how our taxes are being spent. All those MPs who have something to say on the issue should be able to do so. Even those I concur and support MPs should at least say something for the first time.
2. After the debate we will expect serious action against those who stole money and the future of their grandchildren.
3. The Anti-Corruption Commission should prosecute them. We absolutely trust Afro Boy on a matter like this. Get this job done. Hundreds of millions of Leones will be recovered. We need to build that medical diagnostic center quickly.
CREATE A MINISTRY FOR LAW AND ORDER
On behalf the decent and hardworking people of Sierra Leone we call on Principal to hurriedly create a MINISTRY for LAW and ORDER. Whether he does that as part of a wider reshuffle of government or not is not our primary concern. We’ve been hearing a lot about a coming reshuffle but while he thinks about that Principal must make a big statement about his commitment to end lawlessness in this country by creating this ministry right now.
Principal, you must have been hearing a lot about acts of lawlessness and soon people will begin to blame you for failing to take action when criminals are flagrantly encroaching on their civil liberties. It may surprise you to know that there are parts of Freetown now that gangs have taken over. They are NO GO areas at certain points of the day. Principal, you cannot allow that to happen on you watch. Here’s our idea of what this ministry will look like.
1. First of all re-structure what we now call MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS. Create a department to handle immigration, NCRA and that drug agency with a Director General in charge. The new LAW and ORDER ministry will take the police and other security units and concentrate on them.
2. We have a lot of questions for the man now running the current Internal Affairs ministry. Our questions are about specific incidents in which we believe he failed to prove himself ready for the job. Remember what happened to Justice Biobele and John Tambi within the space of two days?
3. The new ministry will be very well funded to recruit the best people and train them well, so well that we will have very little or no complaints about police tactics against peaceful Sierra Leoneans.
4. The day the new minister takes office there will be a meeting in the criminal underworld. At the end of that meeting some of those criminals in attendance will resign and become normal people again.
5. The new ministry will build another so-called maximum security prison. We will bang criminals up there for long periods and make our streets safe again.
MORE BOARD APPOINTMENTS OUT BUT WHAT ABOUT THE REST?
We asked this question a few weeks ago but it would appear as if we are being ignored by those who should act and stop us returning to this issue every two weeks or so. In the recent appointment to boards of parastatals we realized that the State Lottery Company has its full complement of members. We have nothings against that even though many Sierra Leoneans have no idea what is happening there now. Maybe the new board member will work some magic.
Why is nobody doing anything about the ACC advisory board? We expect so much from the ACC but we have failed over the last two years to give them the full capacity to operate. The advisory board of the ACC is very crucial to the overall success of the organization so what are we really up to?
The ACC board is not the most difficult to constitute and unlike many other boards it is very badly remunerated – the board members receive FIVE times less than their counterparts on other boards. Those who end up on that board are purely there to serve the people of Sierra Leone. In fact that probably explains why there hasn’t been a mighty struggle among partisans for those positions.
If ACC Advisory board members are not in place by the end of February, the New Direction will continue to send a very bad signal about their Anti-Corruption credentials. The job is easy, simply write to the institutions to be represented on this board and ask them to nominate their representatives. What is difficult about that?
IS CORNELIUS DEVEAUX STILLHOLDING OUT IN THE GAMBIA?
It’s been a long time since we heard anything from comrade Deveaux, the perennial voice of the Red Camp. The last we were told about him was that the small police bounty remains on his head after he was declared wanted for allegedly taking part in an illegal demonstration near the Red Camp headquarters.
Our information is that he fled the country and ended up in Banjul, The Gambia. In fact, he once expressed a willingness to return home and resume his job as long as the police agree to rescind the arrest warrant. That’s an interesting pre-condition.
Our source at police HQ says he remains a wanted man. Anyway, we can only report and express our opinions as required by the rules of journalism. Deveaux can deal with the police while we wait to report the outcome.
So what is life like for the spokesman out there in The Gambia? It’s never easy in another man’s country. We have some suggestions to put forward for the spokesman can keep himself busy.
1. The Gambians like Sierra Leonean teachers. Many of our best teachers have spent all their time teaching in that country. Deveaux can opt to do part-time teaching. We think that’s a good idea.
2. He could do a number of public lectures on Sierra Leonean politics to the thousands of his country people out there in The Gambia. He can charge a small fee for that.
3. Deveaux can start writing the first chapters of his memoirs. He could start by covering his days in government up to his party’s defeat in 2018.
4. How about seeking political asylum in any Scandinavian country? Things are not looking good for the Red Camp so the man needs to spend the next three years doing something productive.
5. Seriously, Deveaux should simply jump on a plane and return home. A few days at the CID takes nothing out of him. Many in the politics of this country have passed through that hotel. Red Camp boys will hold a vigil outside singing “THERE IS VICTORY FOR US” to keep him awake all night.
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