MINISTERIAL RETREAT ENDS AND THEN WHAT?
On Monday our ministers and deputy ministers should be back at their offices in Freetown after what we encourage ourselves to believe was a nice retreat in the great city of Bo. From what we’ve read on social media and in other forms of modern communication, the ministers were told to raise their game and DELIVER for the people of Sierra Leone. Maybe they didn’t need a retreat to be told that but the whole thing is over now and our attention is on how things might change in the coming days, weeks, months and years. The people are impatient and would not settle for anything akin to BUSINESS AS USUAL.
On the eve of the retreat, newspaper stories appeared in some of the many papers in Freetown, speculating about a coming wholesale reshuffle of government. Some of our people went to Bo and were seen smiling for the camera but deep down they were worried about what might happen when the BIG MAN returns to State House in Freetown. We can understand their situation but as long as Big Man acts in the interest of the country, there’s NO WAHALA.
We were hoping to be invited to the program so that we would address all the ministers in the same room for the first time. With nothing to lose, here are some of the things we would have highlighted for the attention of Big Man.
1. Some ministers, especially those brought over for the first term are looking very tired and bereft of any new ideas. They are the ones going all over the place building camps and planning succession. They really can’t stand the sight of the young ministers, including, of course the new Chief Minister. They should be put out of their misery.
2. Big Man asked them to stop plotting and deliver on the Big Five Agenda. It was good to highlight that but they are not going to slow down. They have teamed up with their sacked colleagues to wreck the Big Five Agenda and bring up a candidate for 2028. They are calling journalists and civil society groups to support them. They are paying so-called bloggers to fight among themselves.
3. We have to say the truth that some of the new people are completely out of their depth in their positions. After a year in office, we expected them to have understood the ropes but their performance leaves much to be desired.
4. Just because they signed performance contracts doesn’t mean they should remain in office to implement them. Those contracts belong to the MINISTRIES, not the MINISTERS. Those who should go can go.
5. As with those performance contracts, we want to see what concrete steps were agreed upon and what would happen next. It’s very important.
WAS THE ICC SET UP TO TRY ONLY AFRICANS
We begin by putting in an apology should we get this wrong – we were talking about the reason we are making this comment. It’s possible that what we saw as Karim Khan, the ICC Prosecutor being interviewed by Christine Amanpour of CNN was AI generated. These days there are many fake things being spread around. Anyway, Khan told CNN that some big guys somewhere told him that the ICC was set up for AFRICAN LEADERS and people like Vladimir Putin of Russia. In other words he was playing with fire asking for arrest warrants for the leaders of Israel in particular. In fact, we’ve now heard from the main centers of power in this world and we get that message clearly. What a world.
It’s a fact that some of the African Leaders that have been brought before that court are some of the most dangerous people we share the continent with and we absolutely support the actions of the ICC. Charles Taylor is sitting in a British jail for crimes committed in this country. We cannot even begin to imagine what Liberia and sub-region would have looked like with Taylor going around a free man.
Vladimir’s Putin’s indictment by the ICC for crimes in Ukraine was roundly welcomed in the powerful countries but now, for them, the ICC has stepped on the Tiger’s Tail. We are not under any illusion about fairness in the global arena but to tell us so openly that the ICC was there for only Africans, is enough for us to take care of ourselves and stop fooling ourselves that the institutions of this world would rescue us when that time comes around. We are not part of the reckoning. We only matter when it comes to raw materials and serving as military bases for the security of the big guys.
What the ICC does with Khan’s request will determine the future of the court. We will hang it here for now and wait. We believe that the Israeli Prime Minister and his Defence Minister will NEVER appear in the dock in The Hague.
JACOB ZUMA AND THE POLITICAL FORTUNES OF THE ANC
Next week the people of the Great Country of South Africa will go to the polls to elect a new parliament. In their own system of proportional representation, the party with the most seats with 50% of the vote forms the government with their leader being declared the president. In the last 30 years, the ANC of Nelson Mandela has been running the country. Polls are now predicting that the party would fail to hit the 50% mark for the first time and would have to depend on smaller parties, most of which broke away from the ANC to government.
Former president Jacob Zuma’s new MK Party is one of those. The man himself has been thrown out of the running for parliament because of a conviction and imprisonment for contempt of court. Polls are saying he will take a lot of votes from the ANC and hurt their chances of getting 50% of the vote. We believe that’s where he wants to put the ANC so that he can now be called upon to rescue his own party.
First of all we wish the people of that country all the very best. However, such coalitions are very difficult to hold together and because of the bad blood now flowing in the political eco-system, the ANC is definitely in for a tough ride. Anyway, we will be back the day after to see if this was all just speculation or South Africa has changed forever.
TAKE HEAVY DUTY TRUCKS OFF JUI-REGENT ROAD
When the Chinese contractors completed work on the Jui-Regent road in 2014, very bold signposts were erected along the route prohibiting the use of the road by trucks weighing more than 10 tons or vehicles carrying sand, wood and stones. Trailer trucks and heavy machinery must be kept off, so it was sanctioned to be.
All those trucks banned from that busy route linking east and west Freetown are not complying with the regulations anymore.
At night well-organized scenes unfold at the various Police checkpoints; the loaded trucks would queue and wait for ‘final instructions’ before they are allowed to continue their journey. It came as a surprise to hear an official of the Sierra Leone Road Safety Corps admit that fatal accidents along the route have increased in recent times blaming some on heavy trucks. He was gracious enough to acknowledge that the truck drivers are flouting the order but never explained what they would do to ensure compliance.
Perhaps he never wanted to offend IG Sellu’s men. And so the lives of people will continue to be risked as a result of palms being greased. The road itself is favored by commuters and motorists as a more convenient alternative to travel from Adonkia to Waterloo in a comparatively shorter time. At Grafton checkpoint the sight of one of the signposts almost uprooted and leaning back and nearly swallowed up by tall grass, could not give a better picture of abandonment and rejection of the very message it carries.
Copyright © 2024 Politico (27/05/24)
