GENTO CAMPAIGNS IN A MOSQUE AND ATTRACTS FIRE
Things move really fast in these days of social media. As soon as something drops in one group it spreads. Sometimes it goes round and round and returns to the person who released the original information as so-called BREAKING NEWS. So here we are now with the issue of Gento campaigning in a mosque and urging the faithful to vote for a Muslim and non-creole candidate for Mayor of Freetown. This issue has suddenly pushed the issue of the Chancery Building in New York and Sierra Leone’s awkward performance against Sao Tome to the corner.
Let’s get something out of the way on this Gento thing before we say a few words on what we are seeing on social media. All we’ve seen so far is a short clip of Gento speaking in that mosque, a number of press releases and reactions from Gento and his spin doctors. So like he said, many people have not watched the full speech. We are part of those people. However, like many other people, we have seen enough to be able to take part in the on-going conversation. And Gento should not attempt to tell us what to say about the whole affair. We know our way through all the current issues in Sierra Leone.
1. Gento is a newly buried corpse in the political graveyard of Sierra Leone. He is still trying to adjust to life several feet below this surface so he has to be careful. We agree with the inter-religious council that this is one area no politician should be allowed to so brazenly exploit.
2. Gento was calling attention to a number of issues that we should be talking about when it comes to representative politics in this city but all of that is now being buried in his appeal to the religious sensitivities of his audience. He has himself to blame.
3. We saw a number of press releases from the main opposition party, the labor congress, SLAJ, backed by hundreds of comments from a lot of people. The SLAJ bit we will address subsequently. We have always called on individuals and organizations to deal with ugly issues as they emerge. Now, even those who admit that Gento went off the rails in an unacceptable manner are asking why those complaining so loudly now remained quiet when the boot was on the other foot.
4. There are many lessons to learn from this incident. The people are watching.
WHERE IS THE GREENBELT ON WESTERN AREA MOUNTAINS?
Successive governments in post-conflict Sierra Leone have made quite a fuss about keeping the mountains along the Western Area green and free from encroachment by people desperate to build houses of all shapes and sizes. To stop the depletion of the forested areas, particular points were identified and labeled as Green Belt. No building of any sort was to be built on the greenbelt and that was the emphasis from the onset. Structures found to be in places in clear breach of the order, were to be brought down. We were informed they wanted to protect the forested areas and in a broader sense, our eco-system.
Men and women in jungle green military-style uniform called forest guards were recruited and tasked with patrolling the mountains including other forest reserves in far flung areas. But many people are not sure these guards have been effective enough in getting encroachers off the greenbelt. You go to a place called New London close to Jui/Kossoh Town in the east, the very dam that has been serving water to residents down Kossoh Town has dried up because houses have been built around it and the pillaging of the forest is continuing further up the hills around. The water catchment surroundings are gone in man’s mad rush and recklessness to erect their sometimes ugly looking houses.
Forest guards will tell you that they are hamstrung in effecting control because of the attitude of guys at the land ministry. Cutting trees for coal and firewood up the Freetown Mountains happened way back in the past but it wasn’t as ferocious and damaging an act as that of people now building houses with not even a little care for nature not to talk of the law. It would make sense if the authorities erect pillars that are brightly colored and obviously visible to even us down the mountains, to define the area of the greenbelt. By doing so, encroachment could be seen from far away by even the visually impaired. For now we are bold enough to say the greenbelt is not practically visible or workable!
MASS EXODUS FROM TUNISIA, MASS DEATHS AT SEA
Professor Foreign Minister we promised to keep talking about this matter until you talk to the nation about things happening to BLACK AFRICANS in Tunisia. We know there are Sierra Leoneans in that country facing hell so we demand some answers from Professor Foreign Minister.
In the last week or so hundreds of BLACK AFRICAN souls have perished in the Mediterranean as the situation in Tunisia deteriorates. We know that some of those BLACK AFRICANS were in that country because they were looking for a route across to Europe anyway but they have now been forced out in haste because of persistent harassment in the host country. They now pack themselves up in unseaworthy vessels just to escape Tunisia. The Mediterranean has now become the graveyard for many BLACK AFRICANS. Is the Professor telling us that there are no Sierra Leoneans among these people dying at sea? Are we asking for too much by suggesting he should address the nation on that?
Some neighboring countries symbolically evacuated their people from Tunisia recently but we let our people down by pretending as if they were on a picnic. Professor should treat the people of Sierra Leone with respect. He needs to speak up on this issue. We will be back. Meanwhile, how about those Sierra Leoneans who died in that fire at their flat in Lebanon?
UPKEEP TRANSFORMED KISSY PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL
Commonly called the Kissy Mental home, the psychiatric hospital in the hilly settlement east of Freetown was established to treat persons with mental health problems. Being a health condition that our society frowns at or hardly discusses, relapsing sufferers and those completely overwhelmed by the illness, face stigmatization.
For many years it carried a horrible reputation and families kept sick relatives away. There were those perennial allegations of ill-treatment of patients including beatings and starvation and coupled with the appalling conditions of the place. Only fearsome mentally ill people that roamed the streets were dumped at the hospital. The place has over the years symbolically come to represent abandonment, neglect and decadence, until this latest impressive transformation.
It came as a great relief to see the hospital rehabilitated, refurbished and modernized. It has also got Teaching Hospital status. Hats off to the American Not- For- Profit organization named Partners in Health for putting their resources into the place. Principal drove from the state house up to Kissy to get the new look Psychiatric hospital formally opened. Medical students would now be encouraged to take up psychiatry study, an area they were reluctant to venture into due to the unappealing nature of the very facility that’s supposed to admit patients, and the stigmatization of the patients and to some extent the workers.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (29/03/23)
