Quite honestly I was left gaping for breath after reading in a local newspaper that the Sierra Leone Police Force is about to burn up some of the cocaine allegedly landed at the Freetown International Airport on that fateful Sunday in July.
What really puzzled me is the thought of our “Force for Good” burning the substance which should be used as evidence in court when they eventually decide to charge the suspects for possession of cocaine.
The idea of thinking to burn up the substance when the matter is yet to be charged to court is gradually giving credence to what has been doing the rounds that the Police lack the ability to properly investigate the matter.
In all my years in this noble profession, I have never heard of exhibits going up in flames before the matter is charged to court.
Toying with the idea of even burning the substance is a bit criminal, and what guarantee have we that when the matter is eventually charged to court the little they intend to keep and produce in court is the real substance.
However, this is Salone where the laws always differ from what is obtaining in other countries.
Time will indeed tell whether the intention is a positive or negative one. I say so because of past experience gained from this very force, where cannabis sativa ‘diamba’ had been instructed to be destroyed but eventually found its way back into the market.
Having said that, what guarantee have we got that all the substance would go up in flames under the supervision of the police, when in actual fact one of them was alleged to have stolen a packet on that fateful Sunday in July when the plane landed at the airport.
Think again Mr. Inspector General of Police about the burning of the substance when the matter is yet to be charged to court.
Is there a hidden agenda by trying to burn up the substance when the matter is still under investigation?
On another note, one is still in limbo as to what has happened to the promise our Mayor made over the new clock tower at Eastern Police that was supposed to rekindle our feelings of the “land that we love our Sierra Leone” on an hourly basis.
Was that just an election scam; or was it just lip service to secure votes from the municipalities?
Mr. Mayor, we are still waiting for the renovated clock tower, rather than your men looting in the name of demolishing illegal structures from which they have already collected taxes from.
Is this right? Why in heaven’s sake did your men collect taxes from them when they were fully aware that these structures were illegally planted on these sites? Or is it because they are desperate to collect revenue for the Council that they turned a blind eye?
We need an answer to these questions, because its seems now that it’s just tax, tax and no proper accountability, like your counterpart in Kono who was bold enough to disclose that they had collected over three hundred million as revenue from taxes.
Another example Mr. Mayor is that of your Kenema counterpart who is begging for the devolution to his council of the Kenema government hospital with plans afoot to rehabilitate the annex department of the hospital.
With all these dreams of your counterparts in the provinces, Mr. Mayor what is happening to the repairing exercise of your Municipal schools. I ask this question because Thomas Peters Municipal school opposite Awoko newspaper is something of concern to we the tax payers.
Mr. Mayor, how can effective education be carried out in a school when portion of its roof has perished over a period of time and sweet nothing has been done to effect the repairs, – is this the quality education our children deserve – a licking roof?
I am not surprised if Charlotte just less than 15 miles from the city is in such a deplorable state of poverty, then our sweet talk City Father should put modalities in place so that schools within the city are up to standard?
After all the Municipal schools belong to the council and they must wake up from their slumber and make effective repairs for the children to learn in a healthy environment, rather than focusing on just collection of taxes.
I have no qualms about collecting taxes, but all I need is to see these huge sums being invested in areas that would help shape the future generations.
Having said that, my next focus is on the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA), who just last week had a knife plunge deep into their heart by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), by throwing out the appeal of our U-17 after that rather humiliating defeat at the hands of their Gambians counterpart recently.
Immediately after that disgraceful episode, our loud mouthed spokesman leaped from one radio station to another dishing out propaganda stuff claiming that the Gambians fielded in over age players, trying to divert the minds of spectators from that disgraceful encounter.
When I heard him I simply dismissed his thoughts and told my colleagues that Sierra Leone would lose the appeal because the Gambians are a well structured body compared to us, and they have embarked upon grooming their players.
During my recent visit to the Gambia, I took the opportunity to see their structural setup and it left me pondering what has happened to Sierra Leone football.
They welcomed with open hands the opportunity Sierra Leone turned down because of greed, – that the Germans offered for establishing a soccer academy – some four years ago, and it is from that academy today that they are producing talented boys who can make mince meat of their so called counterparts here.
In future, Mr. Spokesman please girdle your mouth and stop giving false hope to citizens after our team had performed disastrously in continental competitions, infact if I had my way, government should withdraw us from these age limit competitions so that we can go back to the drawing board and plan proper.
By planning proper, we should take the game to the school level like it used to be in the past when talented players like John Johnson, Abu Gbattor, Police, Foday Sesay to name just a few graduated into well educated and dynamic sporting personalities.
So there we go again, with the worst WASSCE result which is a disgrace to this nation.
All the same have a wonderful day.
By Samuel John