VALENTINE STRASSER’S BOOMERANG
It was with great expectation that the powers-that-be invited unhonored former Head of State, Valentine Strasser, to make a pronouncement on the execution of soldiers during the NPRC regime on Star Radio. He was delighted to oblige. But fortunately for him they did not attempt to put words in his mouth. They did not also give him a text to be read.
With bated breath they listened to how the Rtd. Julius Maada Bio would be implicated in the execution of the soldiers. Instead of what should have been music to the ears of the APC, Strasser went off target. He put the blame of the execution squarely on his shoulders in view of the fact that he was the Head of State at the material time. Enemy disappoint! It was a boomerang.
The unfortunate fact is that the Rtd Brigadier himself has not been blowing his own horn or exculpating himself from such a serious charge that has been used in an orchestrated campaign against him.
IBRAHIM SORIE KOROMA
This is the shameless lawyer who is making a last ditch attempt to save the APC from a much-dreaded runoff. He has taken a last minute eleventh hour injunction against the National Electoral Commission (NEC). Even the untutored illiterate would have sensed that the ulterior motive of the injunction was to delay and if possible cancel the runoff. He was going against the grain. Try and fail is no disgrace, in most cases, but this one was a disgrace.
He was seeking to hide his identity until a caller on the SLBC said he had been an unsuccessful APC ASPIRANT. He tried to deny that he was at the PPRC as a legal adviser. He had a hidden agenda to postpone the elections through the backdoor or by devious means.
One thing that the likes of Ibrahim Sorie Koroma have not realized is that Sierra Leone is not the personal property of the APC. It belongs to the whole country. Koroma should stop being narrow-minded.
OSWALD HANCILES
This is the man who prevaricates in metaphors and reasons in bombast. His writings are abstruse. In his commentary in the Africa Young Voices newspaper of March 14, 2018, titled “The Youth got the power!” he inadvertently or deliberately castigated his own APC party.
He wrote, among other things: “The challenge for a governing party is to present a candidate they can sell as a CHANGE agent. The gospel of continuity is a hard sell to youth even when a country has gone through a boom period before an election.” This is an obvious criticism of the choice of Dr. Samura Kamara. One would wish he had advised the Pa earlier but perhaps he did and the Pa refused to pay heed to his advice.
In an innuendo on Rtd. Julius Maada Bio he wrote: what is the message for party chieftains who are going to choose candidates? Do not choose an aspirant with ‘dirt’ of baggage or skeletons, in his/her cupboard. It is not enough for an aspirant to say “I have never been indicted, prosecuted and convicted in a court of law”.
He then became purile and vain when he wrote: “A tall and handsome candidate is likely to receive the vote of youth because of that alone. That was one big advantage of President Koroma when he contested against the SLPP’s Solomon Berewa in 2007”.
Readers should stop wondering why the Communications Unit of State House was ineffective to the extent that the APC lost the first round of votes. If he has any sense of history he would have known about Napoleon Bonapart who was 5ft 2ins. Sensal Grivas of Cyprus was shorter. And more recently General Sani Abacha whom he must have seen in Sierra Leone was not tall by any means. What has height and handsomeness got to do with a people’s well being? Nonsense!
TITUS BOYE THOMPSON
In an article he wrote in the African Young Voices newspaper of March 14 titled: “What the polls say about loyalty or tribalism” he wrote inter alia: “What many believe is that the messaging should now shift to a focus of the priority to make this campaign a matter of personal comparison of him who has done so much to take this country to, where it is today in the last twenty or more years against another who has done nothing but wait to take over power in the same period. Titus, who negotiated the peace that you now enjoy? You ingrate!
THE NO 7
Again we are set for elections on March 27 with March No. 7 having failed the APC. What seems to be certain is that the lucky number ending 7 refers to the year instead of monthly dates. But they may yet pull off the election on the 27th. Who knows? Good Luck!
Civil Society Consortium for Human Rights, Politicians in Civil Society clothing’s
Civil Society organizations in the country have been widely blamed for their continued silence over the conduct of the March polls. There are visible signs that they are hugely divided on either side of the political divide, thereby betraying the real concerns of the citizenry.
Some highly notable civil society vuvuzelas have taken up the opposition side, acclaiming the conduct of the polls while ordinary Sierra Leoneans have cited some irregularities and calling on NEC to conduct a forensic audit of its processes and procedures.
The Civil society Consortium for Human Rights has also presented their position which is not new but highly tainted with political considerations. Why are they presenting a position only now when we are aware that a lawyer has filed for an injunction 24 hours to their press conference? What a coincidence? Why they are in a hurry? Are they trying to satisfy their masters? Why are the others on the other side silent? Have they been divided? Oh, Civil Society! Just last week we saw a leaked cabinet list purportedly reported to have come from the green team. We saw the names of very notable Civil Society gurus in the country allegedly being given Ministerial appointments. Hmmm, we are watching these politicians clouded in civil society clothing. ’Nar dem turn ‘