CCTV CAMERAS IN BARRACKS
It is always possible to predict coming events but with astitute thinking more can be done. The decision to install CCTV cameras at all military barracks is a move that should have been done as pre-emptive in the days of yore.
This reactive thinking is not limited to the armed forces. It is a syndrome that cuts across the whole fabric of society. The worst scenario in this was evidenced by our lack of preparedness for our 11 year civil war. The structures to scupper that war existed but they were simply lackadaisical. In other words they were sleeping in their wings. In many cases citizens call the police during armed robbery but they only appear after the act. It is a welcome move and we hope there will not be any more brazen escapes.
LAWLESS PETTY TRADERS
Sunday trading was banned by the outgone APC which was a laudable move to get mercenaries to rest willy-nilly. Came the paopa regime ruling that Sunday trading should resume but only after 12:00 noon. That was to allow Church services to be unperturbed. For sometime this regulation was observed. Gradually the traders started to sell at 11:30 am down the line and now they start selling at 7:00 am. So what is happening? Has the law been rescinded? Let us know thorough the media.
LATE COMERS
Public servants were required by paopa to be at their desks by 8:00am but it is hardly possible. The fact is that, try as they might the regulation cannot be fully observed because government has not been able to provide transportation for even a small number of its workers. Public transportation has been in a shambles.
Ask Logus who ordered for 100 buses with money that could have procured 200.
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT
There is a saying that goes ‘spare the rod and spoil the child.’ There are petty cases of corporal punishment in schools. There is a recent case of corporal punishment in a school at Campbell Town in which a teacher was alleged to be whipping pupils and blistering their back for not giving him money which he has tasked them. And there is a headmistress in that school. Are there Inspectors and Monitors in schools? What is happening to schools where fees are still demanded?
INCARNATE GHOSTS
The question of ghost workers and in particular ghost teachers is becoming a bugbear for government after government. When the APC came to power in 2007 the identification and elimination of ghost teachers was Dr. Minkailu Bah’s hobby horse. Each time he told the nation thousands of ghost had been forced to go back into their graves. Lo and behold at the end of their governance in 2019 we are still hearing of 9,000 ghost teachers which is esoteric.
It would appear that there is some incarnation going on. It seems that after collecting their salaries those ghost teachers disappear until the next month when they again undergo reincarnation. This is why ghost teachers will never end. There should always be a provision for them in the budget. Nobody should blame Dr. Minkailu Bah for not eliminating the ghost teachers. In any case government is now saving thousands of dollars or millions of leones by killing the ghosts which were left alive by the APC.
EDSA AGAIN
It is not good governance for an Agency to collect monies for meters for upwards of seven months without production. The grapevine tells City Peep that this lapse is due to awarding the contract for meters to a contractor who cannot perform thereby holding thousands of subscribers to ransom. CP thinks it wise to institute a Special Commission of Enquiry into the circumstances of disappointment of the public. Unconfirmed sources say the monies for the payment of meters have been misused for personal purposes. Over to the Director General of EDSA.
SEMINAR FOR NEW MPs
In September last year a seminar was held to tuition new MPs on what parliament is all about in order to strengthen good governance. That was done under the aegis of the British government. Now that ten members have been sworn in it is necessary to let them also attend a similar seminar. Otherwise they will be at sea while the rest of the Parliamentarians will be sailing in their own little boats.
The new MPs should make arrangements for a new seminar to be tutored by the defeated MPs and paid for by the new MPs. This will cut both ways. It will cushion the effects of the loss of income by the losing MPs and save the new ones from bewilderment and a consequent loss of their seats for want of knowledge to make meaningful contributions.
CHAIRMAN OF THIEVES
Our society has been corrupt in such a way that thieves are admired and adored. Even though citizens know that government officials get their incomes through crooked means they are admired. Is that not due to poverty so that they too can get part of the loot? They know the thieves whom they refer to as night carpenters because they earn money and assets even though they do not work during the day and their sources of income are unknown. This is why the post of Chairman of Thieves should be discouraged. Where is that Council registered?
Perhaps Peter Z. knows.