Opinion
By Tony Bee, Sydney, Australia.
As the saying goes, we live to learn and we learn to live.
Therefore, we always learn from past and present events, be they good or bad. In view of that, some schools of thought normally say experience is the best teacher. And according to the old adage, "trouble has no horns, it comes at the least expectation."
The famous Nigerian writer, the late Ola Rotimi, wrote a play titled The Gods Are Not to Blame in which you can find the proverb " when the frog in front falls in a pit, others behind take caution." This means that the new cabinet Ministers should learn from the past mistakes of their predecessors so that they will not fall victim like their brothers and sisters who preceded them.
They, the new Ministers, should not think or say that their predecessors were fools, intolerant and impatient or that they were too emotional. Or say that their predecessors found it difficult to control their emotions when trials and temptation came their way; that it was the reason or reasons why they (predecessors) found themselves in such a regrettable situation.
I would like them to remember one of the proverbs above that says "trouble has no horns, it comes at the least expectation." This simply means a problem will not inform you that it is coming your way, it will come when you don’t expect it. Sometimes the small things you neglect will bring you serious trouble. From small things come big things. Never neglect any issue.
So let the new guys don’t think or say that they are wiser or cleverer and more careful than their predecessors or that they will not become victims of circumstance. No man or woman is perfect in this world, regardless of how well educated one may be.
Therefore, I would like them to know that there are two main forces in the world that always influence human beings. They are seen and unseen forces. These two forces are always at work day in and day out to either make or break man down, especially a man or woman that relies only on his or her own knowledge and ability.
However, I would like to attribute the seen forces to human beings and the unseen to the devil, Satan, or juju (black magic), or as we call them in psychology or counselling, negative thoughts.
The seen forces are sometimes more dangerous than the unseen. They fact is, the seen forces are people with whom we work together, eat together, drink together, chat together, go for lunch together, pray together, dance together, laugh together and so on. These are human beings that you should treat with caution. The truth is they can easily make or break you in your offices. Therefore, I am going to concentrate on them because unseen forces can sometimes be easily handled because some of them are powerless or fake.
In view of that whether they will agree with me or not I would like to tell you that many of these office colleagues are responsible for the downfall of your predecessors although they (predecessors) too have their own weaknesses as human beings.
According to my radar all the way from Australia, your predecessors were fired not because they are not hard working or capable of handling the responsibilities of their positions; it was because of the double standards and the saboteurs that they have been working with in their Ministries that pushed them to disaster.
If I may give only one example, the incident that took place at the Ministry of Social Welfare between the two patriotic hard working Ministers, Moijue Kaikai and his deputy Attila, I would like to say that they really allowed corrupt enemies of peace, progress and development in the country, particularly in their Ministry, to go between them and lead them to disaster.
The corrupt enemies of progress and development in their Ministry saw that if they allow the two Ministers to work together as a formidable team to improve the status of the Ministry and the country, especially in terms of curbing the chronic corrupt practices that are going on in that Ministry, they would put sansan (sand) in their garrie; in other words the two Ministers would have stopped the corrupt individuals in the Ministry from carrying out their unpatriotic corrupt practices.
So the corrupt mafiosi in the Ministry went between the two Ministers and successfully divided them to conquer and remove them. This happens in all Government offices, not just Ministries in Sierra Leone. Don’t allow people to influence you with negative thoughts and feelings, don’t encourage gossip or allow people to come between you and your deputy or junior officers or officials.
Some of the Mafiosi pretended to be in favour of the Minister while the others were for Deputy Minister Attila. They kept on transmitting very negative gossip between the two unsuspecting men so much that they (Ministers) could no longer sit and plan together, particularly on how to stop corruption in the Ministry. They finally hated each other.
To illustrate or justify what I am saying, just a few weeks after the two Ministers were dismissed by President Koroma, allegations of corrupt activities surfaced in the Ministry about the urgent signing of some contracts and documents by some people in order to enrich themselves before the new Ministers would take their new seats in the Ministry. Such allegations are yet to be proved by the authorities concerned although the evidence is palpable.
Generally speaking, whether one likes it or not Sierra Leoneans are too lawless and indisciplined, particularly the corrupt enemies of peace, progress and development in the country (Mafiosi or Ayampis)
In view of that they hate to see any honest and sincere hard working patriotic fellow Sierra Leonean that may want to discipline them. They will go all out to pull him down (Phd); the hard working patriotic and honest individual Sierra Leonean would then be very much frustrated and demoralised. These unpatriotic and un-nationalistic wicked individuals are also found in our small local communities in the foreign countries that we live.
I read former Deputy Minister Attila’s letter of complaint with keen interest and proper analysis, where he catalogued many things that he alleged to have been taking place between him and his boss to the APC Secretary General, Ambassador Yansaneh. According to my radar, I came to the conclusion that there were invisible hands in their issue.
When I also listened to the audio clip of that satanic historic day in their lives, I asked myself questions, such as why the two APC family members had been harbouring bitterness against each other for so long without settling such bitterness between them in a family way?
Was it because they failed to realise that those who have been making "nice nice" or acting very friendly towards them were the "kerr go bring cam" or gossipers, the most dangerous green and black snakes in their midst?
Some of the most problematic Ministries in the country with corrupt activities that any hardworking, honest and sincere patriotic Sierra Leonean should be very alert about when heading any of them as a Minister include, Education with its ghost teachers, corrupt lecturers, corrupt professors, corrupt college/university administrators and the marriage between that Ministry’s accounting system and the treasury in terms of fake or ghost teachers and fake voucher documentation. That Ministry is a huge cesspool of corruption and sometimes the Minister and his deputies do not even know what’s going on, right under their feet or in front of their eyes.
Next is the Ministry of Lands, where corruption is everywhere. Senor civil servants and surveyors in that Ministry are always being accused of blatant corruption but never taken to court because they have helped most of the Big Men in the country to get land free of charge.
They also have the unpatriotic wicked habit of selling one piece of land to more than one person. Corruption also sits proudly at the Ministries of Works, Agriculture, Health, Social Welfare, Youth and Sports, Fisheries and so on. Everywhere.
So as new Ministers if you really want to bring sanity into those Ministries by trying to stamp out their chronic corrupt practices including the preparation of fake travelling allowances, the inserting of fake names in foreign official travelling lists, you have to prepare yourself very well.
It is an open secret that you are surely going to meet strong resistance from those enemies of peace, progress and development (Mafiosi) that do not want to see positive changes in the country because of their self-seeking corrupt activities, political, regional, unpatriotic and selfish interests. They will completely see you as great enemies that come to stop them from enriching themselves at the expense of the nation.
Please if you think I am telling tales, ask the no-nonsense Minster of Education, Dr. Minkailu Bah, for what he is presently facing in his Ministry, especially with his war against ghost teachers, lecturers and professors, Alimamy P. Koroma, former Minister of Works, Musa Tarawali former Minister of Lands, Moijue Kaikai and his deputy Mustapha Bai Attila at the Social Welfare Ministry, Paul Kamara, former Minister of Youth and Sports etc. They and their former deputies will tell you more about their bitter experiences in their former Ministries.
So please beware of some of your senior administrators, technicians and professionals in your Ministries. Also, beware of some university lecturers, professors, school head teachers, school principals, mayors and councillors. Some of them are great saboteurs and enemies of peace, progress and development. They hate progress and development.
They will show their white teeth to you but their hearts are black for you (white teeth, black heart); watch them. However, I am not saying that you should not work with them or consult them but you have to watch them carefully and pray to God for protection and salvation.
Seen forces are more dangerous than unseen forces.
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