The people of Kenema would have now been enjoying the opportunity of viewing public television programmes located at strategic points across the city, had it not been for the selfish behavior of some of their own sons of the soil.
Some time last year, in consonance with the present government’s policy of making information available to every Sierra Leonean, the government deemed it necessary for every provincial headquarter town to be given public information gadgets like giant TV sets that could let them be abreast with pertinent information as regards the day-to-day running of the state.
To make this a reality Sierra Leone government put aside a huge sum of money that was doled out to the Ministry of Information and Communication to purchase millions of Leone’s worth of colored TV sets to be distributed to every district for the general use of the people.
Since the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service is the government’s own communication system that is found in almost every district in Sierra Leone, the then Director General of SLBS, Dr. Alusine Sesay was given the responsibility to ensure that every district got the television sets.
Those sets were to be given to the respective station managers at the various SLBS radio stations for erection at strategic points within the district headquarter towns for the general good of the public, implying that the station Managers were to go down to the Freetown head office to receive the TV sets on behalf of their radio stations, backed by administrative instructions.
However, to facilitate this and to ensure that the TV sets really met the targeted beneficiaries in the provinces, the Director General shouldered the responsibility of physically taking the Television sets to the various SLBS stations in the provinces. Of course it was not wrong for the learned Doctor to perform that civic function as long as it was in the interest of the communities he had volunteered to serve.
The targeted towns included Bo, Kenema, Kailahun, Kono, and Makeni and wherever SLBS radio station is established in this country and like other districts, five TV sets were set aside for Kenema town.
But when the learned Doctor, (who himself hails from Kenema) took the sets to Bo he gave them their due (five TV sets) to the station Manager in Bo and took five to Kenema, hoping to do the same. At Kenema, however, instead of him handing over the consignment to the Station Manager as he had done in Bo, he single handedly distributed the sets.
He allegedly donated one set to the APC Regional Office at Hangha Road in Kenema, one to the office of the Paramount Chief of Nongowa Chiefdom, one to the Resident Minister East, and again gave the remaining two to the Resident Minister, either to be given to the Kenema City Council to be erected at strategic locations in the city, or you can guess.
But when, however, this Press contacted the Resident Minister for clarification on this issue he said that he was not in town when Dr. Sesay took the said consignment to Kenema. “I was in Kono when Dr. Sesay brought those TV sets and left only two with my security men who gave me the information on my return. I have satellite TV in my lodge, what more do I want to do with TV set?” he questioned.
But Kenema people want to know the whereabouts of the five TV sets that are meant for them.
Share this
Twitter
Myspace
Digg
Del.icio.us
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Googlize this
Blinklist
Wikio
Export PDF
Print