The Sleeping Waterloo Village
We are in dire need of external vigilance. How is it that 97 strange people can be living among indigenous citizens without those local people bringing their presence known to the local authorities or the police? That is what happened in the precincts of Waterloo village. There are even village heads established not only to settle disputes but also to seek the security of the people. A few people might have been overlooked but 97 are too much.
In such a situation it is reasonable to suspect complicity with the local people. Such travellers would not come empty handed. As a result they would bring along things to keep the poor people quiet who would rather get something to eat than gird their security.
So the reason for their acquiescence in the presence of what may endanger their lives is poverty. And corruption of our leaders since the APC came into governance in this our mineral and natural resource rich nation is to blame.
It is such corruption that cannot be substantially reduced in just a couple of years.
These are more than one hundred wards in the Western Area Rural District with councilors who should be culpable for such security lapses. Their tasks are even lighter than in the days before social media, incidentally if our civil war took place when cell phones were use in this country the war would not have escalated in the way it did.
Compatriots would have been alerted about their presence so that they could protect themselves. The bush telephone was not effective enough. Thus it was that before January 6 the Rebels had planted themselves at various strategic places within the community not in the manner of as assembling in one building as they did around Waterloo.
Readers would recall how one Johanana in the same Western Rural Area killed other citizens in the guise of curing them. The Western Rural Area is becoming notorious for unpatriotic activities incidentally.
The Boko Haram that has now become a menace in Nigeria started in an inconspicuous way until they are now almost everywhere wreaking havoc as they will. Al Qaida has also been menacing in the same way. They go into communities sometimes disguising themselves like law enforcement authorities. This is why there is a need to always ask unknown people for their identities. If in doubt refer them to the police or village heads or councilors.
Since the 97 suspect were nabbed nothing else has been made public about what is happening The police should be able to update us on progress with that matter. Were those people from one country? Did they come in a group or separately? What was their mission? What were they doing during their stay in that building? Who owns that building? These and other questions should be answered by the police and made public without delay.
The Right to access information (RAIC) may come in here. They should be pro-active, Waterloo should wake up!
District Development Co-ordination Committee
For too long, far too long development has been going on haywire. Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have been going their separate ways. We should welcome this reawakening as ‘better late as never MDAs should stop falling over one another.
Not only that. Donor agencies have also fallen in that trap as does MPs and Counselors. A system like the human system should have specific functions. As soon as there is over lapping there is waste of time and resources that we can ill afford.