A Special Commentary
It appears there are elements left over from the disbanded and unbundled Sierra Leone Cable Limited (SALCAB) that are disgruntled and full of hatred because they no longer flaunt authority.
These elements are now going round trying to discredit and cast aspersion an a professional telecommunications management entity – Zoodlabs that had authorized by the government to take over the operations of the defunct SALCAB when it became apparent that, the latter’s management was incapable of managing its own tiny staff; talk less of being capable of managing the ever-growing huge telecommunications infrastructure being developed by the Ministry of Information and Communications in Sierra Leone.
It is unfortunate that while President Bio and his sober-minded ministers are busy making and executing plans to transform the country’s telecommunications infrastructure into international standards, there are those within the SLPP party structure who think they know better and are doing their worst to throw spanners into the works so as to make the country and its leadership look weak or bad.
What is normally taken as a small mishap in other countries is always blown out of proportion in Sierra Leone. This is due to the vested interests around the issue or issues being blown out of proportion. And this is precisely what is happening in the Zoodlabs issue wherein a local tabloid is saying that a number of its officials were arrested and are being investigated by police for allegedly violating Section 70 (1) of the Telecommunications Act 2006 as amended.
It is ironical and in fact preposterous that the Zoodlabs officials were allegedly arrested for “illegally deploying metro fibre after the company had been warned by the Commission not to engage in any illegal deployment of telecommunications services across the country.” This is according to a NATCOM spokesman quoted by the tabloid.
Preposterous because, Zoodlabs did not just fly into Sierra Leone by night to take over SALCAB! The introduction of Zoodlabs and its subsequent takeover of SALCAB was well-publicized. Its top managers met and spoke with the relevant minister and the technical and professional government officials in the Ministry and at NATCOM. Also, Zoodlabs officially presented their takeover plan to the Ministry of Information and Communications through the ministry’s Permanent Secretary back in August 2021.
Through Zoodlabs, laid-off senior and junior staff received their terminal benefits when Zoodlabs paid as much as two billion Leones to offset a liability that was not theirs in the first place. Most people can still recall the almost-violent protests staged by sacked SALCAB workers at the Ministry of Information and Communications at Youyi Building in Freetown before Zoodlabs stepped in to save the situation. So where is this idea of Zoodlabs officials acting illegally coming from?
For those Sierra Leoneans who do not have vested interests in the defunct SALCAB and are not disgruntled over losing their seats at SALCAB, they will of course give Zoodlabs their fullest support because after all, Sierra Leone is bigger than any chairman, director or what-have-you!
