Sierra Leone’s opposition SLPP party sinks into oblivion as massive defection sees ruling APC party gain momentum

Julius Maada Bio - The innocent face of a mass murderer

The opposition SLPP party in Sierra Leone has become the new symbol of hopelessness and disunity as huge amount of its followers and top executives defect to the ruling party in an apparent showcase of disgust over the recent selection of a mass murderer, Julius Maada Bio, as flag-bearer of the party in the upcoming presidential elections in 2012. The party hierarchy is in complete turmoil as regional and national executive members hand in their resignation, a move that has necessitated a massive  exodus to the ruling party by grassroots SLPP members. The SLPP has now been reduced to a pathetic arrangement of those whose ignorance continue to lead them to the abyss of destruction. The writing has long been on the wall, as stalwarts traded the hard-earned reputation of a party that is the oldest political entity in the country, for a few hundred dollars, to vote for a man with the innocent blood of distinguished Sierra Leoneans, who were murdered in cold blood for no apparent reasons.

The demise of the SLPP comes as no surprise to many who have witnessed the mayhem that has engulfed this party since the assumption of the chairmanship by John Oponjo Benjamin. Oponjo has no palatable political record. Nothing one would write home about. He was the mastermind of a coup detat that saw a legitimate government overthrown by a reckless bandit of hooligans calling themselves soldiers, who took power by force and turned the streets of Freetown into a satanic playground with a booze and jeep culture that saw the coffers of our country vandalised and our economy grounded to a halt. Benjamin was Finance Minister and probably the oldest in the cabinet at the time. For Benjamin to subject himself to such degradation where he had to be answerable to a 25-year-old soldier, only exposes a desperation to taste the trappings of power and all that came with it. Benjamin was not only the mastermind of the coup, he was also the mastermind of the looting of the country’s vault as millions of dollars was siphoned-off into secret bank accounts across the world. Wealth that was meant for the welfare of our people, was shared by a group of scoundrels who strongly believed that their assumption to power ultimately entitled them to our country’s resources.

When members of a political party, top executives who have been at the heart of decision-making, working hard to get that party elected and privy to the machinations and  deliberations at the center of administration, suddenly decide to walk away from their years of hard-work and input, prepared to give it all up and not look back, you know something is fundamentally wrong. The SLPP is guilty of institutional ignorance, something that has plagued its leadership as it lost its sense of discernment in how to run Sierra Leone’s oldest political club. What the world is witnessing is the failure of a few dismantling the faith of many. It is also the greed of a few imposed against the will of many. The SLPP is slowly becoming the political history of today. The founding fathers of this once credible union will be turning in their graves as they face the most disgraceful defeat at the polls ever endured by any party in the history of politics in Sierra Leone.

Lansana Fadika declares for the APC

Lansana Fadika, a political maestro and onetime Western Region Chairman of the opposition (SLPP), has been the latest defection that has hit the party’s hierarchy. On declaring for the ruling APC party, he said that he will ensure that he exposes all the devious plans that the now defunct SLPP has made to disrupt the upcoming general elections. Fadika launched a scathing attack on the SLPP, calling them ungrateful and reckless. Fadika’s move to the APC is a serious blow for the SLPP not least because he was the brains behind the one million man match in the Western Area during the 2007 general elections, but because of the following he musters, and the political will he carries. The Fadika family is a prominent one in the country, and well respected, and have contributed immensely towards community development and nation building.

Kanji Daramy, the former spokesman for ex-President Tejan-Kabbah has decided to turn his back on the SLPP, and is now a full member of the APC party. Despite the fact that Kanji served a president who himself was a convicted criminal after being selected through a flawed process that ignored his record as a corrupt civil servant, he was a committed party member, who had hopes that the party will change its direction and choose a credible candidate for president. He witnessed the rumblings, the infighting, the bribes, the character assassinations, and the desperation for power by his comrades. But Kanji was also witnessing a dramatic transformation of his country from a poverty-stricken environment to one that has seen amazing infrastructural change under the APC government. Kanji was not prepared to see his country go down the drain once more, he made the right choice, he is now a full member of the APC. And others have followed him, and many are about to take his steps into changing politics for good in our country.

Some of those who were blind and can now see include: Honourable Mohamed Alie Jalloh, former SLPP National Vice Chairman & Leader (2010-2011);  the former SLPP Koinadugu District Organising Secretary Mohamed Wusu Kamara, who defected two weeks ago; Honourable Nyamakoro Sesay, a former SLPP Parliamentarian (2002-2007);  Madam Fatu Faal, an SLPP Constituency Women’s Leader, and the list continues. It now behoves the party hierarchy to demonstrate true leadership and call for a new election and allow the people’s will to prevail, as the massive amount of defections is a clear vote of no-confidence as they reject outright the selection of the disgraceful, corrupt and human rights abuser, Julius Maada Bio.

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