By: Mohamed Jalloh
It is always said that Kono district is the jigsaw as far as political puzzle in Sierra Leone is concern.
Any party that overwhelmingly secures the votes of Kono is assured of elections victory.
Take Chief Samsumana out of the picture, the second political heavy weight in Kono at the moment is Diana Konomanyi –the former minister of Lands in the APC Koroma led government. The two above mentioned stalwarts can boast of mass grass root appeal more than another politician in the APC party.
But recently Diana Konomanyi is been alienated in the party after she buried the hatchet with her brother Chief Samsumana.
As things stands in Kono, the APC has succeeded in shooting itself on the foot in the diamondiferous district as Sierra Leone approaches the June 24 polls.
The APC flagbearer Dr Samura Kamara has branded Kono as unimportant in Sierra Leone politics and the two most prominent Konotonians in the person of Chief Samsumana and Diana Konomanyi are being ostracized by the party hierarchy.
The current APC executive even failed to invite the two at the launch of the party’s` manifesto “dubbed one nation”.
At the consolation gathering after the house of Diana Konomanyi was torched by a supposedly hired APC thugs, Chief Samsuma expressed resentment for the marginalization meted on him and Diana Konomanyi by their APC party.
In what he described as a blatant disrespect, Samsumana took umbrage at the party for failing to invite them at the launch of the party`s manifesto, but went on to maintain that he is ready to serve the party whenever he is called upon.
An APC stalwart without mincing his words, out rightly said that Diana Konomanyi is irrelevant in the APC party and Samsumana was also left in political tenterhooks due to the party`s 5 years membership clause deliberately inserted to keep him at bay. This came about, after he previously deserted the APC party in 2018 and founded the Coalition For Change party (C4C).
As for Diana Konomanyi, her relevance was immediately felt by the party after she decided to take the back seat in the ongoing electioneering process and refrain from involving herself in the political activities and campaign event of the APC party.
Her decision to lean back angered the APC party machinery because they know the political capital she brings to the party, notwithstanding the fact that they have earlier on trivialized her political importance.
The APC is generally renowned for its strategies and tactics to intimidate,subjugate and sometimes eliminate political opponents within and without.
It can adopt black mail, false alarm, propaganda and sometimes naked violence to achieving political ends. The strategy they choose depends on the prevailing dictating circumstances.
It could be asserted without any fear of contradiction, that the burning down of the house of Diana Konomanyi at No.20 Komba Ngenga Street in Koidu city Kono district is nothing but the perpetrations of evil machinations by the APC.
With intoxicative substances and a little token, party Marshalls can be manipulated by desperate politicians to commit heinous acts of human rights abuses.
Indications are clear that there intention was to burn Diana Konomanyi inside her house but due to lack of accurate intelligence, the APC thugs failed to adequately surveillance her movement from Freetown to Kono.
The traditional party in Kono Coalition for Change (C4C) would not be participating in the June 24th polls due to intra party legal and constitutional wranglings.
The incumbent Sierra Leone People`s Party (SLPP) is eating into the membership fabric of the C4C as witnessed by the defection of the popular youthful politician Emmerson Sahr Lamina to the SLPP.
Talking about the strength of the APC in Kono it is waning instead of consolidating its 2007 gains, a situation that will eventually pave the way for an SLPP victory in Kono in the June 24th polls.
