By: Dr. John Mannah, USA.
It was heartwarming to listen to President Dr. Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone make an appeal to Dr. Yumkella during a visit to four chiefdoms in the Kambia district and asked him to return to his ancestral home and political party, the Sierra Leone Peoples Party. The program was emotional for me because President Bio displayed one of the fundamental characteristics of great presidents, a character trait that speaks to humility; respect for the office of the presidency, and by inference the people of Sierra Leone, the SLPP and the person of Dr. Kandeh Yumkella.
It is among the qualities that Americans and for that matter all serious-minded citizens love about their presidents, display of confidence, competence, and the ability to use moral suasion to make decisions to consolidate the peace, improve democracy and the lives of the people in the country. It is why I love this great country called the United States, because among the factors that have made the country successful, is their form of government and the role it plays in their lives. The American people expect their leaders to use government as an instrument to promote national welfare and therefore the reason for the trust and confidence they repose in their presidents, and in return they expect their presidents to use their power to improve and better the lives of all their people. What better way to use the power of the presidency than to honor the son of the soil of the district you are visiting – the Kambia district and their beloved and hardworking son Dr. Kandeh Yumkellah. It is why American presidents are expected to perform the role of comforter in chief in moments of distress and uncertainty. American presidents who have failed to use the moral compass of the presidency have not been successful and were not re-elected to office.
It is invariably why it was evidently appealing to watch President Bio use the power of the presidency not to show off and boast of his achievements in governance, but to humbly ask a former fierce competitor and leader of an opposition political party to return to his former political party and contribute towards the developmental strides he is carrying out across the country. I call President Bio the reformer because he is the first president of the republic of Sierra Leone to have carried out transformational reforms that is strategic and enduring to improve the lives of ordinary people. I am talking about the removal of the death penalty for crimes against the state. The removal of the medieval and archaic antiquated Media law that had been on the books for the last forty years, not to talk about reforms in schools and universities. For example, the introduction of the Free Quality Education program and the removal of the presidency from continuing as Chancellor of University of Sierra Leone, as well as reforms in the financial, economic, and social welfare and economic sectors of the nation. It is these reforms that have encouraged some of us who supported Dr. Kandeh Yumkellah in the 2018 electoral cycle to return to the SLPP and Dr. Yumkellah’s return will help the SLPP make more strides towards a better Sierra Leone.
Moreover, the reforms and transformation of government and the economy have further consolidated the support of bilateral and multilateral organizations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Union among others to do so much in terms of budget and other monetary and financial support for the Bio government now in the billions of dollars, Euros and Pounds. These funds are to support President Bio’s belief in democracy, equitable distribution of economic resources and a knowledge-based economy, where market forces determine prices in the labor market and financial markets. It is why a bank such as the Sierra Leone Commercial bank is doing well under the Bio government whereas under the erstwhile opposition APC government, bureaucrats determined who got loans from the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank and records showed that it was mostly APC politicians who got loans using their political connections, without repaying them, thereby leaving 80 percent of the bank’s loan portfolio unpaid, sending the bank into near bankruptcy.
Given the above analysis, the question then becomes, which political party among the two leading political parties in Sierra Leone most aligns with the pragmatic, knowhow, and political philosophy of Dr. Kandeh Yumkellah if his goal and purpose in politics is to win the confidence of the people and be elected president of Sierra Leone in 2028?
The answer to the question above is certainly the SLPP because empirical evidence has shown that the SLPP has a history of electing citizens with non-southeastern heritage to the presidency. Former President Tejan Kabbah is a testament to this claim. On the contrary, the record in the APC is the opposite. In fact, anyone without Northern heritage and more particularly, Limba or Loko heritage who dreams of becoming presidential candidate of the APC will be chased out of the party at all costs. Chief Sam Sumana and Victor Foh and the treatment meted out to them when they desired to run for president under the APC political party in the 2018 political cycle are cases in point.
One can, therefore, argue that with the talent, charisma, and potential of Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkellah, his best chance of becoming president of our beloved country in 2028 is with the SLPP and he must make a wise decision now and accept the olive branch extended to him by Dr. President Maada Bio and return to the SLPP. He should not miss this golden opportunity.
