PRESIDENT BIO CALLS ON THE LOST SHEEP TO RETURN HOME (to SLPP)
Critical thinkers might have also excogitated that President Bio might have assured KKY with compensation of succeeding him come 2028 if he joins the SLPP
BY MOHAMED M. SESAY (LUCKY)
As the 2023-2024 electioneering fever wallows within the circumference of the nation, we will continue to witness the political transactions wherein, astronomical prizes are paid for the best players to join the team of the moment. This is a clear manifestation of the clarion call made by the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone who equally doubles as the Leader of the Sierra Leone Peoples’ Party President Julius Maada Bio, for Kandeh Yumkellah to return to his party of origin. As a way of fraternizing with the 2018 Presidential aspirant of the National Ground Coalition (NGC) Party, President Bio appealed to the hypothetical “lost sheep” KKY, that the SLPP is his rightful place.
Alluding to Hon. Kandeh Yumkellah as the “lost sheep” for the purpose of this article is premised on a parable in the bible that Jesus told his disciples when they were sitting under a tree. In Luke 15 of the Bible, tax collectors and sinners were all gatherings around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them”. Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home”?
Analogously to the above parable, President Bio might have realized that KKY is the “lost sheep” who will be very instrumental in his 2023-2024 political journeys. Thus, President Bio wants to ensure that one of his formidable opponents for the SLPP leadership prior to the 2018 election back home. It is obvious that the political superiority complex within the party, the return of KKY to the party will not give that glad tiding to many senior party members. Many would have that pre-conceived phobia that KKY will surely succeed President Bio upon his return. But President Bio has visualized the need for the return of KKY ahead of the 2023 general elections despite the sin he might have committed by establishing his own political party.
Unlike with the breakaway party formed by KKY sometime in 2017, the historicity of the Yumkellahs’ political sojourn is specifically and uniquely embedded in the Sierra Leone People’s Party. KKY’S father, the late paramount chief Alhaji Bai Shebora Yumkella II, was an ethnic Susu and a founding member of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP). Thus, President Bio and the SLPP consider his anticipated return to be in tandem with what his late father would have ever expected. Thus, the action of the former United National under Secretary-General y and now Member of Parliament to have established his own political party came under the condemnation of members of the Sierra Leone People’s Party. Despite no official or unofficial remarks from Hon. Kandem Kellah Yumkellah relating to his reunion with the SLPP, there is a colossal hope from the speculating public within the party for KKY to reunite with the SLPP and fight the common enemy (the APC).
Notwithstanding the instantaneous disclaimer from the Chairman of the National Ground Coalition Dr. Dennis Bright just after President Bio called on KKY to return to the SLPP, one can always expect the unexpected in politics. Dennis Bright’s refusal for KKY not to accept the clarion call from President Bio to rejoin the party could only be treated with a pinch of salt as this is not the first time political cross-over has happened in the country. If one is to play the devils’ advocate here, one would have advised KKY that there is no harm in discountenancing the disclaimer put forward by his Chairman of NGC if he means well of fulfilling his political dream of becoming president. It is lucid that no third Political Party will ever win an election in Sierra Leone other than the traditional APC and SLPP Parties. We have seen the rise and fall of emerging political parties including the People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) Party among others. New political parties have come and did well in the first phase of formation but later died a natural death. Therefore, KKY’s aspiration of becoming president could only be actualized from either of the two traditional parties.
Who knows maybe a round table discussion with both President Bio and Hon. Kandeh Yumkellah has been held on camera with the possibility of asking KKY to join the SLPP. Critical thinkers might have also excogitated that President Bio might have assured KKY with compensation of succeeding him come 2028 if he joins the SLPP ahead of the next general elections. Though these hypothetical speculations might sound irritable in the ears of other big guys in the party hoping to succeed President Bio. In a matter of fact, such people will never welcome the return of the lost sheep (KKY) as they consider him a sinner for forming a breakaway party.
Such political drama is not just limited to one political party as the APC has recently forgiven their own prodigal son Chief Sam Sumana. No one would have ever thought of the possibility of Chief Sam Sumana, the former Vice President of Sierra Leone who was disgracefully and unconstitutional ousted from his office. The disgruntled sacked former vice president took the matter to ECOWAS court and the court ruled in his favor. The ECOWAS court asked President Koroma’s Government to compensate Chief Sam Sumana with a sum of about twenty million dollars for his illegal dismissal which was fallen on deaf ears. Despite the cat and dog relationship which existed between Sam and former President Koroma, the APC saw the need to embrace their prodigal son and welcomed him back into the party.
I have the credo that there is no permanent enemy in politics as politicians strike deals with those who have the money and crowd. Recently, President Bio also appointed APC former Minister Alpha Kanu as Minister of North-West Region with cabinet ranking. Such appointment had mixed feelings as some perceived it to be in the spirit of national cohesion. Others dubbed it as a political stratagem because Alpha Kanu is better placed to give a huge vote to SLPP in the North-West Region. Another political analyst argued that the SLPP making friends with key members of the APC including the most unpredictable Sylvia Blyden is like making deal with the devil of the day. Be as it may, we can’t stop enjoying the political drama moving forward in the electioneering race. More political deals buying big players with an astronomical prizes will continue to unfold as the 2023-2024 general elections approach.
THE COURIER
