Founder and leader of National Grand Coalition (NGC), Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella is slowly returning home to his old root as the chicken goes to roost.
Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) is Yumkella’s old root despite the humiliation he suffered there in 2018.
President Bio’s penetration in APC (All People’s Congress)’s traditional strongholds continues as Yumkella’s backing of SLPP grows deep at every passing day.
Although the NGC leader’s political support for his old party is shrouded either in hypocrisy or diplomacy, Yumkella’s political leaning is now visible. The action is never too strange; it is a reversion and not a conversion as he has been there.
Although arguable, records have shown that the man from Kambia is an age-old SLPP politician. He retained his membership even when he was serving the United Nations as Director-General, of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation.
Sierra Leone’s political history shows that SLPP is a brainchild of prominent men in the northern district of Kambia.
NGC has four parliamentary seats which the party acquired in the 2018 general elections.
The party came into existence in 2017 when its founder, Yumkella was denied the chance of getting SLPP’s flag. The party made significant impact not only in Kambia, its known stronghold, but also other parts of the country.
It got four seats in its stronghold, and got large votes in almost every part of the country. SLPP is ready to buy those votes. The NGC leader who has been quite critical of government policies has ceased criticism lately.
He now mobilises the youth and people of Sierra Leone to support government achieve its objectives. He wears the cloak of, Denis M’cquail, a development media theorist.
The Kambia politician publicly declared that he supports national development and nothing else. He hopes that his kinsmen and the men he grew up with in Kambia would support him although Yumkella’s popularity in his hometown is now at an all-time low.
Barely two weeks ago, the Youth in Kambia told this press that that they would go APC this time since their son has disappointed them. They are ready to teach Yumkella a big lesson in the 2023 polls. SLPP’s move to reach Yumkella, political commentators say, is timely as the elections fastly approach.
The party is aware that it would not be an easy pushover for a victory in the forthcoming elections as coming events have already cast their shadows.
A great majority of Sierra Leoneans are fed up with Bio’s leadership and call for change. NGC is one of the strongest members in the Consortium Of Progressive Political Parties (COPP), an offshoot of APPA (All Political Parties Association), a body which before this time was the umbrella body of all political parties in Sierra Leone.
COPP came to an existence owing to an alleged compromise with the party in power. The maxim that says an opposition should not go to bed with a ruling party is very much relevant here.
COPP’s overarching objective is to check government’s excesses through relentless criticism.
NGC was stood solidly with COPP in its opposition to the Mid-Term Census, removal of political parties from councils and the cyber security bill. These proposed laws are never in the country’s interest. It is a move to have a political advantage for SLPP. NGC is also known for its unreserved criticism for Bio’s administration at the initial stage.
He was bitterly critical of government when opposition parliamentarians were physically assaulted by armed policemen on government orders.
He also opposed government when it forcefully took away 10 APC parliamentary seats. Yumkella, on several occasions, has tagged Bio’s administration as a “Junta Government.” The phrase is packed with meaning. APC (All People’s Congress) which was the main opposition was silenced through harassment and intimidation of its key politicians. The party which was in governance for 11 years had an albatross around its neck owing to the formation of the commissions of inquiry although illegal.
Party officials could be hounded at any time it pleases government. Many of APC’s key politicians were arrested and detained on false claims. The fear factor initially restrained APC from active criticism. In the absence of critical voice, Yumkella, no doubt, became the voice of the voiceless. Sierra Leoneans especially members of opposition parties looked upon Yumkella as the man to lean on.
They hope to see a responsible and accountable leadership of SLPP government through Yumkella’s criticism. The hope however evaporated through the NGC leader’s recent utterances that signify support for a party whose excesses he must checkmate.
Wonders continue to rise about how the NGC leader could so quickly fall in for a party he has been criticising all along. Many say the lure of politics might have swayed the NGC leader from the right objective. Yumkella has however put up a strong defence. He said he would government for the development of Sierra Leone.
To him, President Bio is a development-oriented President that must be supported. It is only now that the President is development-oriented.
The justification provided by Yumkella, to many Sierra Leoneans, is not water-tight. Bio ought to have demonstrated his development strides from the outset. When one looks back at SLPP’s crude and brute politics towards the NGC leader, they also wonder why Yumkella could quickly go in for SLPP. The recent past still keeps alive the contemptuous treatment to which Yumkella was subjected when he was running the race for the flag-bearership with President Julius Maada Bio.
Thugs who had imbibed the ‘PAOPA’ ideology rendered SLPP headquaters in Freetown a no-go zone for Yumkella and his supporters. The thugs would not hesitate to slam doors on Yumkella at any time he ventured to the party office. As if that was not enough, SLPP also employed insulting tactics on the NGC leader just to keep him off from the doors of the party office.
The harassment and intimidation became unbearable so much that Yumkella had cause to seek another option, and that option was to have his own party. Many veteran politicians have intimated this press that Yumkella missed big time in his calculation and estimation of Sierra Leone’s politics at that time.
The NGC leader thought that what happened to Tejan Kabba of blessed memories could happen to him again. Tejan Kabba who served the UN for many years was made President of Sierra Leone between 1996 and 2007 because Sierra Leone wanted an end to a devastating war. Kabba, whose capacity to bring peace to Sierra Leone, was never in doubt when he was entrusted with the country’s leadership. He lived up to expectation as the war ended in 2002 in his first term.
Considering the scenario above, Yumkella hoped to enjoy the same largesse since he too served the UN, but the two situations were never the same. At the time Yumkella arrives, Sierra Leone is peaceful although she badly needs development. Bio’s name is a household one in Sierra Leone. He earned the popularity for consolidating democracy at a time when it was needed most. The transition of power from military to civilian rule made earned Bio fame that is beyond Yumkella.
In such a situation, Yumkella was never a match to Bio within SLPP in terms of political weight. Although Yumkella was quite unsuccessful in the bid to run with Bio as flag-bearer, he however ran with him in the presidential race. He did not win the presidency, but win seats that took his party to parliament. Time for the elections is getting just too short for SLPP Government which many Sierra Leoneans believe has not done much in meeting the people’s expectations although government says it has delivered on its manifesto commitments.
A senior civil servant has told this press that government officials should not be the ones to blow their trumpet had they truly delivered on their promises. The people of Sierra Leone would evaluate and put the evidence to them. The party will be evaluated on governance indicators.
A weak government is never at ease within itself. It must meet key political stakeholders for aid in a run-off. SLPP has started the campaign now since early bird catches the worm. The party is sure to attain such level with Yumkella’s support despite the bashing and lashing.