By Ralph Sesay
The Leader of the National Grand Coalition in Parliament, Hon Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella, has thrilled his colleague MPs on Friday while making his contribution on the ‘’Thank You Motion’’ tabled before the House for debate.
The Hon MP, from Constituency 062 in Samu chiefdom, Kambia District, told the House that he is joining his colleagues in thanking the President for what he referred to as a detailed, clear and ambitious vision for the development of the country.
He told MPs that the President has displayed some sense of urgency in the plan, noting the huge number of challenges he faces upon his assumption of office.
Kandeh Yumkella drew the attention of his colleagues to several indicators cited by the President from a number of global multi-lateral institutions on the Sustainable Development Goals, to the African Youth Agenda to show how low we have performed as a country towards meeting these goals in the last two decades.
The MP diplomat stated that he had cited the last ten years in his address not because of what happened in the last two decades but because some of the problems in the country are structural and have bedeviled this country for the past two decades.
Hon Kandeh Yumkella told MPs that 85% of them currently in the House of Parliament are new and that because of this, they have not been around for the past thirty years. This makes them not culpable for all the laws and legislations that have been passed in the House. This is why, according to him, they should not be obligated to defend what is wrong while urging them not to be too partisan as it is about their future as young people.
“If we, in this House, begin to condone the bad practices of the past, not to implement the proper laws, we are rushed to approve agreements in this House and we do not perform our oversight responsibilities, we will be equally responsible, “ the NGC Leader urged the House.
He disclosed that while he supports and commends President Bio for his New Direction he would also noted that the President cannot do it alone. “He needs us to deliver,’’ Hon Yumkella said.
On this note he quoted Nelson Mandela:
“Poverty is not an accident but, like slavery and apartheid, it is man made and can be removed by the actions of human beings. But no single person can liberate a country. You can only liberate a country if you act as a collective force.”
The NGC Leader also took time to inform MPs that they, at the NGC, after having carefully studied the President’s Speech, have developed a blueprint, putting forward a number of recommendations which they would present to President Maada Bio to help him succeed in his New Direction.
Hon Kandeh Yumkella concluded by proffering plausible recommendations on Agriculture, Education, Corruption, Energy and other areas mentioned in the President’s speech.
Many Sierra Leoneans, who listened to the speech of the NGC leader, described it as very nationalistic and devoid of the usual partisan approach that has characterized the debate in the last four days, with ruling party MPs praising the President speech and lampooning Ernest Koroma for having performed badly in all the sectors, while the APC MPs were steadily extolling former President Koroma for having laid a solid foundation which the current President should build on.