Members of the mainstream Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) remains sad and disappointed with the latest development in their party which was known for civility, education, development and respect for elders.
Five years down the line, the party has lost the values of love, respect and tolerance for which it won the admiration of Sierra Leoneans here and out of the country.
Dominated by young men and women with little experience, the party has moved from elitism to radicalism thus creating wonders for those who know the real SLPP; the SLPP of Sir Milton Margai who was known tolerance, gentility and traditional approach to political issues especially those that tough on other political parties.
Led by President Julius Maada Bio for close to six years now, SLPP has been labelled the worst party in light of the human rights abuses, killings, oppression and terror campaign it carried out in Sierra Leone beating everyone’s imagination.
Most SLPP members have been quite critical of Bio at the outset while others had been watching from a distance to see if rough edges would be smoothened in the near future.
After a long wait, the patience is wearing thin and traditional SLPP members are regrouping to take back SLPP from Maada Bio to save the party from shrinking deep in the mud.
The move to take SLPP from Bio and others has started with former ministers taking the lead. Reliable sources have intimated this press that former ministers, Jacob Jusu Saffa, Alie Kabba and others seem ready to rebrand their party after it has been badly dented by the Bio regime for several years.
Wonders about how a party of intellectuals would suddenly fall into the bloody hands of barbaric and ruthless politicians still linger, and strategies are being worked out to take back SLPP in years to come.
Jacob Jusu Saffa was Finance Minister before he appointed Chief Minister superintending other ministries.
He worked with President Bio throughout the five years, but was not called again in the second term, a move that raised a big cloud suspicion of a sinister with a fall out.
Like Saffa, Kabba was Bio’s campaign strategist and later made Minister of Foreign Affairs before he went to the US as Sierra Leone’s Ambassador.
The former minister also loyally served President Bio who he later fell out with, and the two do not appear to have been on speaking terms.
Key officials of Bio’s advisory team who were laid off have also re-grouped to sanitise SLPP when Bio is out.
According to sources, President Bio fell out with the advisory officers after he was advised to take the elections to a run off so that a victory could be accepted at the end of the process.
Other account holds that the officials, Saffa and others interfered with campaign funds, but such allegations are yet to be proved.
Others who have never held posts in governance wanted SLPP taken back from Bio and his men so that the party’s values once more could be restored.
A staunch SLPP member, Stephen Mambu also joining the move to take back SLPP saying “it was a party of respect for values of love, tolerance and respect for elders.”
Mambu recently jetted into Sierra Leone from the UK challenging the selection of President Bio candidate for the June, 2023 elections in a mini convention held in Bo city in December, 2021.
According to Mambu, the move is illegal as Bio was not supposed to surreptitiously elected; he must be chosen with the consent of those concerned so that he could become a legitimate leader of the party.
The convention, according to Mambu, was meant for the election of party officials and not flag-bearer. According to the party’s constitution in real terms, Bio was no longer qualified for another term as he ran for the flag-bearership in 2012 and 2018.
Prior to its manipulation, SLPP Constitution allowed only two terms and any attempt to exceed amounts to unconstitutionality.
Bio would have been a strong man if he had accepted to step down after he exhausted his chances of becoming the party’s flag-bearer.
His nomination by SLPP Chairman, Dr Prince Harding was not done without a purpose.
Harding’s murder case was an albatross around his neck and any move to damage Bio’s chances of becoming President would be met with severe consequences.
Before his election, Bio had already manipulated the constitution using former Attorney-General, Anthony Brewah as a tool to achieve his end.
Bio’s unconstitutional action did not stop only within his party but also extended to other parties especially the main opposition, All People’s Congress.
It was under Bio’s watch that 10 APC parliamentarins were arbitrarily removed in May, 2019, and the APC office in Freetown put under siege by trigger-happy police officers, a genesis of what would later become constant armed raids on the opposition office in Freetown.
Bio also monitored and masterminded the passage of “draconian legislations” in 2022 very close to the elections.
The public elections, the Political Parties Regulation and the proportional representation laws were all passed in the same year, 2022 to ensure that he retains power after the June, 2023 elections.
Bio hardened himself against the gentle promptings of his humanly nature and also rebuffed calls from the international community to ensure an environment of free, fair and general elections.
His undemocratic actions on the eve of the elections became topical at the ECOWAS (Economic Community Of West African States) parliament where his actions came under intense scrutiny.
In a widely circulated video, a Liberian member of parliament was blunt to say that a referee could not change rules at the middle of the game meaning that Bio has no right to amend or enact any law when it is just a year to election.
Despite such criticisms from local and international bodies, Bio pressed ahead with his radical reforms and enactment of new laws to have his way caring less about what the consequences would look like for himself and a party he vowed to protect.
The day of planning is different from the day of battle: it was on the election day that President Bio showed a plan whose foundation he had been building for years.
He was fraudulently declared winner of the elections and hurriedly sworn in the midst of heavy artillery and armour cars thus isolating himself from a world defined by democracy.
He has rebuffed all calls to allow the publication of genuine results and appears battle-tested and ready for what may come in the near future.
He does not hesitate drawing gaggers with the United States, the United Kingdom and EU as he is bent on pursuing his political goal by means of possible coercion he cares to employ.
His recent visit to the United States represented one of the most terrible disasters for the party as Bio made scathing allegation against US authorities on their own soil. Now, the US and world are going after the Bio regime and the direction to where the party is moving remains unknown.
But, Bio is sure to be on the wrong end as the wise men have gone back to their cocoons and enclaves to take shelter.
At the end, SLPP, a party of elites will lose its taste and appeal to the people of Sierra Leone if it remains under the control of young men while grey-haired men sit back.
Until, the Saffas, the Kabbas and the mambus take back their party, it would go for years before Sierra Leoneans talk about SLPP as wounds inflicted during Bio’s transient rule would remain open for years to come.