An age-old notion that northerners have a say and a way in the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) has drastically held sway. The notion has been altered almost overnight by PAOPA government of President Julius Maada Bio in his last four years of state governance.
Many northerners who have found their way in the SLPP have badly regretted it for not being allowed to express their views or to offer advice to those who occupy positions of trust and authority within and outside SLPP.
Investigation conducted by this press show that for a view by a northerner to be accepted, it must be supported by south-easterners who appear to have formed the bulk of the party membership. A northerner who is a senior member of the party (name withheld for fear of reprisals) who appears to be the worst affected has told this press he is quite exhausted with the prevailing system in the party.
For him, he always longed to advise the holders of power to change for the better as elections approach saying Sierra Leone is one and we are all Sierra Leoneans.
“If things continue this way, we are sure of losing the elections, and that will be a big disgrace for the second oldest political party in the country,” he said.
He intimated this press that senior SLPP politicians do not like being advised as to the form which state governance must take. A great majority of Sierra Leoneans are currently fed up with the current governance system, and have insistently called for change saying in a democracy every view matters regardless of the status of the person who makes the view.
It is always quite difficult for people to remain in a political party in which their voices should not be heard. The argument holds that even notorious dictators in the world allow their party members to have not only a say but a way in their political parties. Men of high experience in political parties should be given a good platform for their views to be heard. They believe that it is only when varied views are listened to in every issue that the truth and real direction emerges. The general feeling about the discrimination of northerners in the SLPP owes it to their small population in the party.
The argument has always been that democracy is about numbers and that the voice of man with the highest population matters more than those with the small number. This is the exact situation northerners face in the SLPP, a party they have always claimed that it belongs to them.
Despite the pieces of advice senior northern politicians offer to the party, the appalling governance situation does not change; it continues unabated, and it is sure to carry on towards the elections date in 2023. It is a situation that has lent credence to claims that northerners are not valuable assets in the party of their forefathers.
It is clear that the party could be deprived of quality men to occupy positions of trust and responsibility in state governance if such system is allowed to gain a foothold in the party. It was a situation that took place exactly in the run up to the 2018 elections. Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella would have been a better candidate for the SLPP in 2017 convention owing to the rich experience during his service to the United Nations.
It was also clear that Yumkella himself misread the situation as he hoped that what happened in 1996 would be repeated in 2017.
In 1996, south-easterners unanimously opted for Ahmed Tejan Kabba of blessed memories, a man who served the United Nations for years to become President of Sierra Leone. The situations were different: Kabba had affiliations with south-east as his birthplace while every aspect of Yumkella was northern and they would not let him rule.
Yumkella was the Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation for a good number of years, and hopes that the country would have benefitted from his ideas were high.
But, considerations of tribe and regionalism made the party to put him aside. SLPP headquaters was a no-go area for the northern flag-bearer aspirant as south-eastern members of SLPP have thrown their lot for President Maada Bio as a result of tribal sentiments. The tortures and abuses Yumkella endured was just too huge to describe, and he left the party after it was clear that he did not enjoy the support of the greatest number of rank and file of the party.
To console himself, Yumkella formed his own party, the National Grand Coalition, the fourth force in parliament with four parliamentary seats. Yumkella himself is a member of parliament known for his unreserved criticism for the Bio administration. Almost two weeks, President Bio who is foreseeing an election defeat, reportedly met Yumkella for a running mate deal as he intended to drop his deputy, Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh.
The former SLPP flag-bearer aspirant turned down a request knowing well that SLPP would not win the coming elections because of maladministration.
The claims of Bio meeting Yumkella for the running mate was however refuted by the SLPP secretary-general, Umaro Napoleon Koroma saying SLPP would win 2023 elections without bringing in Yumkella.
The unfair treatment of the former SLPP Chairman, Chief Somano Kapen was also another strong evidence of how northerners could be relegated to the dustbin when they fail to dance to the tune dictated by south-easterners. Somano Kapen, once a paramount chief at Mambolo Chiefdom in the northern district of Kambia risked it all when he resigned his post to become an SLPP member.
He rose through the ranks before he became chairman and leader of the party in 2012. In his tenure, he led the party through turbulent times to win the elections in 2018. Very close to the elections, signs of the removal of Chief Kapen were clear like crystals owing to widespread allegations that he backed up Yumkella, Bio’s main rival to the flag-bearership and presidency.
It was clear that the allegations had no basis, but were crafted to see Kapen’s back from SLPP, a party for which he has taken one of the greatest risks. SLPP was in no mood to accept any presidential candidate from the north saying Bio was the candidate for the moment.
The south-easterners at that time were resolved that their tribesman, president Bio would be the next President of Sierra Leone in 2018 at all cost. To achieve such aim, the SLPP grassroot were brainwashed into accepting and using thuggery and violence to keep off other candidates from the race for the presidency.
The ex-SLPP chairman was locked up in his motor vehicle for close to an hour before he was disgracefully driven out of Kenema. Calls on President Bio to call back the former Chairman fell on deaf ears.
The President knows that he has nothing to lose with Kapen going out of the party. Kapen who is reportedly sick is said to have switched over to APC although age is no longer on his side.
How long would the northern giant have to wait to take back control of his destiny. The unfair treatment of northern SLPP politicians is seen in the low cadre ministerial posts offered them since SLPP government came to power.
No SLPP northerner could be found in Class-A ministries as minister such as Ministries of Finance, Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Defence, Justice and Internal Affairs among others.
They are also not made ministers in such ministries as education, health, Lands and the list continues.
SLPP members of northern backgrounds are made ministers of youth affairs as well as sports so that they can play since they are children. These ministries are two of the least ministries in any government anywhere in the world. Since tribal consideration is used as a criterion for ministerial positions, it is clear that SLPP government has failed the people of Sierra Leone in terms of service delivery.
The struggle for water, food, health and other public services is still visible within and outside the nation’s capital, Freetown. The history that SLPP was formed by prominent northern chiefs is never alive; such history has been deleted from the annals owing to SLPP’s continued discrimination of the northern members of the party.
As the discrimination persists, some northerners who wanted to come have dropped those intentions, and those who are already in the party are standing at the exit door.