President Julius Maada Bio is being deceived old politicians coming from different political parties to the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP). Defections to Bio’s side is the new tactic adopted by politician who are not sure of their parties fate in the ballot box. Defections have taken place in Kono district and other major towns where dozens of politicians have left their parties for SLPP with no one knowing what their real intentions are.
Former Vice President under the APC (All People’s Congress), Victor Bockarie Foh has gone over to the ruling SLPP few days ago. “President Bio has done exceedingly well; I am now SLPP,” Foh declared while addressing stakeholders in Kono district. The former Vice President is one one of the oldest and most senior member of APC.
His defection to SLPP stuns no one as everybody expects it. Foh has been with Bio since 2018. Almost invariably, Resident Minister Northwest and Presidential Spokesman, Alpha Kanu too has gone. He is the latest to declare for the governing party where he is currently serving as a minister of a cabinet rank.
He made his intention known during President Bio’s visit to PortLoko in Northern Sierra Leone. While making the declaration before a group of eminent SLPP politicians including President Bio, Kanu minced no word saying that he was tired of chewing crabs in secrecy, and it is now time to come out in the open.
It has been reported that the North-West Resident Minister has submitted his resignation letter to the leadership of the All People’s Congress (APC), the main opposition, a move that ends a spectrum of long speculation about whether Alpha Kanu would switch over to SLPP.
The minister’s move has raised debates hovering on his political career in years to come. While Kanu’s defection has stunned many Sierra Leoneans, other say it is not a surprise. Signs of Alpha Kanu’s defection to SLPP had crystlised for a long time.
For years, the North-West Minister has been dodging question about his possible move to SLPP, but he used to say if SLPP called him, he would readily answer the call. “I am always ready to support a hard working government.”
For Alpha Kanu, Bio’s government is the best especially for making Free Quality Education (FQE) project a reality. The FQE scheme is the most admirable for any government. Kanu made it clear during media interviews that he was one of the key sceptics when the FQE scheme was proclaimed by President Bio.
He wondered greatly about where President Bio would get the money to finance such financially demanding project. He was not sure of the scheme at all. He came to believe that the FQE was real when it commenced in September, 2018 when schools re-opened for the next academic year without kids paying fees. Kanu would also speak on the ill-treatment meted to him by his APC comrades after he lost the flag-bearer contest within his party.
The former APC minister who was one of the most outspoken officials in the past government was widely expected to clinch the party’s flag during the delegates’ conference in Makeni, the Northern capital. He became disillusioned when things went the other way.
Many Sierra Leoneans including SLPP supporters have seen Kanu’s defection to SLPP as not a genuine cause. Many say the defector, has less crowd to sell to SLPP. In his hometown of PortLoko, the former APC politician is less weighty.
Many said he did not have the political clout even when he was in the APC government although he held important portfolios. In the Koroma-led administration, Kanu was Minister of Political and Public Affairs. He was later made Minister of Mines and Mineral Resources.
As if that was not enough, Kanu was made Information and Communications Minister. In APC’s last days, the PortLoko politician was made Special Adviser to President and Ambassador-at-Large with supervisory powers over all ministries. The former APC minister did not use the titles in the party and people’s interest, APC politicians said.
His contribution to the party and community was just too minute to raise a crowd.
Unlike other political parties, Within the APC, aspirants for flag-bearer, parliamentary, mayoral and chairman symbols always face these two basic questions: what have you done for the party? What have you done for your community? Politicians who fail to supply good answers to the questions will be left out.
These questions might have implicitly confronted the former APC minister during the race for the party’s flag. Since he was not made flag-bearer, SLPP became the only political party Kanu will turn to for solace and succour. After years in the APC, he is today tapping the political largesse in the SLPP.
However, observers in the media and public argue like Victor Foh, Kanu’s intention for switching over to SLPP is to protect their assets and estate and nothing else. As Spokesman for a party that ruled for 11 years, Kanu was jittery and panic stricken when SLPP defeated APC in the 2018 elections.
He saw himself as a key target for the Bio administration especially with the setting up of the defunct commission of inquiry. The commission which was judge-led was tasked to look into every ministry, department and agency of government in respect of the entire governance system with particular focus on the handling of public finances.
Almost the names of all former APC ministers appeared on the list except those who crossed over to SLPP. The move is to keep their heads above water. It is also the same with Foh who has gone over to SLPP for his safety. He might come back one day when APC bounces back to power.
A popular argument holds that the defectors are sure to go back to their old roots if SLPP loses 2023 elections.