Criticisms against Dr Kandeh Yumkellah has intensified these days owing to his defection to the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP), an entity tagged as one harbouring “suffer push” politicians.
Prior to his defection, Yumklella was leader of the National Grand Coalition (NGC), a party that was widely expected to become another third force in Sierra Leone.
His move to SLPP at a time he was needed most was seen as a betrayal of an unprecedented scale especially the hardline stance he took against his former party after he formed his new party.
Yumkella himself is quoted to have said in Parliament that “We must be honest with facts, we must be realistic, and we must prioritise as we cannot afford to pretend and ‘suffer posh. I say so we because, the government of President Bio proposes, but we in parliament appropriate. So, we are in this together.”
At a National Delegates Conference, Yumkella was also said to have cautioned Sierra Leoneans that government changes, but life does not.
“Sierra Leone is a poor country that is ranked at the low end of development indicators, and we have been that way for too long,” he emphasised.
His statement is in recognition that APC and SLPP have failed Sierra Leoneans by not lifting them out of the doldrums of abject poverty.
Yumkella’s utterances was to canvass and convince Sierra Leoneans that his party is an alternative to the two traditional political parties, SLPP and APC widely known as Alusine and Alhassan.
Dr Yumkella does not suffer from the political myopia of APC and SLPP dinosaurs which put their personal self-interests first.
While as Presidential candidate in 2018, Yukella perceived SLPP and APC as the most corrupt parties on earth and called on the electorate to ignore the two parties.
However Yumkella has today formed the ranks of a party he has lavished criticisms going so low to accept the post of a Renewable Energy Chiarman.
Dr Yumkella heavily fired at government’s incompetence after five years in office.
He said at that time, with the country’s economy on its knees, inflation running at almost 50%, the value of the Leone falling rapidly against the dollar and and other European currencies, unemployment rate hit almost 80%, and economic growth at its lowest since 2018.
Most Sierra Leoneans are now wondering whether it was a big mistake to have voted in President Bio over four years ago, and now they call for change.
The poor performance of the economy, Yumkella said, evidenced by the suffering of most Sierra Leoneans was not the result of global economic downturn caused by the war in Ukraine, but the incompetence of President Bio and his ministers.
In the run-up to 2018 elections, according to political analysts, Bio lacks the competence and administrative acumen needed to turn the country’s economic malaise into fortune.
Speaking at one of the budget hearings in the Well of Parliament last year, Yumkella said, the “budget we have in front of us, the timing of it as well, means that we need serious reflection. These are not normal times.”
He therefore called on the people of Sierra Leone to action as the worst is yet to come.
It is a call for extra-ordinary measures to deal with extraordinary circumstances lending credence to the adage that when the going gets tough, only the tough will keep on going.
With many Sierra Leoneans, he said, now calling for a change of government, the debate as to whether the people could be best served by a government of national unity is once again taking sway.
He maintained that what is clear after decades of poor governance and mismanagement under the two main political parties, there is need to change the way the country is being governed.
According to KKY, it is obvious that the approach taken by President Bio in bringing in proportional representation model is deliberately aimed at preserving his tenure in office rather than promoting honest and sustainable political change for the good of all Sierra Leoneans.