Erstwhile Chairman of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) Chief Somano Kapen has issued a stern warning to leaders of the main opposition, All Peoples Congress (APC) against potential traitors and hypocrites within the rank and file of their very own party.
In a widely circulated audio on social media platforms, the ex-Chairman and Leader of the SLPP questioned key leaders in the APC including Osman Foday Yansanneh, the Deputy National Chairman about most of the problems especially that of disunity affecting the party.
Chief Kapen led SLPP during a turbulent period but gave up leadership of the party after it was clear that he no longer enjoyed the support and cooperation of the party’s rank and file and top echelons.
The APC that the majority of Sierra Leoneans are looking up to salvage the nation from the state of decadence under the ruling SLPP appears not to speak with one voice on key matters that affect the party. But, according to credible sources, the party front-liners of the party are the ones most responsible for the current state of affairs in the party.
Yansaneh, according to the former SLPP Chairman, used to be an intimate friend of Samura Kamara, the current flagbearer and leader of APC, and as such he is expected to be in the forefront of fight for the party.
But, Yansaneh and others, according to senior politicians of the party, have shown a moribund and lackluster leadership of the party; a move that is infuriating the ex-SLPP politician prompting him to ask “Why, Yansaneh?” in his audio that has gone viral on social media platforms.
In his statement, Chief Kapen believed that APC won the elections making reference to the Result Reconciliation Forms (RRF) presented to the Election Investigation Committee set up by government almost three years ago.
But, many APC politicians are not in agreement with Samura Kamara who they always refer to as a “technocrat” and not a politician of their time.
They have always wanted to see Samura Kamara hands off APC politics while they wait for 2028, and such stance has divided the party along ideological lines: There are those who support the 2028 Agenda while others still hope in the June, 2024 election results.
For them, democracy would be restored on the grounds that APC won the elections under Samura Kamara.
While cautioning APC politicians, he singled out only Samura Kamara as the only man fighting to take back the people’s victory while majority of the APC executive sit back with folded arms, and others canvassing the grassroot members to wait for 2028.
But, what struck the SLPP veteran politician most was utterances made by APC stalwarts that “we win the elections, but we now wait for 2028.”
This statement, according to the SLPP politician, is shocking and can destroy APC to the highest degree possible.
As if he is empathizing with APC grassroots, Chief Kapen looked back at his days as SLPP Chairman rhetorically asking himself who is he to nullify an SLPP victory.
“Assuming I am the Chairman of SLPP, and after the party has won an election, I appealed to the members and supporters to let it go and wait for another time. How would the public look at me?” Chief Somano wondered.
He made it clear to the APC leadership that it would be quite difficult for them to succeed in the fight against Samura Kamara owing to their past commitments in most of the documents they had signed and presented to the international community.
He therefore described the fight as a “jungle struggle” relating it to the traditional struggles for chieftaincy in years gone by.
The former SLPP Chairman also touched on what recently transpired at the Irish Embassy in Freetown where, he said, the Election Investigation Committee presented their findings about the 2023 elections. These findings, he went on, were in favour of the APC although they had chosen the let it go, a move, he said, did not represent the interest and aspirations of the people.
At the end of his audio message, he called on APC executive members to work together in the interest and unity of the party, but must put away their egos for things to work in the right direction.
Chief Somano’s Advice does not seem to have been hammered home among APC members as the struggle to undermine the party’s fortunes still goes on unabated.
Currently, a cross-section of the public expected APC politicians to present a formidable team to the international community, and retrieve their votes, but they decide to chase something they are yet to see while leaving away what is in their hands.
The likes of Bai Mahmoud Bangura, Mohamed Ormodu Kamara, Sulaiman Sesay and others have posters across the country in a move to vie for the party’s flag in a National Delegates’ Conference to be held in the future.
Dr. Ibrahim Bangura is also a heavyweight front-runner in the 2028 agenda with many saying he shares close ties with ex-president, Ernest Bai Koroma. He is currently traversing regions and districts presenting himself to the people as the new hope of Sierra Leone.
Bai Mahmoud is the current Organizing Secretary and then Minister of Youth Affairs in the Ernest Bai Koroma regime, while Mohamed Ormodu Kamara presented himself as a brother of Samura Kamara, and Sulaiman Sesay, the man from Port Loko who is little known within APC ranks is also in the race.
Without doubt, any APC flag-bearer, at the moment, is against the political fortunes of the party.
Most of the flag-bearers do not stop at undermining APC’s 2023 election victory but sponsoring registration and production of membership cards ahead of the lower-level elections to be held soon. Violent scenes have erupted in the distribution of APC membership cards as others said the cards should not be distributed.
The APC office at Masiaka in PortLoko district is a flashpoint for violence during the distribution of voter cards.
The distribution of the cards will pave the way for the lower-level elections where zonal, constituency, district, regional and national executives would be elected to man the affairs of the party.
If things go the right way, most of these executive officials will constitute the body of delegates that will vote in a new flag-bearer for the APC in preparation for 2028.