BASED ON his nearly two years of bitter experience in the main opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) on his return home following his resignation from the United Nations, Alhaji Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella on Monday 3rd July, 2017 announced in a press briefing in Freetown that he was suspending his bid for the flag-bearer of the SLPP in order to strongly and robustly pursue his ambition for the Presidency of the Republic of Sierra Leone with a Grand Coalition of Progressives.
FOLLOWING HIS announcement, seven SLPP flag-bearer aspirants on 5th July, 2017 issued a joint statement headlined “Standing together To Affirm our Common Bond.” Though not meticulously presented with succinctness, the seven flag-bearer aspirants declared and affirmed their “unwavering commitment to the unity and success of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party.”
THE DECISION of Alhaji Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella to suspend his bid for the flag-bearer of the SLPP could have far-reaching consequences given similar situations that had always torn the party apart ahead of election years. Different interpretations have been given to his decision to quit from the flag-bearer race. The Deputy National Chairman and Leader, Dr. Prince Alexander Harding, taunted the former Director-General of UNIDO about the infinitesimal number of supporters he left with, while the Leader of Alliance Democratic Party (ADP), Mohamed Kamarainba Mansaray described Alhaji Dr. Yumkella’s decision as premature.
BE THAT as it may, the intra-party squabbles in the SLPP which have culminated in the decision of the former UN Under Secretary-General to suspend his flag-bearer bid could only point at the party’s notoriety for internal feud from colonial era. For example, even before Sierra Leone attained her independence in April 1961, there was a long-running feud in the SLPP between the conservatives and the radicals of the party. Consequently, Sir Albert Margai, Siaka Probyn Stevens and other radicals left the SLPP to form the People’s National Party (PNP). However, the conservatives successfully prevailed on Sir Albert Margai and others to return to the SLPP except Siaka Probyn Stevens who decided to go his own way and later joined the All People’s Congress (APC) that was yet at its embryonic stage in 1960.
ANOTHER INTERNAL feud overwhelmed the SLPP following the sudden death of Sir Milton Margai in 1964. The Northerners had hoped that their brother Dr. John Kelfa Smart who was a very senior minister in the SLPP Government and had acted as Prime Minister on many occasions would succeed the late Prime Minister. But eventually, Sir Albert Margai succeeded his elder brother and the aggrieved Northerners from that development started branding the SLPP as Mende man party.
AS PRIME MINISTER, Sir Albert Margai fuelled nepotism and cronyism to the extent that he had to deny some prominent stalwarts party symbol for the 1967 General Elections. Eventually, the stalwarts he marginalized for the party symbol contested those elections and won as independent candidates. After an unsuccessful political horse trading, those independent candidates had to cross carpet to the then opposition APC to give them simple majority in Parliament, though.
THE LONG-RUNNING feud in the SLPP again reared its ugly head in 1995 when Alhaji Dr. Ahmad Tejan Kabbah won the flag-bearer election in the National Delegates’ Conference that was held in Freetown. Lawyer Charles Francis Margai who robustly challenged the winner consequently defected to the defunct National Unity Party (NUP), the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) political outfit formed by civilians that served the military junta, including John Oponjo Benjamin, Dr. John Aruna Karimu who was its presidential candidate, and many others.
THE SLPP’S 2015 National Delegates’ Conference in Makeni that culminated in the defection of Lawyer Charles Francis Margai and tens of thousands of his supporters that eventually formed the People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) is still fresh in the minds of well-meaning party members and supporters. The defection cost the SLPP the 2007 presidential and parliamentary elections, and by extension, the presidential run-off that saw the then opposition APC presidential candidate forming an alliance with PMDC. History repeated itself in the 2011 National Delegates’ Convention when Osman Boie Kamara, who came second after Brig. (Rtd.) Julius Maada Bio in the flag-bearer contest, left SLPP and joined the governing APC together with his large following.
NOW, THE stance of over 90% of the SLPP national officers to back Brig. (Rtd.) Julius Maada Bio for the 2018 presidential candidacy at all costs, including unconstitutionality, molestation and intimidation of the actual challenger, has led to Alhaji Dr. Yumkella, a man who could have changed the narrative of the party, suspending his bid for the flag-bearer of SLPP.
NO MATTER what people may say about the decision of the former Director-General of UNIDO to suspend his flag-bearer bid in the SLPP, the party seems cursed with long-running feud, especially during election years and this had deprived them of winning national elections they could have won with consummate ease if they were united. It would therefore be extremely difficult for the SLPP to form a government in this country if they fail to learn from their political mistakes spanning from colonial days.