We’re going to rebuild the SLPP from scratch, minus certain people : Spokesman of committee to Elect Hinga Norman

December 11, 2005 Publisher and Chief Executive Officer KABS KANU COMMENTARY, News Extra, TOP STORY, Uncategorized 0

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ALFRED SAMFORAY

Sunday December 11 , 2005

The Spokesman of the Committee To Elect Hinga Norman , Rev. Alfred SamForay , in predicting victory for Norman in his present Supreme Court  case against  the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party ( SLPP) , has vowed   that ” We will..  reduce the SLPP  to its least common factor and then rebuild it from scratch -minus certain people “.

Samforay said that it will be done in the same fashion that the Sierra Leone Army was rebuilt and reduced to 16 battalions, the size of an effective and efficient army.

Samforay’s views re-echo the sentiments being expressed by radical elements within the SLPP  who believe that the party had been highjacked by forces who have also left the original goals and dreams of Sierra Leone’s oldest and best organized political party behind.

Despite Samforay’s optimism however, it is difficult to say at this moment whether the present vanguard of the SLPP ,  led by the soon-to-retire President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and Vice-President Solomon Berewa , would taste defeat at the hands of the radicals advocating a complete change of guard .

The SLPP Delegates Conference in Makeni three months ago provided the best chance for the radicals to show their teeth in their desire to jettison the hold of the present  leaders  within the party , but their dreams fell short when Vice-President Berewa prevailed to win the nomination as Presidential candidate of the SLPP  for the 2007 General Elections. Berewa’s victory came against all odds , after contenders  like Charles Margai, John Ernest Leigh and Hinga Norman had filled airwaves and newspapers with optimistic declarations that they will win and lead the party.

However, it is this Berewa’s victory at Makeni that is now under seige from the Hinga Norman camp who scored a splendid victory last week when the Supreme Court decided to hear Hinga Norman’s latest case against the SLPP.  Norman has continued to stalk the SLPP like a relentless ghost bent on vengence , even after resigning and planning to form his own party.

The oncoming Supreme Court case gives him yet another opportunity to stahe an in-house coup in the SLPP. Ih he succeeds in having the election as Presidential candidate of Vice-President Berewa overturned, it will be  a good sign for his supporters that he is not a blind man shooting aimlessly in the dark.

SEE WHAT SAMFORAY SAID ABOUT THIS VICTORY LAST WEEK.

“If you can’t join them, beat them,” A Wiseman from Lugbu.
The Supreme Court of Sierra Leone in the matter of Samuel Hinga Norman versus SLPP, Jah, Saffa and Carew today wasted no time in dismissing the No Case Submission by the defence for the SLPP, its leaders and the Attorney General.  The court set a hearing for next Friday, December 16.
The defendants in the case apparently went to court today either regretably or deliberately unprepared for the proceedings and the five judge panel ordered them to file all relevant submissions by the 14th instant.  Late yesterday afternoon, Norman’s counsel, Dr. Bubuakei Jabbi, told me that he will go to court prepared for either a preliminary hearing or the hearing in earnest, something the SLPP lawyer(s) evidently failed to do.
Norman is asking the court to reverse and anull the recent election, selection, appointment or by whatever means of Solomon Berewa as Party Leader of the SLPP.  The complaint further asks the court to order the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to properly advise Berewa and any future Vice President, President, Minister or Deputy Minister not to accept the the office of Party Leader on the grounds that such an action is in contravention of various provisions of the Sierra Leone constitution.
Last August, the high court refused to hear the complaint on the grounds that the Political Parties Registration Commission was the right venue for the complaint.  The court departed from that previous ruling today and said in effect that Mr. Norman infact does have a case that the SLPP and the Attorney General must answer to.
Following that ruling, the SLPP eroneously assumed that it had the blessing of the court to proceed with the Party Delegates Conference.  Norman refused to attend the convention and later sued the party for being at variance with the national constitution.  If Norman prevails, as he hopes he will, the office of Party Leader will become vacant retroactive Septemebr 4, 2005 when President Kabbah relinquished the post and neither Kabbah nor Berewa will be able to resume the office without another party convention at a time and place to be arranged.  The court will also hold Mr. Berewa personally in violation of the Oath of Office of Vice President under the provisons of the constitution.
A. SamForay
Committee to Elect Norman

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