PMDC – USA BRANCH
Monday November 28, 2005
When one hears Alhaji UNS Jah, Chairman of the S.L.P.P., somebody who has been to the Holy Land of Mecca and looked upon with respect in society and expected to say and handle the truth with the fear of God, say that Charles Margai should be charged with treason; then one hears J.J Saffa, a.k.a J.J Blood, Secretary General of the S.L.P.P. say that Charles Margai planned to assassinate VP Berewa, one then sees the desperation in both statements.
Were these not the very people who, after the infamous S.L.P.P. convention in Makeni, went to Charles Margai to woo him to stay within the S. L .P .P in order to give VP Berewa a smooth ride to power as Kabba had? Was it not the same UNS Jah in that very meeting with Charles Margai, who said he dreamt Sir Milton and Sir Albert and that they sent him to tell Charles Margai to stay within the S.L.P.P.? Was this another dream that Charles Margai should be accused of treason should he refuse?
This is really irrational as no one in Sierra Leone will ever believe them and that will further prove to the people of Sierra Leone how desperate the S.L.P.P. is. If, as Berewa says, Charles Margai cannot dent the S.L.P.P’s chances of retaining power come 2007, why not leave him alone and in peace as, according to Berewa, “he is insignificant”.
I have never seen a situation where in an insignificant individual is posed so much threat and is caused so much panic among members of an organization that claims to have so much power and support. Kabbah and Berewa should realize that Sierra Leoneans are becoming wiser with every election process and they have made it clear that no amount of spinning and misinformation will break their will.
UNS Jah and JJ Saffa have just come on the scene and they have to show to Kabbah and Berewa that they are up to the task ahead and they have seized on the first opportunity to demonstrate that. How do they think the people in the Southeast are going to react? Who does not know that Charles Margai is a law abiding citizen? The S.L.P.P. over the years have done everything in their arsenal to discredit Charles Margai up to excluding him from the party and had it not been again for the people of the Southeast, Kabba and Berewa, a novice in the party, would have denied him that membership. The people are again reacting to what happened in Makeni and instead of going back to the drawing board, and respect the will of the people they have resorted to Yuweri Museveni desperate tactics. Will it work in Sierra Leone or are we going back to the old APC tactics of yester years? These desperate moves are giving credence to the saying that the S.L.P.P. was responsible for what Siaka Stevens did in Sierra Leone when he, Siaka Stevens, prevented the people from expressing themselves freely or twisting the will of the people when they do express it.
Berewa has suddenly realized that those around him are seriously fooling him for eat den yone . He, Berewa, has been chasing Charles Margai everywhere Charles has gone to meet the people just to see how popular Charles is and with each occasion, Berewa is becoming desperate. Berewa is unpopular and this is what the S.L.P.P. should have considered in the first place by listening to Prince Harding rather than lose power. Quote: “The future of the S.L.P.P. depends on choosing a leader that is marketable. Marketability is the key word. Did I hear you say chap U chap and vote for the right person?” Berewa is unpopular and desperate and that is leading him to irrational behaviour.
To quote Berewa from the Concord Times, he said that he is “not against any body forming a political party but that should be done within the confines of the law.” Everybody agrees with that because that is the law but why play tricks with it? The S.L.P.P. has allowed Kabba to be bending the law because they are in the majority in Parliament, but do they realize that they are setting a bad precedent just to satisfy one man, Kabba?
Berewa further said that the presidency is not a “family property or friendship.” That is true but every Sierra Leonean has the God-given right to aspire to be president of the country as he Berewa too feels he has that right. Charles Margai is a Sierra Leonean who happens to be the son of Sir Albert Margai, the second Prime Minister of Sierra Leone. Does this make it wrong for Charles to exercise his constitutional right of running for public office and did Sir Albert Margai bend the system so that one day his son would become president of Sierra Leone like Kabba is doing for Berewa? Let Berewa answer and his supporters answer this question. If Sir Albert did not tell anybody, who has that right to strip Charles Margai of his God-given right to challenge and fight for the leadership of the nation. Is that part of the Constitution? Let the S.L.P.P tell us. Is Berewa not a long term friend of Kabba since the NPRC National Advisory Council days when they both advised the NPRC to ban both S.L.P.P. and the APC? Den pit en lick am. What a shame. Licking one’s own spittle is a big shame
Siaka Stevens was put in prison by the S.L.P.P. to break his will but, that did not help. He eventually became leader. That was history and the S.L.P.P. should learn a lot from that
Berewa has also said that “Politics is about intelligence, trust and good relationship,” and that “the days of forcing people to support a certain party have gone. All what we need is to persuade people to support us.” The country, Berewa observed, has gone through turbulent times and the people should be careful in choosing their leader.
We totally agree with Berewa. So it is all the more demanding and expected of both Kabba and himself to behave in a way as not to explode the atmosphere. Any attempt at bringing up trumped up charges against Charles Margai will be counter productive. The days of the APC of yester years are long gone and the rebel war should have been a good lesson to learn from and the S.L.P.P. leadership is very much urged to learn from that and Berewa should never forget how he dressed like a reverend father to escape from the AFRC.
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