It would appear like there is no end to the salacious public revelations about how President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and his SLPP destoyed Sierra Leone. As supporters come online and attempt damage control, so more attackers of the government are surfacing .The latest eye-popping exposure of the SLPP “Dabaru”( Apologies to Sam Metzger) comes from Yanguba Kai-Samba , who has resigned from the party and has delivered a parting shot that could get fanatics scrambling again for damage-limitation.
20th June 2007
The Chairman SLPP
UK & IRELAND
10 MAYWARD HOUSE, GLEBE ESTATE.
PECKHAM ROAD,
LONDON
SE5 7NA
UNITED KINGDOM
Statement of resignation from the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party.
By Yankuba Kai-Samba, former SLPP Secretary General of UK & Ireland
SIERRA LEONE MUST CHOOSE THE PATH FOR CHANGE OR LANGUISH IN CONTINUITY.
For several decades, I have watched our country being grossly misruled by different shades of Governments. There are common trends between the previous failed governments and the current SLPP led governments of president Kabba and Berewa. They have all been corrupt and failed to tackle corruption. They have all been greedy and wrongly used their official positions to illegally enrich themselves at the detriment of our country’s development. They have all been power drunk and regarded political power as a way to make living for their families alone rather than to serve our country. The arrogance of power, greed and neglect over these years has relegated our country to the second poorest on earth.
people of Sierra Leone do not deserve to be poor, dying from preventable and curable diseases and living in darkness for so long. Sierra Leone is a rich country, potentially; it is richer than some developed and developing nations due to our numerous natural resources. But the central problem has always been and still is the lack of upright leadership to harness our wealth for the interest and advancement of our country. All the evil things; the neglect, the greed and corruption that our people had experienced during the reign of the previous governments are still happening and, it seems, worse under the SLPP government.
Failures and disappointments
The current government performance is a dismal failure that mirrors the past failed system of governance. The SLPP, under president Kabba, has wasted a classic opportunity to bring about changes that were fundamentally different from that practiced by its predecessors. Corruption is rampant as it was in the past governments, the rule of law is compromised by political interference and selective justice, favouritism and nepotism are rampant as before, the lack of accountability is prevalent just as we had in the past, political victimisation and intolerance is rife as it was before, harassment and intimidation of public officials, opposition party opponents and journalists (like the recent case of the BBC reporter Richard Margao, the unlawful killing of journalist Harry Yansana and the Jailing of Paul Kamara), are common practice under this government. Above all, the SLPP government, like its predecessors, has violated and arrogantly disregarded our national constitutions.
It is true that the SLPP inherited a country that was seriously spoilt by corruption and mismanagement. But it is also, sadly true, that the SLPP government has failed to redress those very problems it had inherited. Good business practices dictate that when a new manager (in this case the SLPP leadership) fails to reverse and improve on the losses made by his predecessors, he is deemed to have failed as well and should also forfeit the right to lead.
The SLPP government, more than any previous governments, benefited from huge international assistance from foreign donors, yet it has failed to improve the living conditions of the people. Some commentators now believe that the ongoing suffering in Sierra Leone is worse than at any other time in the history of our country. The former West Africa director of a think-tank for the International crisis group (ICG) made the following statement on corruption in Sierra Leone: “Things are so bad, if not worse, than they were when the war started in 1991.”
Under the SLPP government, inequality in wealth and opportunity has widened. Privation and rising vagrancy are upsetting; violent crimes and criminality have increased, given rise to growing fears and insecurity in our country. A third of the population suffers from some form of mental illness. Seventy percent of the population are unable to have a decent living standard. In its recent report; the World Health Organisation (WHO) stated that the life expectancy for Sierra Leonean male was 37 years, paralleling with the life expectancy of female in Swaziland. Lesotho, a tiny African Kingdom of one million people, with a third of the population with HIV has 39 years life expectancy, two percent higher than that of Sierra Leone. The mortality rate for women who die in childbirth is the highest- equalled only to Afghanistan. Infant mortality death rate in Sierra Leone is also the second highest in the world.Seventy five percent of the Sierra Leone population are presumed illiterate, despite our country being the first to have had a university in sub-Sahara Africa. As if that was not enough, Sierra Leone is officially categorised by the international human development index as the second poorest country after Nigel. Sierra Leone is also placed among the top highest corrupt countries in the world.
After five years of peace, Sierra Leone is still a country without proper running water and electricity supply, whereas the newly elected government of Liberia, with similar record of a devastating war, had installed these essential services within one hundred and fifty days of assuming office. There are few paved and tarmac roads in the whole of Sierra Leone and the dust from passing vehicles on these roads is atrocious, posing serious health hazards to the people and the environment.
Medical facilities are generally lacking and where it exists, it is not affordable to the general public, but to only those with ill gotten money. As a result, people are dying needlessly of curable illnesses in our country. The recent death of a pregnant woman and a medical student in Freetown were cases among thousands of deaths resulting from medical neglect and lack of facilities through out our country.
Eighty percent of the population are not in former employment with the youths and graduates severely affected by these malfunctions. Our old people are abandoned and so are the victims of war, the disabled and war orphans who scavenge the city garbage dump for food. Prostitution is on the increase with young girls and women across all sections of the population forced into this vice to make a living. This, indeed, is a very pathetic and catastrophic development that requires urgent attention from future administration. A high percentage of households in Sierra Leone are without a single breadwinner and could not afford a proper meal a day.
In a nut shell, Sierra Leone remains a failed state, crippled by poverty and inefficient leadership that is unable to provide the basic utilities for its citizens. The Failed State Index scores (FSI) of 2007 ranked Sierra Leone in the red alert zone of 23 out of the 177 countries assessed, worse than Liberia which was placed at 27. These are irrefutable facts and a serious indictment for those who have miss-governed our country.
In a nut shell, Sierra Leone remains a failed state, crippled by poverty and inefficient leadership that is unable to provide the basic utilities for its citizens. The Failed State Index scores (FSI) of 2007 ranked Sierra Leone in the red alert zone of 23 out of the 177 countries assessed, worse than Liberia which was placed at 27. These are irrefutable facts and a serious indictment for those who have miss-governed our country.
Mismanagement of donor money.
Set against these depressing pictures, is the alarming evidence of pocketing foreign aids, squandered by government officials and their associates for their personal enjoyment, leaving the most vulnerable of our citizens in severe hardship and destitution. Intelligence suggest that some individuals in president Kabba’s administration, name and details withheld for now, have amassed huge personal wealth in Europe including the United Kingdom. Beside, government officials are now competing with their colleagues to build the most expensive and most beautiful houses in IMATT and Hill station environ when the monthly salary for a government minister is less than an average telephone bills paid for by hard working Sierra Leonean in Europe and North America.
How can such ruinous behaviour, such day light robbery, ever be justified when our country had recently emerged from a debilitating war and relied substantially on donor economy? Sierra Leone does not have economy of her own; it has all been destroyed by greed and corruption. The British government alone has spent 91Million pounds on non- military aid in the last three years and has earmarked a further 40 million pounds for the year 2007 to Sierra Leone. In addition, Sierra Leone has benefited from 600 Million dollars debt relief in 2006. The USA government has also recently signed an agreement with the finance ministry in Freetown to cancel its debt worth a total of 58 million dollars to Sierra Leone.
Clearly the whole donor issues and debt relief is a matter of profound national and international concerns, which has to be challenged and investigated by the people in the august presidential and parliamentary election. It makes lots of sense, for the people to know how much monies were received by the SLPP government from the donor countries on their behalf, how were the monies spent, on what? Or whether the monies received were fully spent on the intended project? This is called transparency without which, the government should be held accountable by the electorate. “I suggest that the measure of discrepancies can be determined by how people, especially those in position of trust, are progressing in relation to their salaries and at a time of national difficulties” My quote from an article I wrote on corruption, published in Salone Times news paper in Freetown in 2002.
Based on the foregone, I am left with a clear understanding that the SLPP government, like its predecessors, has lost the moral authority to govern Sierra Leone. Moreover, the party has provided a refuge for unclassified varieties of miscreants and other political rejects that simply do not have the discipline, courage and capability to carve out a decent living for themselves outside politics, but masquerade in government circle to rob our country of the vital resources meant for our country’s development. This has been the politics in our country and this is the reason why our country is underdeveloped and the people suffering. It is no longer acceptable to leave the destiny of the people and country in the hands of the same tried and failed personnel who are determined to maintain the status, quo come what may.
With considerable thoughts and evaluation, I have, today, decided to join the ordinary men, women and the youths in Sierra Leone, to strive for a positive change, a new type of politics and leadership that cares and respond to the country’s needs, in a way that would better every Sierra Leonean and not just those in power and their families. A government based on the sound principles of accountability, to fight corruption and reform our decaying public institutions. I can no longer, with good conscience and for the love of my country continue to support the SLPP because it has lost its character, directions, and ceased to be the party of fairness, cohesion, progress and unity. In doing so, I am fully aware my decision will not come as a surprise to the party leadership. But it is a decision which is mine and has become imperative for the following specific reasons:
Broken promises and lukewarm gesture to corruption.
Forget about the promises to build Lungi Bridge and railways in Sierra Leone. The SLPP failure to deal with the menace of corruption even after its leadership, President Kabba, made personal pledge as the cornerstone of his government policy. Corruption is the single most destructive force responsible for our country’s underdevelopment and is probably reflected in all our country‘s problems. It seems to me, therefore, that any government which commits itself to eradicating corruption, as a fundamental part of its policy, must be seen to be impartial and uncompromising in that pursuit.
The SLPP leadership has instead tolerated official corruption and hence increased inequality, poverty and needless sufferings of the people of this wealthy nation. When the SLPP rescinded a criminal case against Dr Abass Bundu, which the Justice department under Solomon Berewa had levelled against him for alledgly selling our country’s passport to foreign nationals, they send the wrong message to the people that, the rule of law was subordinate to party affiliation. This is unacceptable in a democracy as that singular act compromised accountability and obstructs the fight against corruption, hence the rule of law.
Some people may not be aware that the scale of corruption taking place in Sierra Leone is a violation of their human rights. On the eve of the first visit to Sierra Leone by the outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in 2002, the independent radio news IRN in London, invited me to an interview to respond to an allegation made by some British tabloid news papers on the misuse of British tax payers money, by Sierra Leone government officials. As a result of that interview, I wrote an article warning the Tejan Kabba’s government of the dangers of corruption if not treated with the seriousness it deserved.
Some people may not be aware that the scale of corruption taking place in Sierra Leone is a violation of their human rights. On the eve of the first visit to Sierra Leone by the outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in 2002, the independent radio news IRN in London, invited me to an interview to respond to an allegation made by some British tabloid news papers on the misuse of British tax payers money, by Sierra Leone government officials. As a result of that interview, I wrote an article warning the Tejan Kabba’s government of the dangers of corruption if not treated with the seriousness it deserved.
The following were two excerpts from my article published in the Salone Times NEWS PAPER in Freetown. “State corruption is an abuse of the people’s human rights and should be perceived and treated in parallel with other malfunctions such as the diminution of civil liberty by an autocratic state; discrimination and favouritism, tribalism and political cronyisms, state generated poverty, injustices and violence. Those who practice these vices or create the conditions that breed instability should be made accountable. Thus there should, in my view be no differential treatment in the way we react and dispense justice on those who perpetrated violent attacks on our national cohesion and that of state officials who abused his position of trust by subverting our resources to the detriment of our national development. The two have identical negative consequences” I went further:
“It is highly unlikely, however, that the Kabba administration would shake the existing status quo. The president continues to preside over the same structure of body politics in Sierra Leone as that left by the late presidents Siaka Stevens and Joseph Momoh. After three decades of political and economic abuses, our nation deserves a reformist agenda, clearly defined to lift the nation from dependency that allows people to participate in shaping their future. Central to attaining this, is the preservation of the rule of law and the recognition that progress and security of our country rest principally on probity and accountability in Government. To this extent, eliminating corruption has to be a national crusade. The people should fight corruption just as they fought the right to democracy”
SLPP government has lost international credibility
Five years since that article, corruption in Sierra Leone has now reached a catastrophic proportion. The SLPP government has undermined its own policy, dented public and donors confidence and trust in its ability to effectively eradicate this destructive practices. As recently as May 2007, the Human right body Amnesty International, took a rather unusual step to condemn the high level of rampant official corruptions in all the three main organs of president Kabba’s government (executive, legislature and the judiciary) in Sierra Leone. The statement added that corruption was exacerbated by lack of accountability. The A I condemnation came after repeated warnings from the donor community and our development partners for president Kabba to end corruption. Nothing has change since; instead institutional corruption has become a self destroying culture in Sierra Leone.
The British sponsored Anti Corruption Commission (ACC); set up to investigate corruption has become a farce, in shamble with no real autonomy to prosecute serious cases. The ACC has been selective at best on who to investigate; targeting only the low grade cases, but had patiently ignored cases involving high ranking officials. So far, a caterer of hospital and an account officer of a library are among the twelve convictions secured. ACC is now a moribund unit as it is in dispute with its main sponsor, the U K Department for international development (DFID) over mismanagement of donor funds. Consequently, DFID has recommended that funding be stopped to ACC after it discovered financial malpractices.
Furthermore, the British Government is on the verge of withholding £15 million meant for the consolidated fund for the payment of the July salaries to public servants in Sierra Leone. The foreign and commonwealth office has confirmed this position, whiles the Department for international development Dfid has expressed grave concerns about Sierra Leone government inability to account for the past aid money and had sought explanation from the SLPP government. This, in my view, highlights a serious indictment of the SLPP government and shows a leadership failure.
It is unlikely that the SLPP government would emerge with credibility and regain the trust of the donor countries and our development partners. Some people have defended the SLPP government’s failure to curb corruption with the puerile argument that corruption is so endemic that previous governments had also failed to curbed it. Those who advanced this argument are not only condoning the SLPP corruption but implicitly supports the rationale for a radical leadership, (outside the current SLPP leadership) to aggressively turn the tide on corruption.
In my opening statement, I mentioned that all governments that had served Sierra Leone were corrupt, albeit some were more corrupt. However, the SLPP government, unlike its predecessors, was given the opportunity, the financial and logistical support by DFID to institute probity and transparency in public life but have failed. In some ways, therefore, one can aptly describe the SLPP government under the leadership of President Tejan Kabba, as the worst failure, since other governments before his, did not have such level of support to fight corruption.
Sierra Leone can neither trust nor rely on president Kabba’s chosen disciple, Vice President Solomon Berewa, who was once described by J B DAUDA, former finance minister, now adviser to president Kabba as the MOST CORRUPT, to cleanse Sierra Leone from the scourge of corruption. Solomon Berewa do not have the freehand or credence to unmask the skeleton in the SLPP cupboard because he is part and parcel of the government skeleton cupboard. Solomon Berewa is central to Kabba’s incompetence and misgovernment; he is too loyal to President Kabba for him to be trusted to investigate his own government and associates if so required.
To me, this is an unforgivable failure of the SLPP because corruption, more than any other vices was responsible for the conditions that led to the war and the destruction of Sierra Leone. Corruption has destroyed many lives, aspirations and hopes in Sierra Leone. The SLPP has failed to address this menace. Potentially, the SLPP government will leave Sierra Leone in a more vulnerable state, more divided and unequal, more unjust, corrupt and poorer, still susceptible to tensions and frictions, which could be triggered by those same conditions, that existed before and which still remain profoundly unresolved in peace time.
Betrayer of SLPP Core values
This government principal crime is not just its failure to tackle corruption, but it’s completely betrayed the SLPP core values. The SLPP was founded as a one nation party to strive for social justice and promote unity-an ideology based on democratic socialism. Today, it is clear that our country is more polarised along ethnicity, and sectarian groups on an alarming scale. The gap between the haves and the have not has widened. It is widely believe that the SLPP, under president Kabba, has disproportionately favoured and empowered members of his clan and cronies that are reminiscent of the Late President Joseph Momoh‘s APC administration, that rewarded his equtay cabal.
The leadership of SLPP has alienated the party’s core traditional supporters in favour of political appeasement; mostly with people of credibility problems and recycled them in governance. This type of politicking has made the SLPP a sectarian based interest seeking groups (which are now copied by the mushrooming friends of Bereawa) than a serious national party serving the entire people’s interest. When a country is run by group interest, there are dangers that the national interest can be subsumed by cliques; indeed this is the situation that has emerged in Sierra Leone. The SLPP is not a one party and one people philosophy it espoused, the party has created a two nation society, those that are very rich and the majority that are in abject poverty.
Arrogant abuse of power
Sierra Leone has seen creeping abuses of power by a president that seems afraid of his shadow. The usurpation of the electoral law that fixed an election date that falls in the middle of the heaviest raining season in Sierra Leone is, deliberate, inconsiderate and frankly wicked. How does president Kabba expect our people, many too old and frail to walk miles on foot, on hungry stomach, in the rain, in pot holes, in ponds in the middle of our streets, in muddy streets and roads to stand hours under a possible torrential rain to vote for his SLPP and return to their homes and sit in darkness.
The accomplished Lawyer, John Musa Lansana, a formidable intellect with a demonstrable analytical prowess, brilliantly exposed the political shenanigan of President Kabba’s abuse of power in his masterpiece article title: (Voting in the rain -a ruse or an incompetent execution of electoral Law). Our country has also witnessed president Kabba’s meddling into the constitutional powers of the electoral law relating to the election of the Biriwa chieftaincy. The Biriwa community are now divided, with the controversially elected paramount chief unable to relate to eighty percent of his subjects, a situation that did not exist before president Kabba’s interference in the electoral process.
The controversial election of Solomon Berewa in the Makeni Conbention ( courtsey John Leigh) as the SLPP presidential candidate has been widely condemned as a violation of the 1991 constitution.
Ill conceived referendum on presidential life immunity.
The SLPP leadership is now seeking immunity from prosecution for life through a referendum. Dr Peter Tucker, who was himself a victim of president Kabba’s vindictiveness, is, regrettably, cooperating with (him) president kabba to push through such despicable and spiteful constitutional changes to the electorate.
I don’t think Sierra Leonean are that foolish even when reduced to such grinding poverty by this government, to support an audacious constitutional amendment that would effectively bar them from seeking justice from those who violates their laws, because, they had served as president and committed such offence in tenure of office. What would happen if Sierra Leone wakes up one morning and found that their president, any president, had committed mass murder, mass rape and mass theft but there was no law in Sierra Leone to bring him to book.
The possibility of such proposal getting through in the referendum is unthinkable. But why should the SLPP leadership even contemplate to push through such an immoral and unjust law if the leadership has nothing to hide from the public. Our criminal law should not be divided to give immunity to certain citizen as against the interest of the rest of the people and the country.
The fundamental bases of Law, in a modern democratic society, are equality before the law, irrespective of status or occupation. The SLPP proposal is worrisome and dangerous; designed to create two laws: immunity for the privilege and prosecution for the rest. Beside, granting life immunity would encourage any president to break our laws in the knowledge that he/she would never be answerable to our court of Law in Sierra Leone. For this reason in particular, I intend to travel to Sierra Leone and vote against the proposed constitutional amendment.
Public doubts and concerns over Yenga
The SLPP government has not been open and honest with the people of Sierra Leone over the Guinean occupation of Yenga. As a sovereign nation, our people were entitled to an explanation as to why the Guineans soldiers occupied Yenga and claimed it as theirs. Moreover, why foreign soldiers should conduct farming activities on a land that does not belong to them and who authorised them. Having caused so much distress and criminality in that part of our country, we are now been told that it is all over; that the Guineans soldiers have left. This whole saga has dented our country’s pride as a sovereign state.
Central to the SLPP government lack of credibility on Yenga, is the misused of cabinet government with President Kabba’s decisions not subject to proper scrutiny within his closely controlled cabinet appointees who acquiesced to anything to save their jobs. Thus matters of grave national concerns like Yenga had all along been subsumed by the president and spin to reflect his perceived views. For instance, when president Kabba once admonished the media in Sierra Leone for blowing the Yenga issue out of proportion, this was followed by a statement from the minister of the interior, (responsible for Yenga) that Yenga was not an issue when clearly there were expressed international concerns, including a statement from former UN secretary Koffi Annan amid mounting evidence of Guinean soldiers occupation and harassment of the people in Yenga. In denial of the facts that existed on the ground, the SLPP government added to the prolong discomfort of the Yenga residents. What this shows, is that the SLPP government was dangerously short on providing comprehensive peace and security to every part of our country in time needed.
Divided and weakened by leadership failure.
The SLPP government is divided, led by a leader widely seen as divisive and vindictive. The jailing and death in custody of the war hero, Chief Hinga Norman, by the special court that was authorised by President Kabba himself have divided the SLPP, as it demonstrates the worst form of injustices from an ungrateful party. Chief Hinga Norman was respected and regarded by many as a war hero, he was not convicted of any crime, and hence he died an innocent man. Given those circumstances, one would have thought that the government could have at least granted a posthumous award to Hinga Norman in acknowledgement of his heroic role in restoring democracy in Sierra Leone.
Who will now fight for politicians when those who defended our democracy and restored peace ended up in jail and died in jail, whilst those who fought and violently resisted democracy and peace, which Chief Norman had valiantly championed are now inco-operated in to the SLPP? There is no doubt that the betrayer of Hinga Norman by the SLPP leadership angered many people in the country and dwindle support for the party.
From its inception, the SLPP was known as a family party, the kombra party, so to speak. Today it is no longer true. President Kabba’s poor leadership and his detachment from the party, has split the SLPP right dawn to a family level across the country. Families who traditionally supported the SLPP as a unit and as a birth right are spilt in their political support since the emergence of PMDC. Fathers and sons are split; sisters are split between SLPP and PMDC in the former previous strong support base; the Tejan Jallohs of Kabala, the kai-sambas of kenema, the Contehs in Makeni, the Gobehs in Kailahun, the Pandas in Blama, the Coombers in Mobai, the Lagawos and Dembys in Bo, the Bonas in Kono, the Banguras and the Kaikais in pujehun and so on. How then can a party win an election when it has been weakened by division in its heartland and uncompromisingly challenged from within its rank?
The SLPP is only united in it determination to win the election at all cost, when clearly it has lost the support. I have come to a definite conclusion that the SLPP has lost its character and that it has become a refuge for a significant number of political miscreants, who should have instead been made accountable for their past abuses in office. The SLPP is now the mother of all political rejects including those who had inflicted great harm on our nation but are now among the most ambitious for political leadership in Sierra Leone. I believe there is a clear case for a radical change in the way we are governed, but it is clear to me that the SLPP is not ready or willing to change. The party has reverted to the old order and is not forward looking. It draws it perceived strength from a bunch of yesterdays discredited politicians, whilst it frustrates the hopes, opportunities and aspirations of the youths.
The SLPP is only united in it determination to win the election at all cost, when clearly it has lost the support. I have come to a definite conclusion that the SLPP has lost its character and that it has become a refuge for a significant number of political miscreants, who should have instead been made accountable for their past abuses in office. The SLPP is now the mother of all political rejects including those who had inflicted great harm on our nation but are now among the most ambitious for political leadership in Sierra Leone. I believe there is a clear case for a radical change in the way we are governed, but it is clear to me that the SLPP is not ready or willing to change. The party has reverted to the old order and is not forward looking. It draws it perceived strength from a bunch of yesterdays discredited politicians, whilst it frustrates the hopes, opportunities and aspirations of the youths.
Continuity is not a rational choice for a failed state, a radical change is needed.
The SLPP presidential aspirant, Solomon Berewa, has said he would continue with president Kabba‘s policies, something which I had consistently opposed. Vice president Berewa is too wedded in Kabba’s failed administration and excessively obligated to President KABBA for getting him elected in a controversial leadership election that precipitated the fundamental split of the SLPP. Berewa is pivotal to Kabba’s deficiency and failure. He preached continuity of Kabba’s policies, whereas I advocate for a fundamental change in governance that involves reorganising our methods of governance.
That, to me, would involve institutional reforms that guarantees and promote fairness in our country; equitable and just distribution of our wealth, social justice, our court and justice system, accountability and responsibility of the citizens towards the state than at anytime since our country assumed sovereignty. A change of leadership that is distinctly different both in perception, ideas and style is imperative if our country is to move on and occupy its place among the developing nations. I do not believe Solomon Berewa can bring about the rapid and radical changes that I would like to see when his mentor, President Kabba departs from office.
At last, I am able to decide whether to join the growing necessity for a fundamental changes in the politics of our country or continue to belong to a party because my late Father was a founding member, and yet without the support of my conscience and what I stand for in life: fair play, honesty and social justice. Politics is a changing phenomenon. Therefore, support for a political party or loyalty to it should not be based on a hereditary principle, especially when the conducts and practices of the SLPP government have sharply veered from that envisaged by its founding fathers.
I have chosen to leave the SLPP because I believe, even with the best of programmes, the party would not meet the challenges now and in the future. Beside the party is too divided with an uncertain future leadership problems hanging over it, given that Solomon Berewa’s leadership, has raised much controversy that has damaged the party chances of winning the election. The governance of our country (this is my fears) could fall into the hands of an unknown quantity, a mediocre elevated to position only because of personal loyalty to an unpopular and failed president and not based on merit, capabilities and other leadership variables. Sure a leader can support a candidate of his choice for leadership, but it is unwise and electorally dangerous to pick and imposed such a choice of candidate on the party’s grass root supporters.
I leave the party with some regrets at people who admired and appreciated my contribution, but with gratitude for the privilege of serving as a secretary general for United Kingdom branch during war time, when the very survival of the party, hence the government was uncertain and during which, I was tested at the highest level in our campaign to restore democracy in Sierra Leone.
For those who tried to persuade me to meet Solomon Berewa during my visit to Sierra Leone in April this year, I say to them that I am sorry. I respect you and hope you will fulfil your aspirations and make good use of wherever you may find yourself after the August election for the interest of our beloved country.
To all Sierra Leonean, at home and abroad, I say there is still hope, but a last hope to wrestle our country from the abuse of power and decay. This country needs a leader who can go out onto the streets, observe things, ask questions and come up with a solution.
As in life generally, politics is about making decisions and choices based on ones belief, convictions and sometimes as personal circumstances dictates. I believe that the people of Sierra Leone are entitled to progress and decent life, which has been denied them for far too long. I know that there are still too much official theft, greed, lies, needless suffering and injustices in our country. I also know that these were the greatest obstacles that militated against progress that lead to instability. There must be a stop to it. The SLPP has failed to stop it and cannot stop it in the future.
I do not believe in the SLPP ways anymore, hence I quit. It is now left with others to exercise their own consciences, to ensure the right decision in the 2007 election, a decision that will define the future of Sierra Leone and generations to come.
As we approach this most crucial of all elections, we can only strive to give to our country’s next generation, that which has been denied to them, by so few, for so long.
I ask that the forefathers of our country guide us during these difficult and challenging times ahead as the people deliberate on whether to vote for a change or languish in continuity.
God bless Sierra Leone.
Yankuba G. Kai-Samba
Former Secretary General of SLPP United Kingdom & Ireland Branch.
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