By Alpha Lebbie
Monday March 20 , 2006
PART 1
The Sierra Leone People’s Party returned to power in 1996 after almost 28 years in the political wilderness.During this period, because the country was a de jure one party state under the All Peoples’ Congress party , almost all Sierra Leoneans were APC members.
Once again , it seems that almost all Sierra Leoneans are SLPP members. Prominent figures who had served the APC are now SLP P top party functionaries.
Currently politics in Sierra Leone seems like a charade where there are virtually no differences in the manifestoes between one party and the other. The aged continue to wield political power and the vast majority of the youths who constitute the largest voting bloc lack the political organization to win power in the two main parties in the country. If the youths hope to ever influence policy in Sierra Leone , they must within the confines of the democratic process contest and win elections in the parties.This is where the recent declaration by Jacob Jusu Saffa to run for the office of Secretary General of the SLPP becomes very relevant. As a young man graduating from the university in 1990, he faced the civil war that ravaged the country from 1991—2002. When most graduates were running from home to seek greener pastures and safety, he never fled. Rather , save for graduate studies abroad, he would always return to the country that he believed had not yet lost all . He would always return to serve the country becoming a top World Bank official in Sierra Leone.
Aside the resume that he possesses, this is a very fine young man who has known the nuances of the typical dread Sierra Leone life. He knows and feels how to be a provincial striving to survive in Freetown.; what unemployment means ; what college students go through to obtain their certificates etc. Much more , he has gained the requisite knowledge and experience to revamp the SLPP. With his youthfulness, he can attract the young to the party which is considered too old and feeble. Since the ill fated NPRC who seized power by force; JJ ‘s aspiration is the first ever attempt by youths to attempt to gain power by democratic means. So , vote wise , vote Jacob Jusu Saffa.
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