By Kabs Kanu
ALPHA KANU, the most vivacious and the most eloquent spokesman of the now opposition All People’s Congress ( APC ) and the one-time RIGHT HAND MAN of former President Ernest Koroma , was this week appointed sopkesman of Koroma’s bitter rival , President Maada Bio.
Bio came to power in 2018, displacing the APC and since then a very bad blood has been running not only between the two political parties but the former president and the incumbent. Mr. Alpha Kanu, former Information and Communications Minster , was one of the first APC sell-out members to jump ship to the SLPP .
To APC supporters and ardent fans of former President Koroma, this is the most shocking and unbelievable case of turn-coat and cloak-and-dagger politics ever seen in Sierra Leone. Though political cross-carpeting has always been a feature of politics in Sierra Leone, APC supporters regard Alpha Kanu’s about-face turn to the SLPP as the Mother of all Betrayals, given that no APC official loudly and virulently opposed and criticized Maada Bio than Alpha Kanu, who ,as a celebrated praise-singer also of President Koroma, propagated his persona as the best president Sierra Leone has ever had and a man that Bio would not be compared to by any breath of imagination .
To Alpha Kanu, President Koroma was a god and a messianic and cult figure . He would spend hours just painting a glorified profile of Ernest Koroma, captivating his audience and keeping them transfixed with the most colorful of English econiums. How he suddenly turned his back on President Koroma and embraced his admittedly vicious political enemy , Maada Bio, to the point of now being Bio’s spokesman , is the biggest mystery in the country presently.
“Alpha Khan ? !!!” , screamed a Sierra Leone political activist in the social media . “Then die, political loyalty and political trust ! ! ! “.
To many Sierra Leoneans, it is POLITICAL OPPORTUNISM. According to them , many of our politicians are opportunists and gravy-seekers. They always want to be where the political grass is greener and where their bread is buttered. “The APC has no more delicious gravy to serve “, one Sierra Leonean opined.
Some other Sierra Leoneans however feel that something very unpalatable happened between the former President and his ex-Minister, bootlicker and praiser singer that left the minister deeply wounded, hurt and vengeful. One man even told COCORIOKO that the hot-tempered Alpha Kanu nearly went to grips with the usually placid and unruffled former President when both men had a furious exchange of words after the APC Makeni Convention where President Koroma announced Dr. Samura Kamara as Presidential flagbearer and the Hon. Chernor Bah ( Chericoco ) as his running mate. Alpha Kanu went to the president to enquire from him why he did not keep to his promise to make him the flagbearership, angrily accusing the bespectaculed Koroma of betraying their friendship and his loyalty to him by bypassing him and letting Samura Kamara have it . Kanu was fuming and in menacing mood .
“I have never seen Alpha Khan that angry”, the man went on. “He was ready to remove his shirt to fight the then President, which would have landed him in hot waters or even in jail, because you don’t fight your president. ” The then Information Minister had to be restrained by APC supporters and security at the scene, according to the man. “Kanu was out of control and wasted unpleasant epithets at his then boss, who got very angry too, but displayed calmness and grace as usual”.
Reports said that after the bust-up between the minister and president , Alpha Kanu ordered his people in Port Loko to publicly take down every campaign symbol and advert of the APC and to burn them. That was how angry Alpha Khan was alleged to have been for not being made the flagbearer of the APC in 2018. People believe that whatever Alpha Khan is doing now is an act of revenge on former President Koroma.
But another APC man who traveled all the way from Pennsylvania to New Jersey to discuss the matter with this writer said that Alpha Kanu has no reason to be annoyed with President Koroma because Koroma did not act unilaterally. He said that Koroma summoned all presidential aspirants to a room during the convention and asked them to consult among themselves and decide whom they wanted as flagbearer. “They had their consultations and came back hours later to tell the president that they were not able to decide on anybody”, the APC man explained . “So, what do you want me to do ? ” the impatient Koroma allegedly asked them pointedly and they allegedly responded : “You choose the flagbearer . ” Koroma allegedly consulted with stakeholders and announced the flagbearer and running mate .
Another school of thought told COCORIOKO that even if Ernest Koroma had promised Alpha Kanu the flagbearership and disappointed him, Alpha Kanu should have remembered what he benefited from the APC and President Koroma. Despite being a much-criticized man, Alpha Kanu always enjoyed the support and goodwill of the President who catapulted him to fabulous ministerial positions with stupendous benefits. “There are many APC Die-hards who sacrificed for the party to come to power in 2007 and who remained loyal to the party but never received any benefit”, this school of thought reasoned. “APC made Alpha Kanu one of the richest men in Sierra Leone. He should have been satisfied with that .”
For his part, an angry Ernest Koroma once told APC supporters that Alpha Kanu was an opportunist who would dance for you if you gave him a bowl of rice.
Some other people believe that former President Koroma knows a lot more things than he is ever willing to divulge and that is one of the reasons people keep accusing him falsely . As a very quiet man, he likes to internalize issues and he hardly tells others the things he knows. Koroma will die with many secrets. “If President Koroma decides to speak, animals would come out of the bush into the town “. a loyalist once said at a party meeting.
Some other Sierra Leoneans , who support the SLPP, believe that President Bio hit the jackpot when Alpha Khan jumped ship to his side. They believe that a president would not have a better man anywhere to be his spokesman than Apha Kanu. “The man is good, eloquent and very clever. He will do a great job to promote Bio’s New Direction Agenda. The man can turn black to white, ” one delighted Maada Bio supporter said at Whatsapp.
