Pastor Mohamed Sesay
Sierra Leone Telegraph: 15 September 2017
Today Friday 15th September 2017, marks the first step in the thousand miles journey of the main opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) to State House.
This day is decision making day. A day when the party will be electing its national officers that will form the think tank that will steer the buoyant ship of the party through the rocky seas of the coming elections. A step that will take the party right into State House come March 2018. That is if the right thing is done.
Delegates are on the ready to cast their votes with the hope that their respective favourite candidates will be chosen to be among Team 2018.
SLPP as a political party has gone through many difficulties since it lost the 2007 General Elections to the present ruling All Peoples Congress Party (APC). It had been knocked here and there with no respite from within and without.
There have been defections from the party, not because of anything that the party did, because those that defected were not patient enough to wait for a full ten years out of governance.
Some of those who left, felt sidelined by the new breed in the party, even though they themselves had served their time but never wanted to give chance to others
There have been numerous court cases initiated against the party to bring it down. But just like the real palm tree, the SLPP has stood the test of the times.
Court cases came and went, but amid all of these the party now stands victorious and has placed itself in the path to State House.
Delegates who will be electing the party’s national officers must realize that one false move will cost the party dearly. After this election, there will be none other before the March 2018 elections, so everything is at stake here.
As the Bible Scripture says, can two work together unless they be agreed?
Delegates must consider the fact that those they are going to elect must be individuals who can work together, but not people who will be at odds with each other until election day.
Mistakes of choosing people of unlike minds have taken place in the party in the past, and this caused a lot of problems for the party. Delegates must not allow history to repeat itself.
The position of Chairman and Leader of the party is very crucial. It is neither about tribe nor about region, but about the interest of the party.
God willing Retired Brigadier Julius Maada Bio will be elected flagbearer of the party to contest as presidential candidate.
Now who best will he work with to steer the SLPP ship to State House? It has to be somebody of like mind. It has to be somebody who can understand his every move; somebody who will advise but not be antagonistic with his decisions. More or less – somebody who will fully cooperate with him.
It must be the same for the other positions. If the mistakes are made now there will not be another chance to remedy them before the next elections.
So delegates must think who best will work with Julius Maada Bio as flagbearer and who best will seek the party’s interests.
Many party supporters are being emotional, but politics is not about emotions but about choosing the right people and putting them in the right places.
You may like somebody because you all came from the same area or are related somehow, but that must not be the overriding factor.
Right now it’s all about reaching State House and taking the staff of authority. Limiting yourselves as delegates to some simplistic ideas of region and all that, cannot be helpful for the party.
APC is watching the SLPP’s every move, so as you go to the polls for the party think and think again.
Editor’s Note
kindly donate to our Freetown Flood Disaster Emergency Appeal. We’re raising £50000 to help victims of the massive flooding in Freetown, Sierra Leone, which took the lives of over one thousand people, with thousands now homeless.
Think twice before you select or elect the flagbearer of the Party. It is not What you Want, it is who the People need.
It’s unfortunate that the Pastor’s analysis or proposition appear biased. Firstly, it would appear he had already declared Maada Bio as the next Flag bearer of the party without full considerations that there could be other candidates that may not be publicly popular but enjoy sympathy from some delegates.
Also it is sad that The Pastor had failed to recognise the importance of the Regional Balance phenomenon. One of the the candidates in the Chairman and Leader race is from Kono District. Knowing Kono district as a swing state we believed that having a Kono man on the ticket as Chairman and Leader of the party at this particular time will help win over the Kono voting population.As such it makes sense that the party exhibit the true national character as its name suggests. That is to say the management team of the party must come from all regions and not only from one.
In addition to this, the Pastor also made reference to ‘history not to repeat itself’. I hope he does remember that all the past two chairmen of this party were recommended and fully supported by Maada Bio. We all saw the negative effects that their regimes brought to this party.
Now we all including this Paster knows that the candidate from the South for the Chairman and Leader is Maada Bio’s choice of candidate even though some two months ago Maada denied having any preferred candidate when approached by the Kono people on fact finding mission.
If this person is elected, won’t history repeat itself’? Is this pastor blind to this danger of not putting all of our eggs into one basket – sort of?
When I see spiritual leaders making mockery of themselves it hurts some of us.
Talking about the best the flag bearer will work with to steer the ship. this reminds me of the New Vision Newspaper publication by Maada bio dated 16th May 2017 under cap ‘MAADA BIO ASSURES KONO’. In this article Maada made it clear that both candidates for the position of Chairman and Leader were his comrades and that he will feel very comfortable working with whosoever emerges victorious in that race. So for anyone especially in the person of this pastor admonishes delegates differently is totally unacceptable.
Mr. Francis T. Kpaka, there you went wrong – “no speculation”. We can only know that somebody is politically mature and is capable of making sound and informed judgement when s/he makes certain projections and in the end we see it happened.
Besides, accusing the Pastor of corruption also puts you in a bracket. We should be seen tolerating others opinion, even if they hurt us. After all, criticism is the hallmark of democracy. Thanks.
If What you have said comes true, it will be the first time, I see the SLPP start a true journey to State House. The party must know that the APC is not going to give them easy travel. They must take great care choosing someone who surely will lead the party to an excellent habour. “One country One people.”
Francis T. Kpaka,
What if Pastor Mohamed Sesay is a supporter of Maada Bio? Wouldn’t he have the right to be subjective in his judgment relative to who should win the SLPP Flag Bearer elections?
Pastor Mohamed Sesay, I am really baffled with your already coronation of Maada Bio. Don’t get me wrong, if I had the chance to communicate with you my first question would be: Why do you think Maada is the man that is going to be appointed /elected?
You are already talking about his running mate. Does that not put you in the bracket of those people that are corrupt and in fact trying to brainwash other Sierra Leoneans? My brother, Maada is my brother. But lets give the delegates the chance to chose the right man. No speculation.