NGC Communications & Media Team
Sierra Leone Telegraph: 23 October 2017
In a well-attended press conference at the National Stadium Hostel, Mr. Andrew Karmoh Keili, with his wife beside him, proudly and happily announced his official resignation from the “broken” SLPP to join the National Grand Coalition.
The NGC is a new force of progressive Sierra Leoneans who have come together to help liberate Sierra Leone from corrupt political parties and failed governance systems, that have kept Sierra Leone from growing as a nation and people.
The new NGC stalwart was also accompanied by thousands of his loyal supporters, including hundreds of executives, who also quit the SLPP today to follow Mr. Keili to the NGC multi-coloured house.
Many prominent individuals witnessed the occasion, including former First Lady and SLPP Women’s Leader, Mrs. I.J. Kabbah and superstar musician Steady Bongo.
In his speech, Mr. Andrew Keili explained that even though his decision to leave SLPP behind was very difficult to make because of the love he has for his former party, yet he did so because SLPP has moved away from its democratic principles to embracing undemocratic processes, thuggery, unconstitutionality, and various forms of violence deliberately targeted towards those who disagree with the status quo.
According to Mr. Keili, he was raised to reject systems that contravene his deeply cherished ambitions, and always move forward in pursuit of something better.
Mr. Keili further explained that his decision was reached after deep soul-searching and consultations with family, friends and supporters, who advised him to put country first and be an agent of change.
Of the thousands of Sierra Leoneans who decided to follow Mr. Keili to NGC, were prominent SLPP executives from Kailahun, Kenema, Bo, Kono, Bonthe, and Western Area. Mr. Keili added that many more of his supporters across Sierra Leone will join the NGC in large numbers starting tomorrow.
Taking into account the large number of Mr. Keili’s followers who joined NGC today and the average number of persons in a Sierra Leone household, one can safely predict that the number of Sierra Leoneans who joined NGC today because of Mr. Keili may be more than 10,000.
After the press conference, Mr. Keili and Mrs. Keili were joined by their supporters at the NGC Office in Tengbeh Town, where NGC Interim Chairman and Leader, Dr. Dennis Bright, and other interim executives welcomed Mr. Keili and his supporters.
Mr. Keili proudly registered as Distinguished Grand Chief Patron, and assured the NGC Executive and members that he is committed to working with fellow progressives to bring Hope, Opportunity, and Transformation to Sierra Leone by putting country first, above all other interests, for the “time is now.”
United We Stand – We Stand United
This story was written by the NGC Communications & Media Team.
Mr James K.Mann,
You come across as a congenial person very capable of defending your corner without hitting any one below the belt,let alone lose your composure.This is how it should be even in the intensity of disagreement.
I could not agree with you more that that in total APC have had more time in power than SLPP and they are more prone to violence and intimidation – never hesitating to execute political opponents in pursuit of power.Siaka Stevens started it all.
Thankfully the world changed drastically with the end of the cold war,which now makes it harder for a leader in the developing world,especially Africa,to hide either behind the West or East while brutalising his people. This is why APC are now having to fight for their political life through the ballot box rather than beating people up in the streets,burning their business and homes to stop them from expressing their wishes and preferences.
But here is where I believe APC and SLPP share the same DNA : when APC are in power they dislodge the position of the sun from its position of 93 million miles away from earth and bring it much closer to grill us alive with all the pain that goes with it.
When SLPP are in power,they make sure that they water the palm tree very well for its branches to blossom and create the kind of shade which is so cool and calming that we fall asleep and become unconscious of their clandestine visits to the treasury.
Plundering the nation’s wealth by the two major parties,therefor,differs only in method – the effects are synonymous.Let us don’t forget that one of the sticks which Earnest Koroma used to beat SLPP for his first term was provided by the donor community who insisted that they would resume funding the country only if there was a new government in place.
Never did I and the majority of Sierra Leoneans think that after spending decades in the political back waters of Sierra Leone, SLPP would make the same mistakes upon assuming power under President Kabbah which they had made to allow Siaka Stevens to defeat them in 1967. SLPP have no sense of history.
Being a student of Sierra Leone’s contemporary history,who will never graduate,I humbly have to submit that Kandeh Yomkella should be given a chance. This would change the political atmosphere in the country forever. I say this because APC and SLPP would be so much in rage that they would be inhaling smoke and exhaling inferno at Kandeh and his entourage, which should keep them on their toes twenty four hours a day.
On the 7th of March 2018,let us cast emotions and sentiments aside and execute a bloodless revolution.
Mr Mann you have the unique advantage of getting really close to Kandeh and help him, if only for CKC days.
Mr James K. Mann, thank you for responding to my comment. Special thanks to The Sierra Leone Telegraph for providing the platform on which different views of the same subject can be freely expressed without restraint or censorship, within the bounds of propriety.
Election fever is now gripping all of us, but we must not allow it to impede our ability to take a broader view of all circumstances or use of expressions which, on a parochial mode would lead to comments at odds with intent on all sides.
Being on the fringes of anything should never convey a message of inertia. It is quite possible that it is on the fringes that the hub of what is to happen emanates, with no force able to mitigate its forward momentum.
In a democracy therefore, Mr Mann, the voters and others who determine the outcome of any election are on the fringes because they are the electors, the main stream figures are the ones seen and heard all the time like Andrew Keili> They are the ones seeking public office. They are the ones with the task of wooing the fringes, who ultimately are the power brokers.
Can you now see Mr Mann the context in which I deployed the term FRINGES? Yes I am in Kandeh Yumkella’s corner but I’ll never be seen by his side like most other voters. We are ready to give him a chance at the presidency, defeatism does not come within the circumference of our being. We don’t use the fate of other smaller parties in the past to demoralise us and we recognise Kandeh as our dark horse.
I ferociously detest both SLPP and APC, because in nearly sixty years of independence, as they succeed each other in office, they have done nothing remarkable for the country.
My stance is borne by some of the remarks I constantly make about both parties : THEY ARE SIAMESE TWINS. THEY CARRY THE SAME DNA.THEY CANNOT BE TRUSTED IN BROAD DAY LIGHT, LET ALONE IN THE DARK.
If Kandeh does not win outright in 2018 I hope the country will put him in a position to deny both APC and SLPP the monstrous prospect of forming a government independently of the Grand Alliance, to ensure that all critical issues continue to be in full view for everybody’s attention.
It may come as a surprise to you Mr Mann that in the world’s largest democracies, there are people who give huge amounts of money to candidates and political parties for no other reason than that they believe in the cause being pursued. You never see them.They are on the fringes.
I look forward to more dialogue.
Mr. Santhkie Sorie,
Thanks for your very lucid and interesting response in which you properly touched and elucidated your perspective of the phrase “on the fringes”.
Mr. Sorie, I have known Dr. Kandeh Yumkella and Mr. Andrew Keillie for years, having been their school mate at the legendary CKC. Both men are fine gentlemen with the will to lead Sierra Leone on the path of sustainable development. Having said that, I take exception to your tendency to paint both the APC and the SLPP with the same atrocious brush.
Putting things in their proper historical perspective, Mr. Sorie, you will agree with me that whereas the 34 years that the APC has ruled Sierra Leone in the post-independence era have been characterized by violence, intimidation and bad governance, the SLPP period of governance has been characterized by democratic reforms and good governance. Therefore, labelling the two parties as Siamese twins with the same DNA is by any measure a mischaracterization that has no factual basis.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, good governance alone is not sufficient to unlock Sierra Leone’s growth potential. There are countries in Africa and other parts of the world that are fairly well governed but remain poor. And beyond good governance, the developmental challenges facing Sierra Leone and other African countries are daunting. What this means, Mr. Sorie, is that merely changing political parties in governance guarantees nothing.
I was a supporter of SLPP Yumkella. But I refuse to follow him to the NGC because I believe that a true test of leadership lies in the ability to confront challenges with the determination to bring meaningful and sustainable changes.
True leaders do not dash for the exit door at the first test of leadership.
Mr. Santhkie Sorie, I wonder why you are still on the fringes. I thought you were already in the NGC with head, body and feet all in. Look, unless all the opposition parties unite around the common purpose of removing the APC from power, I don’t see the APC in opposition come March 2018. Thus, the infantile attacks of the NGC on the SLPP is simply reflective of the political immaturity of the leaders of that party.
The APC and the SLPP are still the largest parties in Sierra Leone. Smaller opposition parties like the NGC, the ADP, and the PMDC should be working with the SLPP to find ways to end APC rule. Attacking the SLPP and equating it with the despotism of the APC is bad political strategy. When push comes to shove, smaller parties like the NGC are definitely going to need the SLPP.
Let’s support NGC! Excellent move brother Keili.
Guys like Andrew Keili were mostly responsible for the SLPP losing the 2007 elections. Why am I saying this?
When Kabba returned from Guinea in 1998, one of his goals was to electrify Freetown. Kabba and Keili had maternal relation in Kailahun district. This relationship clouded President Kabba’s conscience to award the project valued at several millions of dollars to CEMET. CEMET was an electrical engineering company owned by the Keili brothers.
The money was chopped and Freetown remained in darkness. As usual maternal relationship played a role for Kabba not to institute criminal or civil action against the Keili brothers and their company CEMET. Surprising Andrew Keili was appointed by Kabba as senior adviser to the president on energy and Sierra Leone electrification.
The APC used Freetown (naming it the darkest city in the world) to campaign against the SLPP in 2007. These are the kinds of guys rushing to join the NGC because the young generation in the party has seen their moral bankruptcies plus their corrupt tendencies to wrestle the party from their grip.
If the likes of Andre Keili, Joe Demby and Denis Bright – another who headed a Ministry that received the most funds for youth and yet had nothing to show for it other than his personal wealth, are the core of the NGC, then it is safe to say these are old wine that want to pass as new wine in a new bottle.
I believe that there will be a second round in the upcoming election since there won’t be a clear winner in the first round. Hopefully, all the opposition parties will form an alliance to kick out the most corrupt government ( APC) from office which is capable of walking through dead bodies to steal from our nation.
I also hope they can prove that the President can no longer intimidate the whole nation as he has already done with his stupid party members when he gave them an ultimatum not to cross his path (especially the temnes), because I believe he is ready to make an example like his predecessor (former president Stevens) did by executing Mohamed Sorie Fornah and fourteen others.
The President now seems to be on a war footing in order to preserve his legacy and the Limba entitlement mentality. My advice to all the opposition leaders is to respect each other’s opinion and focus on the common denominator (APC) and their “Great leader for life ” (Ernest Koroma) so we can move this country forward.
Well said Alusine. We have to be carefully in our use of words on each other; at some point we may need each other. The common enemy here should be APC; we have to ensure that they go for good.
No need battering ourselves.
The political scene in sierra Leone is becoming intensely interesting by the minute – some may even see it as breathtaking. Fireworks will soon start lighting up the skies as all the political parties shift gears to ensure a clean take off from the starting grid.
The 7th of March 2018, election day, will be like no other in recent memory. One thing is already certain: the monopoly on power which APC and SLPP have conferred on themselves for the better part of six decades has gone forever. This must be giving them sleepless nights.
The most dangerous demons for APC and SLPP are not Andrew Keili and others like him who are well known figures but the defectors in place, that is people whose bodies are with APC and SLPP but whose souls, spirits, are with NGM. These are the people who on election day will hand APC and SLPP the nightmarish defeat which will make them wake up sweating in their respective beds and asking painful questions – what happened? Have we been actually defeated? But we did give Pa Sorie and others a bag of rice and some palm oil, did we not?
In the middle of more questions they will come to their senses finally and observe that the Pa Sorie of yesterday is not the same anymore, he has become politically savvy, he accepts the bag of rice, has a feast and look for the NGM symbol.
Andrew Keili has done the right thing for the nation. Those of us on the fringes are closely behind with the correct dose of poison to incapacitate APC and SLPP. Killing them will be too nice.