Sierra Leone Telegraph: 4 May 2023:
The people of Koidu City, Kono District last Sunday, 30 April 2023 saw the opposition APC’s former Secretary General – Victor Bockarie Foh, declared his loyalty and support for President Bio and his SLPP party.
Victor Foh who has been a longstanding member of the APC party, had also held senior positions in successive APC governments the ruling SLPP accuses of rampant corruption.
Many in Sierra Leone are baffled as to how and why Victor Foh could have escaped the attention of President Bio’s anti-corruption commission of inquiry which looked into the mismanagement of public funds by former APC government ministers.
A disgruntled Foh, who many believe to have been very corrupt, left national politics on the eve of the 2018 elections, after losing his bid to lead the APC and become the party’s presidential flagbearer. He has now made a comeback. This time, joining the “keeping Bio at State House” 2023 election campaign.
Speaking at a declaration ceremony attended by hundreds of SLPP party members and supporters, including President Bio and former NGC leader – Kandeh Yumkella (Photo above) at the Community Field in Koidu Town, Kono last Sunday, VP Foh said, “As a stateman, I have decided to declare and join the Sierra Leone People’s Party to support President Julius Maada Bio’s agenda to transform our country. I have served in many capacities in the APC, from being a delegate to attaining the second highest position in the country. But truth be told, President Bio is a tolerant and development-focused person who cannot be distracted.
“I had wanted to make my declaration in either Bo District or the Western Area, but I decided to do it here in Kono because this is the district that determines which of the two traditional political parties will win the elections in Sierra Leone. That is why I am joining our former C4C Members of Parliament and other stakeholders and former APC and C4C supporters to declare and join the great SLPP. Their decision to join the SLPP means President Julius Maada Bio has already won the June 24 elections.
“President Bio, I want to reiterate here today that you have excelled. I admire you, and I really love and like your rational way of thinking about national development, but personally, I like you because you are a man of peace. If you were not a peaceful President, you would have jailed all the opposition politicians whose names are on the Commission of Inquiry reports”.
“His Excellency, I also want to take this opportunity, as a former member of the APC party, to ask for your forgiveness for what members of the APC did to you during your political rally in Bo on 11 September 2011. I want to publicly apologise to you for the misbehaviour of the APC. I was not a party to it, and I will never engage in such an act, but because my house was used as a shelter for perpetrating violence on you, I want to ask for your forgiveness for that act.
“His Excellency, as a stateman standing here, I want to confirm to all Sierra Leoneans that from today moving forward, I am joining you and the SLPP party unconditionally,” Victor Foh told president Bio.
Responding to Foh’s defection speech, President Julius Maada Bio said: “I want to take this opportunity, as the leader of SLPP to welcome you to the great party for good and positive thinking Sierra Leoneans. For me, all human beings are likely to make mistakes, but after a while, if they showed remorse, we should welcome them wholeheartedly.
“The SLPP is the only party that, when in power, takes tangible, life-changing development beyond borders. As a party, we stand for nothing but the development of Sierra Leone, which I am sure has encouraged you to join our party. You are welcome to the party, and we are praying that you will work to ensure that the election in June ends before 2:00pm.”
You can listen to Victor Foh here speaking in Krio:
This REVELATION from one of the staunch members of the APC party is stunning. The APC party has a track record of USING AND DUMPING all of their Vice Presidents. Unfortunately, their first Vice President S.I Koroma decided not to reveal these information but to take them to his grave. Late Vice President F.M Minah was prevented from revealing any information because he was hanged to death in the Pademba Road Prison.
Former Vice President Sam Sumana was lucky enough to escape to the American embassy and seek asylum before facing reprisal, but few years later seeks redress from the ECOWAS court. He eventually decided to forgive his oppressor who was the lifetime leader and President Earnest Koroma . Currently, based on how he was treated under the new APC constitution, I believe that he is still afraid for his life and remaining silence is his best option. This BOLD SPEECH delivered by former Vice President Victor Foh will be the formal BRAND NAME of the APC party which is “CORRUPT AND DESTRUCTIVE PARTY”.
This statement just vindicated President Bio who stated that “The APC are AYAMPIES, and they are not good for themselves and our country”.
May the almighty continue to bless and protect former Vice President Foh for this timely REVELATION which will hopefully transform our nation. “ONLY THE TRUTH WILL SET US FREE”.
It is sad that we do not have political role models with integrity for our young people to look up to. If the likes of Victor Foh can be accusing the APC of corruption when he has been involved in dubious activities himself including the famous voucher gate scam and taking an appointment with the illegal AFRC junta that the people of Sierra Leone rejected amongst others. Victor Foh should have done the decent thing by resigning then from the APC government if he had any iota of decency. It is his right to move to the SLPP but giving lectures is ridiculous. It is obvious why the likes of Victor Foh have chosen this path and wish him well but he has joined a sinking ship.
Victor Foh is just another chameleon in Sierra Leone’s politics. He, Abass Bundu, Alpha Kanu and a host of others, with different political stripes, alive or dead fit the description of the animal known in Nigeria as “ARKATA”, because it is always on the trail of something sweet, or has the potential of filling its stomach. They care about nothing else, which denotes their utter selfishness.
For as long as we keep producing these political prostitutes Sierra will never progress.
Logic will surely tell you that someone with an Economics degree and 30 years of public service would have been much bettter placed to have a real go at tackling Sierra Leone’s Economy than someone who was 20 years jobless and clueless about economic theory. At least, he would not have been misled by an academic Economics Professor with no industry experience. No wonder Bio has just made us the unhappiest country in Africa and the 3rd least happy in the world as he went AWOL on a globe-trotting mission to visit every country in the world at the expense of Sierra Leone’s taxpayers. Any other things he says to the contrary are lies, damn lies, obfuscations, red herrings or smoke-and-mirrors. He keeps referring to Samura wanting to take us back to 1961. Why not put that to the people to vote as to whether they want to rewind their economic clock to 1961? Those Sierra Leoneans of a certain vintage will remember the food self-sufficiency, the valued national currency (1:2), the railway, the Athens of West Africa and the visa-free UK Travel.
Despite Bio’s years of peace studies in the University of Bradford under the tutelage of his Foreign Minister Francis, Sierra Leone has never been more disunited, disjointed and unpeaceful with our rankings in the world’s peace index tumbling. In addition, the human rights record of every regime ( NPRC, SLPP) he has ever been associated with is as atrocious as they come. He has no legs to stand on to defend his record in Government.
In the UK, majority of the Prime Ministers, including Rishi Sunak, studied Economics at University. He has just appreciated the British Pound 25% from near-parity when he took over to about $1.256 to the pound yesterday. Bio has depreciated the Leone 300% from Le7,000 in 2018 to Le28,000 in 2023 during his calamitious 5-year reign.
Lest i forget, when you hear people like Victor Foh and Alpha Kanu (Alhaji Abuja) accusing others of corruption, just give yourself a wry smile. You know their hands are itching once again as they embark on yet another gravy train to graze illegally on even greener pastures. Even the late President Siaka Stevens noted that Victor Foh was one of those who took his remarks about “woosai den tie cow na dae ee 4 eat” more than literarilly. The old man is a complete joke.