Santhkie Sorie
Sierra Leone Telegraph: 6 July 2017
In the Temne/Thaimneh language, Kandeh means chief, as does Bai, although the former is regarded as more colourful. Kandeh Yumkella has unnerved both S.L.P.P and A.P.C in a way that they have not experienced in decades. (Photo: Kandeh Yumkella – a man with much promise for Sierra Leone – with former UN Chief – Ban Ki Moon).
S.L.P.P had presumed that whatever was done to Kandeh by thugs within the party, would be acceptable in the name of Kandeh’s inordinate ambition to become president.
Events of the last forty-eight hours have shown what a poor judge of personality the SLPP executives are.
It demonstrates the disarray into which S.L.P.P have fallen, with just eight months to go till the general elections – a very short time indeed. (Photo: Maada Bio – left, and Kandeh Yumkella – right).
SLPP needs divine intervention for them to have any impact on the hearts and minds of the electorate.
This says a lot about a political party that has been in existence before some of us were born.
The S.L.P.P ship cannot be steadied anymore. It is too close to the rocks, and all those on board would be wise to put on their life jackets and make sure that their muscles are strong enough for the jump into the waters, and hope that they are not devoured by sharks.
Let us don’t forget that nervousness can be extremely paralysing, and the chief [Kandeh]has injected enough of that into S.L.P.P.
A.P.C are just as nervous right now. In nearly ten years, no one has brought them to book for anything.
They have been having a field day, with S.L.P.P signing off on all their shady and underhand dealings.
The chief has started giving us some figures – $250,000 for A.P.C to fix one traffic light problem, a bomb of the smallest size.
A.P.C are now brooding over the real possibility that Kandeh has hidden away the deadliest bombs, waiting for the right time to release them – a time when it would hurt most, exposing the magnitude of their plundering of the nation’s resources.
Again, my appeal to Dr Yumkella is for him to stay the course and help mother Sierra Leone. He is on the path which will force all politicians to address the real issues of the nation and be more accountable, not to a dysfunctional Anti-Corruption Commission, but to the people.
In other words, the Doctor stands to invoke the memory of such principled Sierra Leoneans as L.A.M. Brewah and Fsuluku Kaisamba, whose names have been mentioned by a relative in the last few hours. To them, like the Doctor, ‘Sierra Leone comes first’.
Both must be jumping up in their respective graves and punching the air to see signs of what they had stood for being exhibited decades later.
Mr. Fallay,
If Maada Bio is in politics to restore the glory of Mendes as you claim, then what has Ernest Koroma been doing in the last nine and a half years? The last time I checked, the man has been surrounded by Kanus, Fofanas, Kamaras and Banguras. They are the ministers, heads of parastatals, Ambassadors and High Commissioners.
At least the SLPP opened its doors to Kandeh Yumkella and that door remains open. When have we ever heard of anybody with a two-year APC membership running for flag bearer of that party?
I read an article yesterday in which the Secretary General of the APC Alhaji Osman Yansanneh argued that he was not worried about a coalition of political parties against the APC. The man was right because Sierra Leoneans have been programmed to lower the political bar for the APC.
For the last nine and a half years of APC rule, it is the SLPP that has been attacked for the bad governance and the economic strangulation of Sierra Leone. The APC gets a pass all the time. What a lucky political party.
The only regret anyone can have in life is not to take advantage of an opportunity when it shows up in some point in your life. I guess Mr. Yumkella felt the spiritual instinct in his guts to make this move. And whatever happens in the future, he should have no regrets for taking a shot at the flagbearership of a political party, which seems to be impossible with the SLPP.
My prediction as a political novice is, Mr. Bio only has a chance of winning now if he come out of the closet and be honest with the people that his political platform is tribalism and campaign on that, in order to consolidate his political base and remind them that he is the only leader that can restore the past glory of the Mende tribe after the Margais – since they have been in the wilderness for too long.
There is a possibility that Mr Yumkella and Mr. Kamaraimba Mansaray of the ADP party will eventually split the northern vote with the APC, which can possibly take Mr. Bio to State House.
If Donald Trump was honest enough to campaign as a racist and won the presidency of the USA, why not Maada Bio on tribalism.? In politics, anything is possible.
Am impressed by the bold move of kandeh Yumkella. I see people referring to his membership as young as 2 years old. These are just one of the ways you identify the fake paopa propaganda. Kandeh has been a legitimate member of SLPP since birth.
If you look at the other side of the coin, Maada became an official member of SLPP in 2005, Which makes him more younger in SLPP in terms of duration.
The disrespect and “name calling” crossed the red line. My only advice for Kandeh is to stay focussed on taking the massage of “put salone first” to the four corners of the land. He should inject young blood into his political team.
Finally, he should use his international influence to flood salone with international election observers, because intimidation is the last thing we’ll accommodate. Long live KKY, Long Live mama salone.
Politics is an activity that requires patience. Mike Pence in the United States did not endorse Donald Trump in the Republican primaries but later worked with him for a Republican victory.
In a power struggle with Sir Albert Margai, Dr. John Karefa-Smart quit the SLPP in 1964. And in 2005, Charles Francis Margai also quit the SLPP. Both men were expected to lead their respective movements to electoral victories. It never happened. Today, Charles Margai finds himself in political limbo with a disintegrating political movement called the People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC).
Dr. Kandeh Yumkella has been a member of the SLPP for only two years and has quit because he does not see a path to party leadership. I believe that Yumkella has a short-sighted day-trading approach to politics. It does not work anywhere.
Over the years, I have openly and secretively admired Dr. Kandeh Yumkella, despite describing him as overambitious, indecisive, and of self-glorification.
Kandeh’s attitude over a couple of days has demonstrated the fact that his critics were right to suggest that he is overambitious and a coward.
I witnessed his press briefing and was fortunate to get copy of his speech. From the look of things, I absolutely have no trust in Kandeh’s leadership, since he cannot stand above the fog of public duties and private thinking.
I agree with you brother. Kandeh is a replica of ex-president Tejan Kabba. History has taught us that these guys with UN credentials have nothing much to offer their citizens, but Woes and calamities.
See what Kabba and Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf did before and during their presidency – instability and hard times on their people. Let’s allow sleeping dogs to lie. Kandeh is a coward; he could not face the 99 tactics of mighty APC party.