By Joseph S. Margai in Freetown, Sierra Leone
Two individuals, considered by most Sierra Leoneans as ‘political heavyweights’ of the country’s main opposition party, the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), Dr. Joe Demby, former Vice President of Sierra Leone and Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella, also known as “KKY”, have resigned from the party.
Both senior stalwarts of the SLPP announced their resignation at a press conference on Tuesday September 5, 2017, at the Sierra Light House in Aberdeen, Freetown.
Dr. Joe Demby was a Vice President of Sierra Leone under the SLPP ticket from 1996-2002 during one of the two terms of former President Dr. Alhaji Ahmed Tejan Kabbah. Before his appointment as a running mate in the 1996 presidential election and until his resignation on September 5th, 2017, he was a staunch member of the SLPP.
In his letter of resignation, Dr. Joe Demby said, “In keeping with the submission made by the SLPP National Executive in their response to concerns I raised to PPRC over the conduct of the 2016 lower level elections, dated February, 2016, the committee came to the realization that Dr. Joe Demby is not an ex-officio member of the National Executive Council (NEC).”
“Being that up to this moment the National Executive has not responded to my demands for proof of their allegation,” Dr. Demby asserted, “I considered myself driven from the SLPP in spite of my constitutional status. In view of the above, I hereby tender this letter of resignation from SLPP effective 4th September, 2017.”
Like Dr. Demby, another stalwart of the SLPP, Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella (KKY) also resigned from the SLPP. He was former Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Dr. Yumkella came back to Sierra Leone after resigning from his job three years ago and joined the SLPP, which his late father helped to nurture.
Upon his return to the country, Dr. Yumkella immediately joined the race for the flag-bearer position of the party, but early this year he suspended his bid to contest of the SLPP. Since then, many political analysts and the general public have been insinuating that his resignation from the party was imminent.
In his statement at Sierra Light House on September 5, 2017, Dr. Yumkella said, “On 3rd July 2017, I publicly announced my decision to suspend my bid to contest for the Presidency of the Republic of Sierra Leone under the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP). On the same occasion, I promised to keep the public informed of the next steps in my political career. Your meeting here today is in fulfillment of that promise exactly two months since that decision.”
He added, “Permit me to state at the outset that my candidacy for the presidency of our country has always been about seizing an opportunity to reset our people on a progressive trajectory by improving governance, reducing mass poverty, curbing corruption, fostering national cohesion, providing hope and opportunities for them to translate their needs and aspirations into reality and using our abundant natural resources for sustainable development.”
According Dr. Yumkella, he has been talking to several political movements and parties recently, trying to assess the best approach for us to integrate into existing efforts, and my decision is now to work from within the National Grand Coalition (NGC) as a rallying point for those progressive minds, students, workers, traders, unemployed people, business people, elders, religious people, civil society groups, and women’s groups, that I have had the opportunity of meeting in my recent consultations. “For this purpose,” he said, “the global KKY Movement will fully transition into the National Grand Coalition by 31st October, 2017.”
He said when he announced that he was suspending his aspiration for the position of SLPP flag-bearer, he strongly believed that the conflicts and tensions within the party would be at least reduced if not eliminated since some people had wrongly attributed those tensions and conflicts to his presence in the race.
However, he said the whole country is now aware that since he suspended his bid for the flag-bearership, the camps have multiplied; the internecine squabbles have intensified, whilst the divisions have become deeper, and the confusion has continued.
“Yet the party mis-leaders are still in denial that they are the real architects of the ongoing conflicts, dysfunctional nature and eventual demise of the party. People who supported me and continue to do so have been marginalized and wrongfully excluded from mainstream party activities, while the quarrels over delegate lists continue unabated,” he said.
He noted that the SLPP is in a suspended state of re-animation due to greed, selfishness and wickedness of a few characters, as majority of the people of good conscience in the Party are being led down the path of destruction of a party they have been loyal to and made sacrifices for. He added, “There are no red or green Sierra Leone, we are just one people bound by a common heritage in the land that we love.”
