By Joseph S. Margai in Freetown, Sierra Leone
Politics is taking a dramatic shape in Sierra Leone as the country braces for the general and presidential elections next March. The under-currents are moving too fast, strange bed fellows and likely minded politicians are joining forces and cultivating new paradigm of alliances to unseat the ruling All People’s Congress. As Joseph S. Margai reports from Freetown, Sierra Leone, another two opposition politicians pulling their resources and forming a coalition.
Sierra Leoneans are preparing for the general elections slated for March 7, 2018. The power of the people is in their votes, but opposition political parties will stop at nothing to get the mendate of the power. Three of such parties are the People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC), Coalition for Change (C4C UK) and the National Unity and Reconciliation Party (NURP). The three parties on Sunday, October 29, 2017 signed a communique in Accra, Ghana agreeing to work together to unseat the ruling APC through the ballot box.
Charles Francis Margai, a man some consider a political heavy weight founded the PMDC, a formidable political party, and he was the presidential candidate for the 2007 and 2012 elections. Mr. Margai is said to be breathing a tremendous support of members of his party. Alhaji Samuel Sam Sumana, former Vice President of Sierra Leone is said to have founded the C4C.
The communique, which was signed by the Chairman and Leader of the PMDC, Charles Francis Margai, Dr. Jonathan Sandy of the NURP and Kevin Metzger of the C4C UK, the coalition members are now set to combine strengths, common vision, core values and principles collectively, through their political parties/organizations, in building an electoral process with a view to contesting the March 7, 2018 presidential, parliamentary and local government elections in Sierra Leone within a Grand Alliance.
“In furtherance of the above, a Joint Secretariat will be created, comprising all parties in the Alliance. The Joint Secretariat will establish the formal framework under which we shall work together in accordance with the laws in Sierra Leone,” they said in the communiqué.
However, till press time, Charles Francis Margai and the others that signed the communiqué could not be reached when contacted on the phone to confirm their signatures.
Political alliance has long been pronounced by the former standard-bearer aspirant of the main opposition SLPP, Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella in his pronouncement to suspend his bid for the standard-bearer position on July 3, 2017.
“In order to restore decency and dignity to a party that has gone astray, I joined forces with other potential flagbearer candidates who professed to share the same desire for a fair contest on a level playing field. That collective effort in pursuit of constitutionality also did not work as the current leadership of the party continues to pursue a parochial path of exclusion and intimidation which runs against the core values of the party founded by our forefathers,” Dr. Yumkella said in July this year.
“I hereby wish to inform the membership of the SLPP and the public at large that I am, with immediate effect, suspending my bid for the flag-bearer of the SLPP, while I strongly and robustly maintain my bid and campaign for the Presidency of the Republic of Sierra Leone, which will now move into higher gear. We will work with others to create a Grand Coalition of Progressives in a collective effort to bring hope and transformation to our country. Additional details about the new dispensation and highlights of my energized campaign will be announced in due course,” he revealed on 3rd July 2017.
Some political analysts say if the two major political parties-APC and SLPP, that have ruled this country since independence in 1961, should be removed from power, smaller political parties should form coalition.
It is hope that besides the three political parties-PMDC, C4C and NURP that have merged, many more are underway to form.
