By Newman Anthony Levey
President Julius Maada Bio last week met with the leader of the National Grand Coalition (NGC) party encouraging him to rejoin the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) which he left following intra-party differences over leadership.
In a brief traditional ceremony in the hometown of Dr. Kandeh Yumkella, President Bio who was visiting the district to hand over the staff of office to newly-elected Paramount Chiefs was seen handing over water and kola nuts to party Chairman Prince Harding saying: "I have done this to call our brother we need him to come back home". Harding told the cheering supporters that Yumkella’s late father who was once a leader of SLPP “is alive again”. He said: “Seeing two brothers on the same stage (a reference to Dr. Yumkella’s elder brother who is a member of the SLPP) and the fact that the first gentleman of his nation has come here despite all what people have been saying is testimony to his statesmanship”.
Making a statement, the NGC leader who described himself as a respecter of state institutions, said: “I will not hear that President is coming to my place and I don't go there. Whether they tell me or not, I will go there”. He said he also wanted the country to know that politics should not be by enmity and that it was important for politicians to tell their children that they can disagree in politics, belong to different political parties and avoid fighting because they all want Sierra Leone to prosper.
Dr. Yumkella condemned the prevailing habit of “insulting big men and women in the country” saying it was bad for the image of the country. He said “as long as it was for development reasons I will work with the government of the day and I will constructively oppose when things are not going well. I will say it".
Senior officials of the NGC were scrambling last weekend to deny social media reports that their leader was on the verge of re-joining the ruling SLPP with just over a year to the next general and presidential elections.
When a video of President Bio and Dr.Yumkella meeting in Kambia district - the stronghold of the NGC leader, appeared on social media, supporters of the ruling party shared it widely claiming that he was on his way back to the SLPP.
NGC Chairman Dr. Dennis Bright denied that Dr. Yumkella was planning to re-join the SLPP and said in a social media post: “We in the NGC have values and principles that guide our actions and we do not succumb to either baits or threats. We thank his Excellency for thinking that KKY has some value and that his party wants him. But we're sorry that he is not available for cross- over transactions.”
Dr. Yumkella returned to Sierra Leone in the period leading to the 2018 general and presidential elections following his retirement from the UN. He tried to lead the SLPP but lost to President Julius Maada Bio. He then left and set up the NGC winning four seats from his home district of Kambia. He leads his party in parliament.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (28/02/22)
