The September 16 debate: Alpha Kanu vs. Kadi Sesey

ERRATA! ALISTEAIR DARLING, NOT DAVID MILLIBAND IS THE BRITISH CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER. Puawui would like to apologize to his readers for the error in his last column “SLPP needs no Lecture!” and thanks to one of my astute editors who had called my attention and corrected the error.

The panel debate between two high ranking party politicians, Alpha Kanu of the ruling APC and Kadi Sesey of the opposition SLPP, respectively and joined later by Michael Fortune of the APC’S ally the PMDC ON FM98.1 programme on Wednesday September 16 was both well conducted and interesting. Political maturity was at play and the participants, the hosts and the listeners must be congratulated for the success of the discussions. Michael Fortune attributed his late arrival to the prevailing economic atmosphere. By some coincidence, Frances Rogers of the same PMDC who arrived late for the UN radio’s Tea break programme on Thursday morning gave the same excuse. The only caller who behaved in typical APC fashion was One Turay who just declared that FM98.1 was an SLPP radio station. Boy! How I wish it was.

Alpha Kanu gave a catalogue of what his government had achieved in barely two years and ended up by awarding his party’s performance an average of 80 percent. Kadi Sesey was certainly not impressed with Alpha Kanu’s claims which she revealed contained quite a few misinformation and bogus claims. She could award the APC no more than an average 5 percent. I could not believe that the Publicity Secretary of the PMDC whose support was a major factor in the APC’s run-off election victory was so critical of his allies. He ended up with an average of no more than 30 percent performance points.

I have to join Kadi Sesey in pointing out to Alpha Kanu that at no time have the SLPP complained that they were not in the APC cabinet, nor have they expressed any such desire.

On the contrary, we have repeatedly called attention to the northern bias of the cabinet and in the appointment of chairmen of parastatals, as if there were no proficient members of the APC in the other regions who were worthy of such appointments. In 1996 the SLPP cabinet contained Dr. James Jonah and Amy Smythe , none of who was a member of the party. In 1998 Dr. Julius Spencer and later Mrs. Abator Thomas were in the cabinet although not members of the SLPP; therefore it was incorrect for Alpha Kanu to assert that the SLPP appointed only its own members to cabinet positions. I am sure that he now realizes that Serry Kamal was not the only Member of Parliament to be appointed to cabinet by President Koroma unless he leaves out his own name and those of others like Dauda Kamara, Kemoh Sesey, etc.

Most glaring were the statements that they found a bankrupt economy and that the SLPP had withdrawn 3 billion Leones from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Fund for the 2007 campaign.

I have called attention to the above for emphasis because Kadi Sesey dealt adequately with them as she did with the other bogus claims about the roads. From the call-ins the APC must admit that the public is not impressed, even if Bumbuna is switched on Thursday by his Excellency. Tayib Bah dealt adequately on UN radio with IB Kargbo’s  catalogue of achievements, 90 percent of which are on solid foundations laid by the SLPP.

LIES, LIES AND MORE LIES. In its Wednesday edition the For Di People newspaper alleged that I had written that Alpha Kanu had insulted John Benjamin. It called me a liar.  This is the paper’s habit of distorting facts or twisting them around so as to then attack the hypothesis that they themselves build. I had written that a young man Samuel Serry who apparently bereft of any logic with which to respond to my article, had described me as being deranged and in need of seeing Dr. Nahim.”The man don deaf!” he concluded. To this I had responded that insults and abuses were not the answer, but this is not the first time that the newspaper had indulged in such funny doings, what I refer to as “crooked thinking.”

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