‘Kandeh Yumkella is our hope’ says Hon. Eric Jumu
Former Member of Parliament of the main opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) in the Southern Region, Hon. Eric Jumu, has declared support for the erstwhile Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Alhaji Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella, who is contesting as flag bearer aspirant of the party.
Many had thought that Hon. Eric Jumu would not dissociate himself from the Pa-o-Pa Group of Julius Maada Bio, another flag bearer running for the third time having failed to take the SLPP to State House in the 2012 Presidential poll, but most people were surprised when the former MP openly declared for Alhaji Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella at the Bo Club House during the latter’s visit to Bo city on Friday, 27th November, 2015.
The Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella Movement (KKYM) that organized lectures on the topic, “Post-Ebola Economic Recovery and Diversification,” gave Hon. Eric Jumu the role of introducing the flag bearer aspirant to the jam-packed audience at the Bo Club House at Kortugbuma Section on Saturday, 28th November, 2015.
Introducing Alhaji Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella as Guest Speaker of the occasion, Hon. Eric Jumu emphasized that he is part and parcel of the KKY Movement “because I support a noble cause.”
He disclosed that when he was Acting Senior Prefect of the Bo Government Secondary School in 1977, the flag-bearer aspirant was at the same time Senior Prefect of Christ the King College (CKC), adding that, “All of us behind KKY are making no mistake.”
Hon. Eric Jumu described Alhaji Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella as a Bo Town man through and through, adding that the flag-bearer aspirant graduated from the Njala University College with First Class Honours and is married to the First Lady of Bo, Mrs. Philomena Yumkella, the daughter of former Mayor of Bo, the late Mammy Nicolas.
“Today, you have won me to support this fruitful cause,” Hon. Eric Jumu stressed, while he admonished students in the jam-packed hall to learn from the erstwhile Professor and global advocate.
“Kandeh Yumkella is indeed our hope, our trust and all. Listen and see what a President is and not masquerading,” Hon. Eric Jumu said, adding, “He is also religious and please talk to your people to support KKY.”
In his response, Alhaji Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella also recalled that when he was Senior Prefect at CKC, his counterpart Hon. Eric Jumu was also Acting Senior Prefect of Bo School, adding that he was also the President of the Bo United Association of Schools and Baba Musa of the Bo School his Vice.
He said during their school days, the generation folks did not take no for an answer and made particular reference to the 1977 nationwide students’ demonstration which they organized in Bo.
Dr. Yumkella also disclosed that during his school days he was an athlete and a great dancer but his priority was to become an academia and he achieved it.
He recalled that in their time Government gave them scholarships to study overseas but said it is not possible in the time of the current generation despite the country has more riches than before but is now poorer than in those days.
Dr. Yumkella said recalled that when he was with the United Nations, his colleagues used to provoke him about the persistent poverty in Sierra Leone and that the “Pa-u-borbor-dae-ya-o” syndrome spurred him up to resign and return home to contribute to national development.
By Abdul Hassan Fackie
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