SLPP needs dialogue forum before convention – Hon. Kaikia cautions
“What I don’t believe in is the talk of unity after the delegates’ conference to choose our flag-bearer to fight the APC in the 20118 polls. It is now. Under the current circumstances, we need to work on a united front to remove the APC from power. The SLPP should be ashamed to be in such a status quo. The current state of affairs in the party is not only bad for the membership but for the nation as a whole.”
The beleaguered opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) Deputy Minority Leader in the House of Parliament, the Right Hon. Ansumana Jaiah Kaikai, who also eyes the covetous flag-bearer position, made this definitive cautionary statement Sunday 6th March.
He said for an ultimate end to the SLPP crisis, “we must return to Bishop Humper.”
The Bishop Humper peace initiative recommended a national dialogue forum for the party but whatever went wrong that nobody is any longer talking about it is anybody’s guess.
But Hon. Ansu Kaikai says he is disappointed in the National Executive; laying bulk of the blame on the inept Somanoh Kapen led executive.
He said Bishop Humper failed because “they did not cooperate; even when some progress was made.”
The Rt. Hon leader therefore sees it as ‘foolery’ people talking of going for a national delegates’ conference.
“The National Dialogue Conference is very crucial now that the National Officers’ mandate has expired. There may emerge another court matter if they insist on conducting elections or convening a delegates’ conference to elect national officers.”
Simply now considered one of the few unwavering SLPP resource persons always ready to defend the party in and outside Parliament, Hon. Kaikai has always warned that unless the party goes back to the membership for redefinition, peace will not prevail so soon.
“We must make efforts like what we did before the peace in 1996 to ascertain the state of the SLPP. The problem of camp loyalty and people’s unpatriotic decisions within the party has robbed SLPP of the respect it commanded in place of violence and disrespect,” Hon. Kaikai lamented, pointing out that there must be a reclassification of the membership strata in the party interest; something he insisted can only be achieved through chatting out the way forward together as a family.
Hon. Ansu Kaikai believes a Family Dialogue Forum will give the opportunity to everybody to express themselves and their grievances for the way forward.
This, he said, is because integration was important now for the SLPP like in the 1990s. “Under the current circumstances, if we do not have, or get a united effort to remove the APC from power, the people of Sierra Leone will not forgive the SLPP,” he chided, saying the current state of affairs in the SLPP is not only bad for the membership but for the nation as a whole.
And as he put it, ‘it enrages some of them who stand firm in parliament on issues to save the face of the party, like the stance taken in the abortion matter, to see that the party is bereft of peace.
“Peace is not holding amongst the membership even in parliament as members profess camp loyalty to party interest,” he said.
Commenting on the alliance of intending flag-bearers, Hon. Kaikai noted that they need to properly define the essence of the alliance.
He said it was not created by or for any individual. “It must serve as a platform, a means to awakening the party members and supporters. Anybody taking it that it is under his auspices is no alliance,” he added, saying he did not subscribe to the ‘definitive insinuations’ by some of its members.
In conclusion, Hon. Ansu Kaikai insisted that even when he has intention to contest, it was not the leadership of SLPP that matters. “My aim is to continue the peace dialogue so that for instance if it is Maada that wins at the end of the day, we all should be able to support him or whosoever for that matter.”
He said that was why he was in fact calling on Maada Bio to come on board the alliance before the party goes for the National Dialogue Forum.
The Acting Minority Leader in Parliament was vehement that the National Secretariat would not genuinely comply with the PPRC on the party’s finances given the current state of affairs.
He said “that is the more reason that before the deadline for the submission of audited accounts to the PPRC, we hold the dialogue and discuss the rules and regulations, the treasury and all related matters.”
Hon. Ansu Kaikai predicted that peace in the SLPP is now, as it will not hold after flag-bearer elections as people think.
Amara Dukulay
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