Dr. Sama Banya – an embarrassment to the SLPP …

To most SLPP fanatics, it may sound preposterous if one suggests that Dr. Sama Banya of Kailahun fame has become an embarrassment to the SLPP. It sounds preposterous to them because they see Dr. Banya as a green-blooded SLPP who has sacrificed a lot for the continued success of the party and placed himself on the firing line against an antagonistic local media in his defence of the party.

I am one individual who is totally unimpressed with Dr. Banya’s writings. I see Dr. Banya’s rantings as the work of another Judas who can betray his own Lord. I see his write-ups as a deliberate ploy for the SLPP to become complacent and believe that the party has already won the 2012 elections because of the recent by-election victories which to me are non-significant.

In his recent article online, Dr. Banya regrettably dismissed with a wave of hand the resignations from the SLPP to the APC of prominent former SLPP stalwarts like Dr. S.B. Saccoh, Musa Tarawalli, the Harveys, Fatmata Hassan’s etc. etc.

This was part of what Dr. Banya wrote, “…as expected the APC made a lot of noise when these people declared for their party, even where Musa Koya and Issata Massalay had to travel all the way to Moyamba to make their declaration rather than in their native Pujehun. Much to their disappointment we did not even bat an eyelid. Then there was a big show in Port Loko where many of the converts from the SLPP to the APC were presented to the general membership in the presence of honourable Vice President Alhaji Chief Sam Sumana. Again the show only produced excitement among APC faithful. Again in the Friday May 29 edition of the government’s mouthpiece the new citizen newspaper, there is a big spread across two pages of a third gathering in Makeni at which “over 1000 former SLPP members who had joined the APC” were presented to the people in the presence of no less a personality than the party leader and President, his Excellency Ernest Bai Koroma.

The whole thing has become a road show which could only be compared to the former BBC “Goon Show” except that the latter was entertaining. Could it be that our friends are still shaken by the recent Pujehun debacle and are making desperate efforts to boost their morale?  But if it is to get us rattled then I must hasten to disillusion them by saying that we are neither impressed nor moved. Here is a sound piece of advice from an old man. The party would do much better for themselves if they would strive to attend to the burning issue of improving the lives of the people by bringing the cost of living down to acceptable levels. As usual this advice is given for free with no conditionality attached…”.

May I ask Dr. Banya this question, did the SLPP not organise a big road show at the Old School complex, Hill Station in 2004 celebrating the capture of the late Musa K. Suma when he decided to join the party after he lost the APC leadership contest to the now President Ernest Koroma? What about the open celebrations in Gbinti and Port Loko town when Dr. Abass Budu pitched tent with the SLPP?

Can Dr. Sama Banya please disclose how many APC supporters, (I’m not even referring to the prominent ones), but ordinary APC supporters who’ve declared openly for the SLPP? None, at all, not even one. But the list of former SLPP supporters, among them are very powerful and prominent ones, resigning from the party to the APC is becoming endless. In politics, we talk about numbers. Every single member is an important voter. Therefore, the loss of every single member from the party must be a cause for concern and not dismissal. I cannot justify Dr. Banya’s jubilation over the so-called by-election victory and his assumption that the party is gaining lost grounds when thousands continue to move away from the party. This sounds very nonsensical. The party must first consolidate a firm grip on the old members before attempting to lure new ones. All these defected supporters voted for the SLPP in 2007, yet the party lost miserably in both the Western Area and the North. Don’t you think the worst is on the way for the party come 2012?

Only a lunatic will describe these massive defections as a political gimmick aimed at fooling the ruling APC. One should never under-estimate what a ruling party like the APC is capable of doing especially when they are in power and capable of pulling the strings and calling the tunes. The SLPP must be mindful of the fact that it has never wrestled power from the APC through the ballot box, but the APC has done that twice. So for anyone to be nurturing the idea that the SLPP will easily defeat the APC in the ballot box is like asking when a Lebanese will become President of Sierra Leone.

This was the same Dr. Sama Banya writing all sorts of dismissive articles on Charles Margai’s resignation and his eventual formation of the PMDC, until the party hierarchy towed his line and took Margai as insignificant, only for the same Banya to now turned around and cast part of the blame of the SLPP loss to the creation of the SLPP by Margai.

I sense more SLPP defections to the ruling APC as the 2012 draws nearer and prominent among the future defectors will definitely include some current SLPP Parliamentarians. Mark my words!!

Mustapha Abu Kpaka, Washington-USA

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