NOW THE HEIR APPARENT COMES TO INHERIT HIS FATHER’S LEGACY. What is this hogwash about a UN-returnee wanting to be gifted a presidential job under a party (SLPP) that he only identifies with through birth? As long as the myth about Kandeh Yumkellah is not taken off the social media, it will be a disservice to our people and the country but if only we do not also bring forth the bare truth to educate those who want to create something out of nothing. Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkellah, holds a BSc in General Agriculture, Njala University College, University Sierra Leone; MSc in Agricultural Economics, Cornell University; PhD in Agricultural Economics, University of Illinois. Formerly: 1994-95, Minister for Trade, Industry and State Enterprises of Sierra Leone; in different high-level policy positions, including Special Adviser to two previous Director-Generals and as Representative and Director, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Regional Office, Nigeria: 2005-13 Director-General, UNIDO. Currently: Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General; Chief Executive Officer, Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All); responsible for the planning and implementation of the initiative as well as engaging with the leadership of relevant stakeholders in governance, businesses, academia and civil society at the highest level and to advocate for and promote sustainable energy for all. This is an undeniable fact about this fine Sierra Leonean gentleman, but what falls short of him is the ingredients of the qualifications to lead the Sierra Leone People’s Party and ultimately become the President of Sierra Leone. Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkellah has in various interviews, failed woefully to convince listeners about his honest belonging to any registered political party in this country. The erstwhile Chairman and Leader of the Sierra Leone Peoples’ Party (John O. Benjamin), in a very strong term, ‘threatened to take legal actions against Dr Yumkellah should he produce any membership card dating before or during his time’. As far as JOB is concerned, Kandeh was not a registered member of the SLPP unto the eve of his exit as chairman and leader of the party. So Dr Kandeh’s membership could only span from 2013 to now. The Fans of Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkellah may be quick to refuse this as a barrier to his right to lead the SLPP. I agree that there are precedents. Tejan Kabba for instance was never a member of the SLPP but became the leader and ultimately the president of the country. What is key though are the lessons learnt form that administration. The Kabba administration left the party battered and, if there is anything about the party for which Dr. Kandeh Yumkellah had refused to associate with, it emanated from that administration. Tejan Kabba as an outsider-elected-as-SLPP-leader, knowing nothing about party loyalty was more aggressive to the party faithfuls than the intruders. Hinga Norman, Charles Margai, Harry Will, Prince Harding, Abass C Bundu, Momoh Pujeh all suffered under the Kabba administration whilst the likes of Usu Boie Kamara (now APC) continued to enjoy protection from Tejan Kabba. Kabba left the SLPP divided between Berewa and Charles and unified APC on the eve of the 2007 elections. Kabba gave back the impounded Marine House to the APC but left a case hanging over Dr Abass Bundu’s Wallace Johnson Street building. Kabba left the APC with a propaganda machinery (We Yone Radio) while the SLPP had no radio station. After 11 years in power, Kabba left the SLPP on a very bad financial footing but donated Le 137,000,000 to the Madingo mosque. In the heat of the 2007 elections, Tejan Kabba denounced SLPP and claimed to be the ‘Father of the Nation and not president of the SLPP’ (after he had handpicked an unpopular candidate, Solo B as against the people’s choicest-Charles Margai). TJK unlike any other African president, accorded the Chief Electoral Commissioner the unconstitutional right to invalidate results from 477 polling stations from his party’s stronghold to give winning to the opposition. Ultimately, on his last celebrated birthday, Tejan Kabba informed attendees that, he came back home to rest from his UN job and was approached and begged to lead SLPP which implies that he was never SLPP. With all these lessons learnt from the Kabba administration, I honestly do not think any sincere SLPP member will want to repeat the same error. Ceteris parabus, Tejan Kabba remains one of best presidents the country has seen and who can never be compared to what we see today. But for party loyalty, he failed woefully to protect a party that added so much to making the CV that he was buried with. Away from the lessons learnt from the Kabba administration, Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkellah in a popular radio interview said that ‘he has never registered or voted in any elections in this country.’ So, is it really prudent to elect somebody a president who has never been part of the process of electing another? No! Let us borrow from the reasons for participating in elections in the US. The Americans believe that everybody should partake in elections because: • It is an opportunity to exercise one of the privileges of living in a democratic nation. Our democracy is a privilege that should not be taken lightly. We fought and lives were lost to unseat the dictatorship of the apc and elected a government in 1996 with our military playing a key role. That is why most people (unlike Dr. Kandeh) come to the county to be part of the democratic process of electing representatives and a government. If we all stopped participating in the electoral process, our democratic governance could wither away. • It is a show of pride in your homeland. Elections take place at a national, state and local level. Taking the time to understand the issues and evaluate what each candidate has to offer, helps to establish a sense of community and a kinship with fellow citizens across the nation. So why should we abstain? • It is a responsibility of all citizens. Citizens have a responsibility to participate in the political process by registering and voting in elections. In the naturalization oath of the US for example, new citizens swear to support the Constitution of the United States, and voting is an integral part of that Constitution. • No one likes taxation without representation. As a citizen of this country, you want a say in where your taxes go and how this country is run. Voting for a person who represents your visions and goals for your new country is an opportunity to become part of the process. What is wrong if Dr Kandeh Yumkellah had participated in the democratic process just for the above mentioned reasons? We should vote because its our duty to choose the best leader that has integrity and decisiveness in peace or war. Intelligence can add to choosing a candidate with the ability to communicate with proficient diplomacy, which allows assurance of rights. If we dont vote, then we cannot make any changes to remove a corrupt person or government and to have a representative of our liking. We (should) vote because its our duty as citizens to lend credence to the effort of our military who since 1992 laid down their lives to lay the foundation for a meaningful democratic governance in our country. Those who choose not to vote attempt to bring dishonor to these men & women. We should vote so that we dont end up with idiots in charge. Other people have voted because they care, but others have not voted because, they did not have enough sense to care. So why should we care to elect them? Besides Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkellah’s flagrant refusal to elect a democratic leader in this country, when has he ever been part of any SLPP struggle? When has he been a part of the country’s struggle? At this point, let me juxtapose Dr Kandeh Yumkellah (proclaimed SLPP diplomat) and Dr. Abdulai Conteh (sincere APC diplomat). Dr. Abdulai Conteh graduated with LLB (Hons) from Kings College London where he won the Harold Porter Prize for Land Law in 1968, and subsequently continued his education at Kings College, Cambridge. He was a member of Lincolns Inn and was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1970. He is from the Limba ethnic group of Sierra Leone, and was part of the All Peoples Congress. Dr Contehs public service in Sierra Leone has included holding the offices of Minister of Foreign Affairs (1977–1984); Minister of Finance (1984–1985); Attorney-General and Minister of Justice (1987–1991) and First Vice-President and Minister of Rural Development (1991–1992), as well as being an elected Member of Parliament. In January 2000, Dr Conteh became the Chief Justice of the Belize Supreme Court. He turned 65 on August 6 2010, and had to retire. His retirement became a national political issue” because of his popularity with the masses of the Belizean people, and was regarded by many as fair-minded and fearless. In December 2008, Dr. Conteh was appointed as a Justice of the Court of Appeal of the Cayman Islands. In 2010, he was appointed to the Court of Appeal of the Bahamas. As an individual who respects his nationality and political ties, even as he lives out of the country, he always have a say at the most defining moments. When the country struggled with the debate of the qualifications of the Speaker of the House, listen to what Dr Abdulai Conteh said: “It is with consternation that I read the recent Constitutional amendment passed by Parliament concerning the qualification for election to the Speakership of Parliament. With all the goodwill, respect and esteem I hold for Parliament, this amendment is unnecessary, uncalled for and a recipe for a constitutional debacle ahead in our country’s efforts to achieve a stable and fairer political process in its governance.” This is what we label good statesmanship. What did Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkellah do when the last SLPP administration failed to provide sustainable electricity for the people of this country, for which they were rejected by the citizenry in 2007? When some apc faithfuls put their party interest above national, by disregarding the TRC recommendation and asked for an “INQUEST”, listen to Dr Abdulai Conteh again: “That could have been my son where the others’ sons stand today. I look on Julius Bambay Kamara as he struggles to clear his father’s name and I know it could have been my own son standing there”. Dr Abdulai Conteh gave his personal opinion on the issues to give support to wherever he stood in the apc struggle. This is a partisan loyalty from somebody who believes in his party’s ideology irrespective of the state his party was in. In 2007, there was an international conspiracy on SLPP to deny them clear victory in the general elections. Under the watchful eyes of the then Special Executive Secretary of the UN, Carlos Venezuela. Results of 477 polling station were unconstitutionally nullified by the Chief Electoral Commissioner. Dr Sylvia Blyden, a well-known APC-born-and-bred, qualified medical doctor cum journalist, wrote extensively to condemn the act of the nullification of the votes. Other Sierra Leoneans added voice. Unlike Dr Abdulai Conteh, who sent his voice to support the apc-ploy to undermine the TRC recommendation, as a show of partisan responsibility, Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkellah could not add any voice to condemn the attack on justice and democracy in his country and against his so-claimed father’s party. “The world suffers not because of the bad people, but because good people have failed to speak,” says a famous quotation. Therefore, Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkellah and his likes are the reasons why SLPP and the country continue to suffer from the present political dispensation. So why should he or any of his bootlickers think he should be allowed to lead the SLPP or the country? And let me recall that anyone who wishes to leads a political party should first and foremost be loyal to that party; both by party labels and identification. Political parties are not inherited as legacy by default. Loyalty is when an individual maintains his partisan label even though the party does not provide him benefits. Albert O. Hirschman, in his seminal work (1970), “Exit, Voice, and Loyalty”, developed a theory of loyalty to explain why individuals remain wedded to institutions, specifically when the institution is in a state of decline. Loyalty explains why individuals sticks with a deteriorating institution. A loyal individual may use voice to reverse the decline, but does not quit or disassociate with the unit. Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkellah has said the SLPP is ‘sour in the eyes of the international community and that he has come to clean the messes’. The ANC was branded a terrorist organization by the West, did Mandela, Demond Tutu, Jacob Zuma, Mbeki and others abandon it? But out of curiosity, can I enquire of Dr Yumkellah as to when and why has the SLPP become sour to the West? And to bring it to his senses, for most families in Sierra Leone, like the family of Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkellah, party identification is part of a child’s socialization process; it is one of the ways people learn to orient themselves to the political world so that by the time they reach voting age, party allegiance is made. Political party identification matters because it influences the perceptions of and their participation in the political world. For instance, partisan choice predicts individual voting decisions with remarkable accuracy. Party identification also predicts individual levels of political activism, issue preferences, and how individuals receive political information. If Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkellah neglected his father’s political party, a party that has been part of his childhood socialization process, why does he think the people of SLPP should rally behind him for the leadership and convince the country to elect him president? When Kandeh Kolleh Yumkellah frolicked in his UN honey, the likes of Dr Abass Bundu, Dr Alpha Wurie, Dr Kadie Sesay, John Benjamin, Maada Bio, Alpha Timbo, Andrew Karmoh Keilli, Allie Kabba, Kanja Sesay, Alie Bangura, Dr Jabbie, Lawyer Brewah, Ngakui, Bockarie Bawoh and many others withstood all apc political marginalization to keep the party where it is today. Why should all these people be around and see the SLPP party giving a scholarship of leadership to someone that has long neglected it? As Dr Kandeh Kolleh recently retracted his statement of non-partisan identification, I expected that he joined the line of Dr Peter Tucker, Dr Tengbeh, Dr Jonanthan Sandy, and Bishop Humper etc, to finding a way of bringing back peace to the party instead of his threat of perpetrating violence in the party after he would have removed “the diplomatic coat.” When Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkellah boasted, in a monologue interview, of use of AK 47 in demonstrations, I said to myself: “Is this guy really what we need?” He was bold to tell all listeners that he expects violence when he challenges for the SLPP leadership and will come ready to perpetrate the violence. Is this what we expect from a UN trained civil servant? Is this what SLPP needs as it struggles again to rebrand the mind-set of the poor electorates who seek an alternative to the rotten and out of tune apc rule? No! For the 7 or more years that the apc has mud-slinged Rtd Brg Julius Maada Bio, he has maintained a composure so un-military that has won sympathy from among even his haters. So why is a UN diplomat threatening the use of violence against his very people? What SLPP needs now is not a UN experience or academic qualifications, but a leader that is followed and has the capacity to move the voters to come out and make the change. Maada has done it and will always do it. He remains part of the peoples’ daily lives and dream. Even if it is not Maada, Dr Kandeh Yumkellah should be the least of options for any political party to imagine. To summarize the key gist of my argument, I posit that people are driven by peripheral cues that are largely irrelevant to actual matters of policy. While policy issues matter, people vote for candidates who look and sound presidential and Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkellah does not sound or even look presidential like my Rtd Brg Julius Maada Bio. Credit Ben ghazi Unit.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 11:21:09 +0000
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