Thursday, 17 December 2015

A P C FLAGBEARERSHIP: WHO WILL REPLACE PRESIDENT KOROMA??

Where are the APC flag-bearer aspirants?

{Courtesey: Sierra Express Media}

By: Adeyemi Paul - SEM on December 16, 2015

The call for ‘more time’ or whatever phraseologies relating to the extension of President Ernest Bai Koroma’s tenure of office may have overtaken the struggle in the governing All People’s Congress (APC) for the flag-bearership position of the party, but many names have been coming prior to the bombshell that was dropped by the APC National Youth League at their national convention held in Makeni this year. The APC National Youth President had asked that President Ernest Bai Koroma be given ‘more time’ to continue with his exemplary development strides in the country. And it seems they are pushing forward with their infamous demand as evidenced by the clash between two youthful groups at State House this week over the ‘more time’ campaign.

Prior to the ‘more time’ campaign for President Ernest Bai Koroma, reports were doing the rounds that some stalwarts in government were to declare as flag-bearer aspirants for the APC. The names of certain Ministers came up though they did not admit openly declaring for the coveted position. The Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr. Kalfala Marah, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Dr. Samura Kamara, Minister of Mines and Mineral Resources, Alhaji Minkailu Mansaray, and Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Captain Alie Pat-Sow were some of the names that came up in party circles. The former Minister of Works, Housing and Infrastructure, Alimamy Petito Koroma, was also rumoured to be interested in declaring as flag-bearer aspirant. But all these names went into oblivion when the ‘more time’ campaign for the President was kick-started in Makeni a few months ago. Are these guys afraid of coming out public to declare their intentions for the 2018 presidential candidacy of the APC because the President may have an intention to extend his tenure of office by whatever means?

At present, there are only two stalwarts in the APC that have not minced matters when they openly declared for the flag-bearership. They are the Vice President of Shandong Steel and Iron Company that succeed the African Minerals Limited, Mr. Moseray Fadika, and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sierra Rutile Limited, Mr. John Bonnoh Sisay. Both personalities have influence and affluence to push their way through given their opulent wealth that is very potent in persuading delegates to side with them.

Both Messrs. Moseray Fadika and John Bonnoh Sisay have already formed their movements to promote their political intentions for the APC leadership and chairmanship ahead of the 2018 presidential election provided President Ernest Bai Koroma steps down after the end of his second tenure.

While Mr. John B. Sisay is still mobilizing support in the country especially in the Northern Region where he hails from, Mr. Moseray Fadika has gone a step ahead by not only touring the length and breadth of the country to familiarize himself with the people especially the youths, but has also taken his campaign abroad to consult with APC members and supporters in the Diaspora for their total support. His overseas tour took him to the United States of America (USA), Germany and other European countries, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), before he returned home a fortnight ago. Mr. Moseray Fadika’s overseas tour was reported as very successful as even some Sierra Leoneans from the other side attended the town hall meetings that were organized for him by different branches of the APC in the Diaspora.

But following the formation of the JBS Movement which coincided with the death and burial of his beloved mother, not much has been heard of Mr. John B. Sisay in the APC except criticism from certain quarters that he is the first cousin of the President and that the APC leadership is not a dynasty to be dominated by siblings of the same family from Kamabai. Nonetheless, you cannot underestimate his ambition for what he is gunning for because Sierra Leone politics, whether you take it or leave it, is all about money, tribal and regional sentiments and John B. Sisay has the financial might to spin the heads of delegates going in for money. He is also well educated and exposed to the outside world but the only problem about him is many people have claimed that he does not speak the lingua franca fluently and the APC which comprised mainly grassroots supporters may not see one who does not speak the Krio to lead them. If that information about him is true and he is still nursing the ambition to become a flag-bearer aspirant in the APC, then my advice to him is to start taking frequent lesson in Krio to march with the true character of APC as grassroots political party; otherwise, how would he campaign to the illiterates across the country?

The profile of Mr. Moseray Fadika will qualify him as true grassroots politician capable of stooping down to conquer. Quite apart from being a wealthy Sierra Leonean with massive investment in the mining sector, the Shandong Vice President’s generosity cuts across the strata of society. Countless government officials, stalwarts in the APC, the unemployed youths and many other categories of people have benefited from his largess ceaselessly. His willingness to give freely without any string attached, his passion for assisting vulnerable and needy and his penchant for funding traditional masquerade groups during occasions has won the hearts of many supporters and members of the APC who see the young man as their next redeemer.

In fact, since Mr. Moseray Fadika declared as flag-bearer aspirant, many of the names that previously showed up for the flag-bearership suddenly subsided as though they wouldn’t want to contest against their man who has been lavishly generous to them in the buoyant years of AML. I can’t name names but there are many Members of Parliament, Government Ministers and other senior officials in the Koroma administration that benefited from the generosity of Mr. Moseray Fadika though they can’t confess that in public. Now, the one-million-dollar question is will any of these beneficiaries have the temerity to step on the toes of their financial by also declaring their interests in the APC flag-bearership? I believe something must be happening behind the scene that would force many stalwarts that had declared earlier for the coveted position to back out of the flag-bearer race if the ‘more time’ campaign does not work.

On his academic background, Mr. Moseray Fadika, who is a very successful businessman, has claimed having double Masters’ degree from an overseas University and some of his close friends have confirmed that to me. But when the time is ripe for the real flag-bearer contest, he would be bold enough to present his credentials to the general public for proper vetting. I believe that mood would be necessary on the grounds that some flag-bearers from the opposition are educationally equipped to defend their credentials in any podium with academic finesse. For instance, we have someone like Alhaji Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella of the main opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) whose academic credentials and eloquence is as smooth as hot knife running through butter. Any flag-bearer aspirant that is not academically equipped will have a tight tongue debating with him on national and international issues. I’m certain Mr. Moseray Fadika, who is also a University graduate and has lived abroad for several years, can prove himself worthy of challenging any flag-bearer aspirants in national debates when the time comes. So the ball is definitely in their court to prove who is who in the pre-election period ahead of 2018.

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Monday, 16 November 2015

B R E A K I N G N E W S !! U D M PARTY LEADER RESIGNS !

MOHAMED BANGURA LEADER OF THE U D M PARTY RESIGND!, (Resignation letter reproduced below)

Bangura has been the strongman of this party from inception but now feels he must strive to an alternative direction. Bangura has not indicated what path he wishes to follow or will be following!

Would he be taking his past experience to galvanise the APC which many people assumes he will be joining?

Bangura's political experiences thus far suggest he will not be crawling behind doors , putting on his slippers in his bedroom day after day to wallow away the time.

We expect Bangura will soon acquaint us of his New Political Direction (NPD) if he is not to fade away like many budding leaders, into insignificance✈️🚀

Will will wait for Mohamed Bangura's next move.✈️🚀

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Sierra Leone News: “I have an unfinished business in UDM”- Mohamed Bangura

The erstwhile Chairman and Leader of the United Democratic Movement (UDM) party, Mohamed Bangura has in an exclusive interview with Awoko stated that he has an unfinished business in the UDM party, a political outfit he championed in 2006.
“I have an unfinished business in the party which is why I am going to contest for the Chairmanship position again,” Mr. Bangura declared.
The UDM holds its second National Delegates Assembly on Saturday, 10th May instant. The assembly he said will hold in Freetown, at Calaba Town and is expected to attract 26o delegates from across the country, the erstwhile Chairman and Leader revealed.
“I want a fresh mandate from my people to steer the ship of our party for the next two years,” he declared, noting that the party needs a “robust and charismatic leader” who can position the UDM as the much clamored for Third Force Party in Sierra Leone. “I can provide that leadership for the party and my people will repose that confidence in me,” he assured.
According to Mohamed Bangura, making a party prominent is not only limited to winning elections and forming a government. He maintains that it goes beyond that as it also requires shaping the national discuss, providing more leadership space to young people, promoting the participation of women in governance issues and to serve as a bridge for the people and provide alternative.
Bangura explained that so far the party has not received or heard of any other candidate that is interested in the position of chairman.
“I will be declared unopposed come 10th May 2014,” he further assured, noting that the UDM is a democratic party and every member has the right to run for any position he or she is qualified for.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bangura has stated that he detests politicians perpetuating themselves in power endlessly without going through the due process of a democratic election. “I will continue to contest for this position for a very long time to come until a fitting member defeats me a democratic election,” Mr. Bangura stated.
By Betty Milton
Wednesday May 07, 2014

{Courtsey: AWOKO NEWSPAPER/ Tue November 17, 2015}

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The UDM Factor in Sierra Leone Politics

 8 November 2011 at 01:09 | 

{Courtesey: Patriotic Vanguard}

Opinion

By Abdulai Bayraytay in Toronto.

Since the official registration of Sierra Leone’s nascent political party, the United Democratic Movement (UDM), few weeks ago by the Political Parties Registration Commission (PRRC), its founding member and leader, Mohamed Bangura, has increasingly come under scathing attacks from a cross section of both the electronic and print media.

The attacks have been consistent: Mohamed Bangura has just not only been referred to as loquacious and a protégé doing the dirty work of the ruling All Peoples’ Congress Party (APC) , (http://www.sierraleoneview.com/news135.html), a vain, opportunistic and embattled politician on the pay roll of President Ernest B. Koroma, (http://www.thenewpeople.com/front-page/item/1296-the-embattled-udm%E2%80%99s-mohamed-bangura), but, above all, as someone bent on denigrating no other person than the Executive Representative of the United Nation Secretary General (ERSG) Michael Van der Schulenburg, and raining consistent attacks, or rather invectives (my emphasis) on the newly elected flag bearer of the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), Julius Maada Bio.

While the above could be political actions on the personality of Mohamed Bangura as a strategy to discourage him from actively participating in the national politics of a country that he is a legitimate stake holder, yet there is another side of Mohamed that he has not trumpeted like other “loquacious’ politicians would have done.

Undoubtedly, Mohamed Bangura has immensely contributed to the sustenance of democracy and the fight against corruption as a young reporter with the now defunct New Breed newspaper. In 1993, for instance, as a journalist cum human rights campaigner, he was along with writers like Dr. Julius Spencer and Alie Bangura (erstwhile chief electoral commissioner of the SLPP and former High Commissioner to Ghana), among others, incarcerated at the maximum Pademba road Prisons in Freetown by the NPRC. Their crime then was for knowingly publishing a false article that accused the military NPRC boss of a 43 million dollar diamond deal. Critics of Mohamed Bangura then dismissed him as a mere young, novice journalist unnecessarily risking his life, and being used by his mentors whilst scores of his fans hailed him as a young man who would sacrifice his life for the general good of the country.

In spite of this, Mohamed Bangura did not budge down the road as he consistently held on to his incontrovertible belief that a country like Sierra Leone with a fledgling democracy could only thrive if certain people were (are) willing to sacrifice their lives for that cause.

True to his resolve, up to this day, Mohamed Bangura has never reneged in his campaign for human rights and the rule of law as he continues to galvanize the youth across the country from whom he largely draws most of his grassroots support to maintain that cause.

Even when he relocated to Canada in the late 1990s, his hardnosed stance that the worst civilian government could be better than the best military government made Mohamed Bangura an icon among his peers in Toronto as he mobilized his kith and kin in drawing the attention of the Canadian Federal Government and the rest of the international community to support the restoration of the ousted elected civilian erstwhile President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah and his Sierra Leone Peoples’ Party (SLPP) government to power following the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) coup of May, 1997.

So, would the theory hold water that the SLPP was using Mohamed just because his stance then clearly resonated with the interest of the latter?

Recognizing that Sierra Leoneans had fled the country to neighbouring countries including Liberia, the Gambia and Guinea and the horrendous life that was synonymous of refugees, Mohamed Bangura established the Sierra Leone-Canada Watch as a local non-governmental organization in direct response to the plight of his Sierra Leonean brothers and sisters living in the various refugee camps in the sub-region.

During that period, Mohamed would sacrifice his studies at York University in Toronto to visit Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea, Liberia and the Gambia with largesse in both kind and cash. As if that was not enough, Mohamed Bangura was able to persuade the Canadian Federal Government to grant his organization a sponsorship agreement holder status that saw the influx of Sierra Leonean refugees from the abysmal living conditions in the camps straight to the 58 Davelayne Road residence of Mohamed Bangura in Toronto without asking a dime for any payment of rent and utility bills.

The question then is, how many Sierra Leoneans in the Diaspora, especially during those trying times, would have opened their doors, clothed and fed them without making it to the press on how generous they had been for “rescuing” their kith and kin from refugee life in Africa?

This is where I found it very nauseating that one of those who joined the bandwagon in castigating Mohamed Bangura because his political views are not in sync with his was one of the very beneficiaries of Mohamed Bangura’s largesse!

This is where one finds it very disturbing that a leading political party would buy two hours of air time and spend all of that in not selling its agenda to the people to be voted into office in the forthcoming presidential and parliamentary polls, but rather wasted that time in berating the personality of Mohamed Bangura and in the process concocted the voice of Mohamed Bangura allegedly accepting $800,000 from President Koroma. What a philanthropist President Koroma was to have financed Charles Margai and his now politically superfluous PMDC party?

Through investigative journalism, one of Sierra Leone’s leading newspapers, the Awareness Times newspaper exonerated Mohamed as it turned out to be that the original recording has been ‘butchered” in a puerile attempt to present Mohamed Bangura as a political hustler. What a ricochet effect that was? (http://news.sl/drwebsite/publish/article_200518974.shtml).

The bottom line is, the political history of Sierra Leone in recent times cannot erase the fact that Mohamed Bangura was among the youngest to ever covet the position of national chairman of a then leading political party, the Peoples’ Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC), and that he courageously challenged the dictatorial policies and Machiavellian tactics of its leader, Charles Margai, and resigned his position to the acclamation of lovers of democracy.

To criticize is human, but when such criticisms are ill-conceived to gain political points then the question that begs answers is when will critics of young enterprising leaders learn that had Mohamed Bangura been a bootlicker and a political opportunist, he would have been a yes man all the way and always at the disposal of Charles Margai just to preserve the status quo?.

Indeed, whilst politicians embark on winning votes, they should also be reminded that preposterously besmirching one’s personality for political gain is not just an anathema, but the fact that there is life after politics, and, above all, that there is indeed God overseeing man’s actions on earth be they on politics or otherwise!

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Salone News.

Mohamed Bangura Admits Making Switch to APC or SLPP.

Posted on July 23, 2015

By Ibrahim Samura,

On air, and in studios of radio 98.1, Mohamed Bangura, leader and chairman United Democratic Party, admits making switch to APC or SLPP should there be an opportunity.

He said the APC and SLPP are but the two main political parties, of course, possibly to be in governance forty years to come.

This he said is reason prompting him thinking make a switch to any of the two parties should need be.

Yesterday Wednesday 22nd, Mohamed surprisingly tendered his resignation letter, quitting the position as chairman All Political Parties Association (APPA), an institution he said he has served for over a year and months.

Mohamed’s resignation as chairman APPA, has sparked public debate, and has seen people now say it is because he has been promised ministerial appointment in the ruling APC.

It is true Mohamed was a presidential candidate in the 2012 elections, but at the eleventh hour switched loyalty to opponent President Koroma, then told his supporters not cast vote to his favour but the former (President Koroma) in his bid for second term.

Sources say Mohamed’s resignation as chairman APPA, is linked to alleged political switch to the ruling APC, where incidentally, though unconfirmed, he’s likely to be appointed minister of information.

His interview at radio 98.1 reveals clear that Mohamed is, but on his verge moving to either APC or SLPP, even though the suspicion is that he intends pitched fence with the ruling APC.

Wednesday, 28 October 2015

SLPP NAMBARA!! THE WIND OF CHANGE TODAY!!

HINGA NORMAN FAMILY REJECTS SLPP

SAM HINGA NORMAN Jr. DECLARES FOR APC AT YOUTH CONFERENCE.

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Sam Hinga Norman Jr, son of the late former Defence Minister and strongman of the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), publicly declared his support to the All People’s Congress party (APC) last week at the APC youth convention in Makeni. He thanked EBK and the APC for standing by his family when SLPP throw his father under the bus.

Listen en learn..

https://www.facebook.com/foryoh.patric/videos/10208341879013166/

Mr Norman, who has served as Deputy Minister of Defence and Minister for Interior Affairs in President Alhaji Tejan Kabbah’s Government, has remained engaged in politics also while detained at the Special Court. President Kabbah has been a supporter of the Special Court for Sierra Leone and local media has earlier reported that Mr Norman felt betrayed by his former colleagues. There have even been rumours that Mr Norman planned to hunger strike in protest of Mr Kabbah’s support for his continued incarceration. [Until very recently, however, Mr Norman has throw his weight behind the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) of president Kabbah. With elections scheduled for July 2007 Mr Norman has been reported to urge support for the SLPP – most likely for fear that his supporters would disturb the election process. In what appears a sudden change of heart, however, Mr Norman recently joined Charles Francis Margai’s opposition party, the Peoples Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC), and thus disassociated himself from the party of the President.

Officer Cadet Samuel Hinga Norman after Pass out military training in 1966 in Britain. A year later he was the spark of the 1967 Coup de Tart.

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DEATH OF SAM HINGA NORMAN- SPECIAL REPORT!

http://wcsc.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/SL-Reports/SamuelHingaNorman_SpecialReport.html

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HINGA NORMAN : A LIFE TIME OF POLITICAL CONTROVERSIES … And Life On A Knife’s Edge………

POSTED BY: PUBLISHER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER KABS KANU SEPTEMBER 16, 2003

HINGA NORMAN : A PLAQUE OF INFAMY OR HEROISM ?

Wilfred Kabs- Kanu looks at a jolly man whose political lifestyle has embodied controversy so far…..

The name Sam Hinga Norman will forever be etched in the memories of Sierra Leoneans, for there is hardly a citizen whose lifestyle in the checquered history of Sierra Leone politics had generated controversy as the Chief’s .

His antagonists like to say that he is such a loyal supporter of the SLPP and South/Eastern hegemony in Sierra Leone that he even accomplished one of the most inglorious achievements in our history , in his quest to maintain the status quo he wants — the first man to interrupt the democratic process and stage a military coup in Sierra Leone. However, if you ask his supporters and some Sierra Leoneans who respect him for his role in bringing peace to Sierra Leone,( whose ranks have now swollen due to the popular support he is receiving after his indictment and arrest by the Special Court) , they will paint you a picture of a hero and a yeoman who could span any frontier to see Evil reversed and ensure that the Good prevails . They believe that the reason that Norman has always found himself in trouble is the fact that he is a man who delights in fighting injustice anywhere. Others, even members of the rebel RUF whom his miltia fought to a virtual standstill before peace was restored in Sierra Leone, will tell you that in real life, you would not meet a nicer, more congenial and jollier person than Chief Norman. It was interesting how he and rebel leaders Foday Sankoh, Issa Sesay and other RUF operatives embraced and shared jokes after the Peace Accord that halted hostilities in Sierra Leone. Years of bitter animousity and bloody war had melted into a broad-faced smile and hug for the very rebels who inflicted unimaginable suffering on the people.

Chief Norman’s critics often make political capital out of that infamous 1967 event when he stormed State House as a young Lieutenant in the Sierra Leone army and interrupted the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister-elect Siaka Stevens , whose APC party had just been declared winner of the epic General Elections , by the Governor-General, Sir Henry Lightfoot-Boston.The then Lt. Norman and his troops closed the big gates of State House and placed under house arrest all those at the ceremony, including Her Majesty The Queen’s representative, Governor-General Lightfoot-Boston, the just sworn-in Prime Minister Stevens and his ministers. This was followed by the declaration of Martial Law throughout Sierra Leone by Norman’s boss, Brigadier David Lansana , whose coup however lasted only a day as junior officers of the army staged a counter-coup and formed the National Reformation Council (NRC).

When the APC were restored to power by another coup a year later, Norman was charged with Treason by the incoming government and spent a long time in Prison, though he won his case on a technicality. APC supporters and his antagonists believe to this day that Norman acted impetously and hot-headedly in a diabolical attempt to thwart democracy .Brig. Lansana shared blames with him, as the late military chief was accused of introducing the army into politics to impose his brother-in-law, SLPP’s Sir Albert Margai on the electorate. SLPP supporters, on the other hand, argue today that Norman’s intervention at State House was his first act of heroism in Sierra Leone’s politics.They justify the move he took, asserting that the Governor-General acted improperly by declaring Stevens winner when the results of the Paramount Chiefs’ elections had still not been announced.But the nation as a whole did not buy that. They thought that Hinga Norman acted improperly,” treasonously ” and dangerously by interfering with the democratic process. History will confirm or dispute the veracity of these adolations. APC political commentators during the Stevens era said that Hinga Norman was lucky to survive that incident. They pointed out that Norman committed Treason of the first order by placing under arrest a representative of the Queen. Under British law then , Treason was punishable by hanging.

Norman came back from incarceration to live with his people , and was later crowned Chief. There is no doubt that Norman is loved and reverred by South/Easterners who consider him their hero emeritus (it must be conceded that even many Northerners and Westerners love him for his role as CDF Chief ), though they believe that justice must be done for the atrocities committed during the Sierra Leone war by all combatants. .

After a distinguished time spent serving his people, the elements of adventurism and danger that must always dog his steps resurfaced when the SLPP returned to power 28 years after the 1967 fracas and as Deputy Minister of Defence , Norman was called upon to head the Civil Defence Force (CDF), which was then conceived as an auxillary force to counter the RUF, and renegade soldiers who had abandoned their sacred duty to protect and defend the people, and had joined the rebels. And here lies the appeal that Hinga Norman enjoys , even while Sierra Leoneans crave justice. The Sierra Leone army , which had taken an oath to defend the people and the territorial integrity of the state, had become contaminated , rebellious and unpatriotic. When they joined the rebels to kill, loot, burn, rape and maim the people, they all placed the survival of the nation in jeopardy. Hinga Normam filled in the void left by the renegade army with his Civil Defence Force , which immediately took the battle to the rebels and sobels and acted as a foil and killjoy to the RUF and the AFRC. The pages of Sierra Leonean folklore will be adorned one day by glorious stories about many a gallant battle fought by the CDF to save the nation from being overrun by the rebels and mutinuous soldiers.

Sadly though, the CDF allegedly committed atrocities , like the rebels and soldiers, though on a smaller scale and the Sierra Leone government has argued that it had no hands in the indictment of Chief Norman, a decision the government said was taken by the Special Court, which is an independent body. Norman is being vicariously held accountable for the alleged atrocities by the CDF.

While Sierra Leoneans await the commencement of the case , only watertight evidence against him placing him on the scenes of atrocities as direct participant or inspirer will derail the sympathy he once enjoyed from the generality of Sierra Leoneans . His yeoman act of being one of the few who stayed in Sierra Leone to fight back , after the bloody May 25, 1997 military Coup , when President Kabbah and other government functuionaries had run away, and his marshalling of the CDF to help defeat the rebels, will for now ensure that he enjoys the distinction of being a hero in the eyes of many Sierra Leoneans.But his 1967 role will equally confine him a place of infamy. It remains to be seen whether the Special Court can provide enough evidence to topple the Chief’s reputation of being the Sierra Leonean hero to his fans.