July 19, 2016 By Victoria Saffa
As the only Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) councilor representing Ward 189, Constituency 055, in Port Loko district, quits the party, the National Secretary General says they are not happy losing another party member.
Ambassador Alie Badara Kamara made this statement in an exclusive interview with this reporter at the SLPP headquarters in Freetown.
However, he told Concord Times that although they are not happy to have lost a member, they are certainly not disappointed because people join political parties on their own volition.
He said that the vacant seat would be filled by another SLPP councilor in a bye-election.
But the opposition has performed dismally in recent bye-elections in the Northern Province, getting a lowly 2 percent in a parliamentary bye-election in Constituency 050 on 9 July.
Councilor Sheku Tejan-Saccoh tendered his resignation to the National Secretary General of the SLPP and copied the Port Loko District Chairman and Northern Region Chairman.
In his letter dated 7 July, 2016, Councilor Tejan-Saccoh said he was resigning because of divisions, infighting and the emergence of camps in the party.
He indicated in his letter that he had been a member of the party for ten years, without benefitting anything from the party.
The letter, obtained by this medium, reads: “I write to inform you that I have decided to resign my membership of the Sierra Leone People’s Party as from today 7th July 2016.”
He noted that nearly four years after the SLPP lost the 2012 presidential election and failed to win a single parliamentary seat in the north, the party was still embroiled in crisis.
“Bitter recriminations, violence and accusations of “scab” have been bandied about and motherly invective becoming the common song of the party,” he said.
He claimed in his letter that despite efforts by him and other constituents to fly the flag of the SLPP in the heartland of the ruling All Peoples Congress, the national executive had not shown them any sign of appreciation, including failure to thank constituents who voted overwhelmingly for the party in 2012.
“Mind you, Ward 189 is the only place in the north where the SLPP won all the elections during the 2012 elections. I have raised this issue several times with key party stakeholders but I have been ignored, probably because I am not part of some sect, camp or cabal,” he stated.
He further alleged that he was humiliated in 2013 at the Delegates Conference in Bo for supporting Ambassador Alie Bangura for the position of Chairman and Leader for the party.
He alleged that a motorbike that had been assigned to him by the party to attend Ward meetings in Port Loko district was disgracefully taken away from him, adding that he reported the matter to the party hierarchy but no action was taken because he is not a supporter of Retired Brigadier Julius Maada Bio, one of the flag bearer aspirants.