-Says Alhaji Koroma
October 11, 2016 By Regina Pratt
Administrative Director of the main opposition Sierra Leone People Party (SLPP), Alhaji Brima Koroma, who has also expressed interest to vie for the position of National Secretary-General, has told Concord Times that the holder of the said position is a policy maker and think-tank of any political party.
He made the above assertion on Friday, 7 October, 2016 during an exclusive interview with Concord Times at his Wallace-Johnson Street office.
He said the Secretary-General should be a level headed person and not a radical, adding that he must speak wisely to the issues.
Asked as to whether he would be able to handle the position due to his quiet disposition, he said the party has a public relations officer who speaks on its behalf, adding “my position now as Administrative Director does not give me the mandate to speak on behalf of the party because my work is to write and not talk. This is not my first time of involving in executive politics, as I have involved in student politics. If given the opportunity, people would see a different Alhaji Koroma.”
He said: “The party needs peace and reconciliation and I think delegates do not know Alhaji Koroma of any wrong doings. Every party is made up of people and those who have served diligently in the party should be voted for.”
He told Concord Times that he decided to contest for the position because he has vast experience working for the party since he registered in 1991 as an executive member.
“I have worked with five chairmen and other party executives. I have contested on two occasions but had to step down for other contenders so that peace would reign,” he said, adding that this time round delegates should look at loyalty, commitment and who could do a good job.
“I know I am one of the best candidates for that position,” he boasted.
He said when the SLPP was overthrown in 1997, he served as a member of a unit called the sanction managers in Conakry, Guinea.
He said the unit was charged with the responsibility to monitor how the junta regime was operating in Sierra Leone, adding that as Constituency Chairman in 1999, he organised all his colleague constituency chairpersons to bring out issues that they took to their representatives in the Lome Peace Accord.
“The paper I presented in that meeting caught the eyes of the then Secretary-General who appealed to me that I should come and help in the secretariat,” he said.
He expressed confidence that the SLPP would win the 2018 presidential and general elections and called on members to put party division aside and work for their return to State House by supporting whosoever emerges as the standard bearer.
“As an Administrative Director, I have not changed my posture and position to date and I will not change if given the chance to be the party’s National Secretary-General in the 2016 national convention,” he concluded.