By Mohamed T. Massaquoi
A Constituency chairman for Sierra Leone's main opposition All People's Congress (APC) in Pujehun has ditched the party.
Sheku Soko Tarawally of Constituency 103 in Pujehun cited family reasons for parting ways with the party. In a resignation letter addressed to the APC’s District Chairperson and dated August 10, Mr Tarawally cited personal reasons for his decision.
"Henceforth, I will now seize to serve as both Constituency 103 chairman and member of the All People’s Congress (APC) party. It is quite eminent that pressure from my family, relations and friends is so much, and owing to the fact that our background is not APC, I have no alternative other than to succumb to the demands of my people whom I am serving," the letter partly reads.
Constituency 103 covers the district headquarters town of Pujehun and it is the most contentious among the six constituencies in the district.
Despite the district being the stronghold of the governing Sierra Leone People’s Party, in 2007 the parliamentary candidate of the People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) won the seat, defeating the then incumbent SLPP candidate Ansu Kaikai. But the PMDC candidate was later petitioned by Kaikai, leading to the court overturning the result.
Tarawally, once a member of the SLPP, ditched the party in 2011 when he failed to secure its ticket to contest a parliamentary seat in the district. Tarawally was one of the key campaigners for the APC in the 2018 general elections. He told Politico on a telephone interview that he couldn’t stand the limited association he has had with his people since he became a member of the APC.
"I cannot continue politics this way when all my people whom I have had good relationship with seized to associate with me throughout my time in the APC,” he said.
According to Tarawally, this decision can now pave way for him to be involved with development activities in the district.
Tarawally held several positions in the SLPP; between 2006 and 2008 he served in the capacity of chairman of the party for the Eastern Polytechnic student body in Kenema. In 2009 he became the Pujehun District Organizing Secretary, a position he held up to his resignation from the party.
Tarawally’s latest decision has provoked a huge public discussion, particularly in forums dominated by natives of Pujehun. While some lashed at him, many others welcomed his move, hoping that he will re-join the SLPP. But Tarawally told Politico that he was yet to declare for any party.
For the APC, there is no doubt about his intention.
“The resignation of this man is of no surprise to me at all. I definitely saw it coming and it was just a matter of time,” said Mohamed Sheriff, District Chairman of APC.
“There were rumors about his potential switch to the new greener pasture and as a democrat myself, I quite honestly believe that he is just exercising his rights as a citizen,” Sheriff added.
Sheriff said some people might see it as “a manifestation of political prostitution”, but he noted that “the sad reality” is that it happens regularly in Sierra Leone.
“For the fact that Sierra Leoneans have not been doing anything about this flip flop by politicians in terms of their loyalty is becoming a shameful ever-growing norm in the country’s political scene,” he lamented.
But Tarawally said he doesn’t care about what people make of his resignation as long as he has satisfied his conscience, his family, relations and friends.
© 2019 Politico Online
