By Kemo Cham
A group of senior musicians have dissociated themselves from calls by some section of the music industry propagating the controversial presidential term increment for Ernest Bai Koroma.
In a press release issued yesterday the Sierra Leone Musicians Union (SLMU) said they were more concerned with developing their members and that the group had no political agenda.
The so-called ‘More Time’ debate, which regained momentum last week after a group of budding musicians openly expressed support for the idea, was seen as a continuation of what some ruling All Peoples Congress supporters began shortly after the 2012 elections.
Those in support of the idea had called for President Koroma to be allowed to remain in office after the expiration of his constitutional mandate in 2018. The constitution of Sierra Leone allows for only two terms for a president.
The ‘More Time’ supporters argued that the president could not complete his development projects because of the Ebola epidemic. Others went further to say that because of his development strides, President Koroma needed to be “rewarded” with more time.
Milton Coker, president of the All Stars, a group of musicians, last week said on a popular radio interview that his organization wanted to have the president continue because he was the only person who had the ability to provide what the country’s musicians wanted.
Coker, known by his artistic name as Collabo, claimed that he was speaking for the over 98 percent of musicians in the country who made up his organization, all of whom he said supported the call for ‘More Time.’
But another set of musicians, mostly senior members, said they completely wanted to dissociate themselves from the statement.
“The SLMU completely disassociates itself from any campaign with regards to ‘More Time’ and would like to make it abundantly clear that the union is apolitical and non-partisan, even though it respects the diversity of opinions of its members as long as the constitution of the Sierra Leone Musicians Union and the constitution of Sierra Leone are respected,” a statement signed by the union’s Secretary General, Emrys Savage, better known as King Fisher, and its Chairman, Christopher Alie Conteh, reads in part.
SLMU also debunked claims by Collabo that All Stars was the umbrella body of musicians in the country.
The statement said as a trade union affiliated with the Sierra Leone Labor Congress, “it makes it the umbrella body of all musicians in Sierra Leone.”
The ‘More Time’ debate first began as a campaign by now Minister of Transport and Aviation, Leonard Balogun Koroma, who was later appointed to his current position. The baton was handed over, as it were, to former opposition lawmaker who switched allegiance to the APC, Robin Fallay, who rebranded the campaign as ‘After U, Na U.’ And lately posters and t-shirts bearing ‘More Time’ surfaced.
Even though such campaigns were being held at official functions, government officials had constantly denied that the calls for extension were endorsed by the president himself.
Last week Thursday Deputy Information Minister Theo Nicol said at the government’s weekly press conference that President Koroma had no intention of staying in office beyond his constitutional term.
And on Friday, Vice President Victor Bockarie Foh re-echoed the statement saying that those who were calling for ‘More Time’ were not doing so in the name of the President.
“More Time is not President Koroma’s Idea…,” Mr Foh was quoted by the Sierra Leone News Agency.
(C) Politico 20/01/16
