Somano Karpen
By Bampia James Bundu
Chairman and leader of the main opposition Sierra Leone Peoples’ Party, SLPP, Chief Sumano Kapen has called on the Interreligious Council in Sierra Leone to intervene and resolve the impasse that has plagued his party.
He told the 50th anniversary celebration of the late Sir Milton Margai at the Bank Complex in Freetown that the manner in which the membership of the party was behaving could be tantamount to destroying the organisation if urgent remedies were not found.
“Our major problem is greed, selfishness, ego, and lack of self-discipline among the senior ranks of the party”, he said, adding that since the Bo convention the party had only succeeded in dividing itself into camps rather than coming together to strategise for the upcoming general elections.
Chief Kapen admitted that the All People's Congress, APC, government had failed the people of Sierra Leone and at the same time the opposition, which was charged with the responsibility of checkmating the government had also failed to discharge its duty effectively.
“All some of us in the SLPP and APC care about is to fight for succession, forgetting our responsibility to the people of this country”, he said. He called on the interreligious council to intervene and solve the division within the SLPP, "because only such bodies could help with SLPP problem". He used the forum as an opportunity to call on his members, aggrieved or not, to come together and work in the interest of the party.
“If the party is united as a family there is nothing we cannot do. But if we are divided we will never win elections in this country”, he said, and called party members to forget about the issue of standard bearer for the party now and focus on strengthening the party across the country.
“I have been branded by both factions wrongly. I am not supporting any flagbearer. I am working in the interest of the party, and it’s high time we all came together as a family and moved the party forward”, he concluded.
(C) Politico 01/05/14
