By Kemo Cham
Four presidential aspirants in the main opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) have thrown their weight behind Alpha Timbo who last week formally announced his candidacy for the flag bearer ticket.
The SLPP is due to go for its much anticipated convention which is slated for an unknown date.
Alie Kabba, Francis Lahai, Munda Rogers and John Oponjo Benjamin joined Mr Timbo in Makeni last Saturday, April 30, where he announced his intention to run for the party’s ticket to contest the presidency in elections slated for 2018.
“Timbo has worked hard to promote development in this country, and I think he is the right man for the 2018 elections,” said Dr. Francis Lahai, during a statement at the ceremony held in the town of Rokulan in northern Sierra Leone, the home town of Mr Timbo.
Alie Kabba spoke about Timbo’s contribution as an activist in removing the One-party governance system established by President Siaka Stevens under the APC.
“We need a leader that will embrace the totality of the country…Timbo was a seasoned activist who has criss-crossed the country engaging and mobilizing people who are marginalized,” Kabba said.
Kabba, whose candidacy has been marred by his trial on allegation of bigamy, said Sierra Leone was in a critical stage because the present government had destabilized all what the SLPP-led government had put together.
The governing APC first came to power in 2007 after defeating the SLPP which presided over the return to peace after the 1991-2002 civil war.
“Timbo is the fighter of 99 percent of what the present government are signing contract for.
“We need someone that has demonstrated leadership to people in need to shape this country, and in order to achieve this we are going to team up for SLPP to take leadership in 2018,” said Kabba.
In his statement, John Oponjo Benjamin said Rokulan people had clearly demonstrated that the SLPP was still alive and kicking by the way they mobilized themselves.
Benjamin, a former national chairman of the party, said by forming an alliance they had noticed that the people of Sierra Leone were going through a lot of constraints.
“The northern region is united when we talk about political pluralism and with what I have seen Alpha Timbo is the right man for the grand show,” he said.
Munda Rogers said he and his wife fully supported Timbo and that their presence at the forum was a demonstration of this.
SLPP National Chairman, Chief Somano Kapen, stated that a good leader would maintain people’s support if he was able to address their needs.
Alpha Timbo is a veteran teacher, having taught for about 10 years prior to joining politics. He first came to the limelight as Secretary General of the Sierra Leone Teachers` Union between 1990 and late 2000. He would later serve as Secretary General of the Sierra Leone Labor Congress and helped co-found and served as coordinator of the civil society movement which was instrumental in negotiating peace for the country.
Timbo went on to serve as Minister of Labour, Social Security and Industrial Relations under late President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.
The Rokulan ceremony attracted a cross section of executive members of the SLPP, delegates, supporters and well wishers.
The ceremony was chaired by Ronald Gidwani Esq, a member of the Timbo team. He told the gathering that Timbo had played a vital role in the formation of the SLPP which had produced prominent people who had ruled the country well. He said Timbo decided to do his declaration in his home town in order to get the blessing of his elders, a belief he said was paramount in any successful life.
The SLPP flag bearership contest has been blamed for worsening an internal wrangling that has dominated the party within the last several years since it lost to the APC in the 2012 Presidential election.
It is not clear if by declaring for him the four aspirants have denounced their own presidential ambition. But in any case, Timbo must brace up for a battle with political weights in the persons of ex-head of state Rtd Brigadier Julius Maada Bio and former UN diplomat Dr Kandeh Yumkella.
Timbo, during his statement in Rokulan, explained why he thinks he stands out among all the rest.
“We need a candidate who under any circumstances can be voted in as a substitute to the current APC government, and I am one such candidate,” he said.
“We need a leadership that will accelerate development because we have slowed down for long,” he added.
The former Labor minister said he joined the SLPP out of frustration because of the killing of a relative of his, right in front of him at Rokulan.
“I chose the SLPP because of its motto (one country one people); and because I wanted to see complete unity between the regions,” he said.
“I am not someone who says that if it is not me then no one else,” he said,” adding: “I know and appreciate the gains that SLPP has made in the south and the east and with it being our stronghold; we now have the task of taking on the APC in their own stronghold here in the north.”
He promised that if elected many things would change.
(C) Politico 04/05/16
