By Mohamed T. Massaquoi
The main opposition Sierra Leone People's Party on Sunday raised more than a billion leones in donations and pledges towards the construction of its regional headquarters complex in the southern headquarter town of Bo.
Speaking at a turning of the sod ceremony witnessed by more than 1,000 party stalwarts, the party's southern regional chairman, Edward Soloku said the building project "marks the beginning of the end of the indignity and humiliation of housing our party in a rented house in its place of birth."
He said the construction of the office "sends a clear message to our members and the people of Sierra Leone in general that we are ready to put aside our individual differences to work for the unity and development of the party."
Soloku said he was convinced that together they could succeed in overcoming “the many problems that must be resolved before achieving the cardinal goal of regaining state governance democratically come 2018 not 2020 as some power grabbers would want us to believe."
He said the SLPP would "not allow anybody to preach hate messages that will create division by stirring the emotions of our members in particular and the people of Sierra Leone in general against any single flag bearer aspirant of the party."
Chief Somano Kapen, the chairman and leader of the party expressed dismay at the “disorderly” conduct of some members of his party and told the gathering that as the main opposition party, "common Sierra Leoneans are looking to us for their rescue from the hands of the ruling All People’s Congress party that has failed this nation but we the SLPP are still falling apart."
The chief described his party as "a house divided against itself" and warned party members to "forget about who should be the flag-bearer and focus on the unity of the party so that we can stand on our own to claim presidency in this country come 2018."
He said this was the time the SLPP must prove its "capability to return to governance because the APC has never won free fair and democratic elections since 1951, they have been rigging elections in the northern region which I will not fear or hesitate to say."
Chief Somano Kapen told his party faithful that he would never "sell his birth right for a political party like the APC and that was the reason I resigned from being a paramount chief just not to work under their leadership.'
As a member of the Constitutional Review Committee in 1991 and also a member of the current body, "the rumours that the APC will seek a third term must not be countenanced...there is no way a sitting president can prolong his term of office."
He expressed happiness at the initiative to construct the party office and urged their members all over the world to contribute towards the success of the project.
According to Mohamed Alie, the Bo district Secretary of the SLPP, the party office is being constructed on a plot of land donated by a senior member of the party, Alhaji Kanja Sesay.
Sesay himself, the Bo District party chairman, told Politico that they planned to complete the complex before the next presidential election. He said the three-storey building would have administrative offices and canteen on the ground floor while the middle floor will have a conference hall and top floor will accommodate regional and district party executives.
© Politico 17/02/15
