The Director of the Decentralization Secretariat (DEC-SEC) in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr. Alex Bhonapha on Monday 25th January 2021 declared his intention to contest for the chairmanship of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) ahead of the party’s May 2021 National Delegates Convention assuring that he would be responsive to the needs of the party and national development.
“I have the wherewithal. My ideology will outwit the opposition. Furthermore, I have a very wide network and political base. I am Grand Chief Patron of the SLPP with the vision to deliver on sustainable national development, build strong relationships among members as well as create opportunities for members. I am the alternative candidate devoid of tribe, region or religion. With humility and a strong sense of purpose, I will uphold the ideas of the founding fathers of the party and make the SLPP the envy in West Africa and beyond,” he disclosed.
Mr. Bhonapha enlightened that he is inspired to contest for the position due to the missing link and political divide within the party affirming that if the party is allowed to go down the path of self-destruction it would mean doom for the party in the 2023 elections highlighting that old and young members of the party have gravitated towards him as he represents hope underscoring that the party’s forefathers did not commit themselves to self-destruction citing the violence between supporters of Dr. Prince Harding and Mr. Jimmy Batillo Songa in Bo and Kenema Districts respectively but for the timely intervention of the police.
He observed that Dr. Prince Harding and Mr. Batillo Songa are very good candidates but cautioned that this is not the time to fight asserting that as a neutral person, his main intension of contesting for the chairmanship position is to bridge the gap between the current executive and the grassroots as well as the acrimony between supporters of the current chairman, Dr. Prince Harding and Batillo Songa, his challenger who cannot accept each other.
According to Mr. Alex Bhonapha, the SLPP is one big family, assured that when elected as a dynamic young man he would do all humanly possible for the party to speak with one voice lamenting that the party is in disarray and lacks leadership reiterating that the party has lost focus and wants to return it to its past glory.
Competent sources within the party intimated this medium that State House is dissatisfied with the uncalled and unacceptable behavior of the supporters of both Dr. Prince Harding and Mr. Jimmy Batillo Songa in Bo and Kenema articulating that Mr. Alex Bhonapha is not only a household name in Sierra Leone politics citing his years as President of the National Union of Sierra Leone Students (NUSS) and the Kailahun District Council during which he won five bye-elections to the applause and admiration of the party and entire nation.
Mr. Bhonapha is also a member of several renowned fraternities in tertiary institutions nationwide all of which have declared their unflinching support and loyalty to him.
Some members of these fraternities interviewed revealed that if left in the position, Dr. Prince Harding would destroy the party intimating that only the SLPP, the South Africa African National Congress (ANC) and another party in Tanzania have survived since independence lamenting that the SLPP has lost focus as they reiterated that their vested interest is the young dynamic Mr. Alex Bhonapha .
Concluding, members of various fraternities in colleges and universities nationwide reminded the party that the main opposition All Peoples Congress party is still rich and has connections and therefore must not be underestimated.
03/02/2021. ISSUE NO: 7994