Dixon’s Pen: SLPP ON THE EDGE!!!
Sierra Leone People Party is on the edge of
destruction as petty squabbles have continued ever since the party was kicked
out of power in 2007. The SLPP has allowed itself to be a public ridicule as
there is no other day they are not in the news for all the wrong reasons. They
don’t seem to be a party that wants to be in governance as the elections are
drawing closer.
The recent development of the SLPP wherein they now
have parallel executive in which common sense should have prevailed, simply
means that the party is in ruins. Camps have long being existing in the party
as the Chairman of the Party Chief Somanoh Kapen is supporting Kandeh Kolleh
Yumkelleh while the Deputy Chairman Prince Harding who is now the Chairman of
the other faction is supporting Maada Bio.
One may want to know in the midst of all these ugly
developments, where are the elders of the party? Somebody told me that there
are no elders in the party as those who should provide wise advice for the
party have gotten themselves embroiled in the whole saga as they too have taken
serious positions.
Another thing that comes to play is the interpretation
of the SLPP Constitution which most of the elders of the party are interpreting
to satisfy their selfish rapacity and chauvinistic ego.
Section 3.6.7 (1) of the SLPP constitution is very
clear. It outlines the functions of the Chairman and Leader of the Party and
among other things includes:
v
The National Chairman of the Party shall be
the Political and Administrative Head of the Party
v
Chair the National Part Conference, National
Governing Council Meetings and other meeting of national character
v
Uphold and Defend the Constitution of the
party
v
Represent the party in high level dialogue
with government and developing partners
v
Promote Policies and programmes of the party
and
v
Be a senior adviser (with cabinet rank) to the
President when the party forms Government
If one pays attention to the first function of the
chairman, one will notice that the Chairman of the SLPP has huge powers to the
point that his also the administrative head of the party and can only make the
Secretary General functional if he so desires. However it will be disingenuous
if I don’t also outline the functions of the secretary general of the party for
better understanding and which are as follows:
- The National
Secretary General shall be in charge of the day to day running of the
national secretary general of the party including the custody of all party
record and document under the general supervision of the National Chairman
and Lead
- Summon all Party
Meetings at national levels on the
advice of the national chairman and leader
- Prepare agenda
for all meetings in consultation with the national chairman and leader and
shall keep records of the proceedings and minutes of all such meetings
- Be responsible
for all correspondences of the party
- Prepare regular
reports on the state, programmes and activities of the party
- Coordinate and
supervise the activities of other national officers and sub national
offices
- Uphold hold and
defend the constitution of the party
- Represent the
party in high level dialogue with government or development partners
- Be as senior
adviser (with cabinet rank) to the President when the party forms the
government
When one looks at the functions of the secretary
general of the SLPP, one will know that the Chairman of the party has a serious
stake in the office of the secretary general.
For this reasons, I believe that the Secretary General
of the party was wrong to have summoned NEC Meeting, when the Chairman has told
them to stop the meeting until further notice.
If the SLPP can allow ego to prevail over common
sense, it means that the deep-seated factions will continue in the party and
may even cause people to move out of the party.
The SLPP has never been able to win elections when
they are divided, they should learn from the Charles Margai factor because if
they allow this division to continue and then lose the 2018 elections, they
will go into oblivion.
By Thomas Dixon
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