By Bampia James Bundu
The outgoing Chairman and Leader of the main opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), John Oponjo Benjamin says the SLPP convention will hold as scheduled on 16 - 17 August this year.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Politico, Benjamin said they were hoping to get a successful and peaceful convention assuring that all arrangements had been made to ensure that outcome.
His assurance comes amid speculation that a postponement is inevitable following a ruling by the Political Parties’ Registration Commission for a rerun of some of the lower level elections in some parts of the country. There are said to be calls for the formation of an interim administration that will oversee the process which the chairman is implacably opposed to saying it is unconstitutional and that he does not want to stay in power a day longer.
Benjamin said that even though his “detractors” were praying for him to leave the party, his political allegiance “is with the SLPP” and there was no reason for leaving the party considering the level he had attained in it.
“I will disappoint them,” he said, before dismissing allegations by some within the party that he had accepted a job from President Ernest Bai Koroma. “I have never accepted any job in Liberia from President Koroma and my visit to Liberia was personal,” Benjamin said, adding that he had never discussed job related issues with the president and called the allegations “baseless” and aimed at tarnishing his hard-won character.
He called on all SLPP members to remain committed and trust the party as they were doing all they could to ensure that they change the face of the party.
© 7 August 2013
