By Septimus Senessie in the Eastern Kono district.
The Vice Chairlady in Kono District of the main opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), Binta Barrie has resigned from the party. It followed her defeat at the ongoing party elections by Sia Darlloh Kaimachiendeh, wife of Paramount Chief Fengai Korgbende Kaimachiendeh of Gbense Chiefdom, to become the party’s chairlady in constituency 20. She polled 24 votes against Sia’s 41. Binta told her former party colleagues that she would no longer be a part of the same family with them. Amid tears, she said; “I have gone! You have let me down! And from now on you will never see me here again in your party office because all of you here are ungrateful.” She said her challenger defected to the APC after they had lost the 2007 presidential and parliamentary elections only to return recently; hence should not have been elected. In between sobs and tears, Binta said that since her association with the SLPP some two decades ago, she had not benefited a dime from it, despite all the sacrifices she had made for them. She said that it was because of her strong conviction and loyalty to the party as the “right party” in the country that had kept her in it, leading to her spending her personal resources on it. She recalled that her commitment to the party had “put my marital home apart, led to the stabbing of my son by gangs of the APC in 2007, and the loss of my business capital which took me out of business for five years.” Asked whether she had resolved to join any other party, she told Politico that the decision was for her and her family to make. Another aspirant, Kadiatu Lebbie who also lost to Lamin Koroma for the young generation leadership position in the same constituency, also in tears expressed dissatisfaction over delegates not voting for those “who suffered for the party”, describing it as a “recipe for disunity” within the party. She told Politico that she would later decide on whether to stay in the party or not.
For her part, Chairlady-elect, Sia Dalloh Kaimachiendeh said she had “no regrets for defecting to APC and coming back to the SLPP”, and thanked delegates for electing her. She described politics as “just a game.” The district secretary general of the party who served as the returning officer, Aiah Prince Konnoh Fomba said “it is normal in all democratic elections for losers to vent out dissatisfaction” adding that “as a family, we will settle all these dirty linens indoors after the end of the whole processes.” Fomba described the elections as “transparent, credible, free and fair” adding that the presence of independent observers including members of other political parties and the media was testament to that. He said that similar elections were also conducted in all the 8-constituences in the district, and not through a selection process. He said they would conduct their district elections today, Tuesday 28th May and the Eastern regional elections on the 1st June this year. The PPRC Regional Mediation and Programme Assistance East, Kariffa Tarawallie described the elections as “free, fair, credible and transparent”
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