SLPP set for State House – Allie Bangura assures

Former Ambassador to Ghana and businessman, Allie Essa Bangura says if he wins the leadership of the Sierra Leone People’s Party he will prepare it for State House in 2017. He urged members to deal with claims and address “fallacies” that they are tribal, elitist and unable to take care of their own. He denied the party was tribal or elitist. Speaking at a colourful ceremony to declare his intentions to run for Party Chairman and Leader ahead of their August delegates’ conference in Bo, Bangura said that dealing with those issues would be a major area of work for his administration should he win. He managed to bring together for the first time in years, two of the party’s former leaders, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and Solomon Berewa who shook hands and back-slapped. Bangura said that he hoped to strengthen the welfare committee of the party, introduce standing social events geared towards promoting intra party harmony and promote “constant interaction between elected officials, grassroots members and supporters of the party”. He said that despite being one of the oldest political parties on the continent and its “superiority in human capital and plurality in membership, we have lost two consecutive Presidential and Parliamentary elections.” The former diplomat said they should stop blaming the electoral commission for their loss in 2007 and 2012 and instead do “introspection”, which he said was what the party needed and not excuses. “My administration will focus on unifying, organizing, instilling and enforcing discipline, strengthening and re-focusing,” he assured, adding that they would build a cohesive and united SLPP with focus on the political, social and economic arenas. In a document stating the philosophy of his administration, if elected, Ambassador Bangura said his focus would be towards “building a strong, united and cohesive party which shall be positioned for effective party engagements and victory in all elections and more so the 2017 General elections”. He said he would work towards “building on the realisation born out of serious reflection of the pitfalls within the Party as well as the chances for electoral victory in 2017 if and only if the Party shall rise up and hold firm to its unifying mantra as encapsulated in its Motto: One country, One People”. He admitted that the task ahead was huge, especially around the promotion of peace and reconciliation within the party. He said he wanted to establish a Young Persons Committee within the office of the chairman and leader with a mandate to organise a National Conference of SLPP Young People in collaboration with the Young Generation Wing, implement the SLPP Gender Policy with a focus on devising ways to achieve the 30% quota within the party’s governance structure and through an annual women’s conference to discuss and make recommendations on mainstreaming gender issues. He noted that as a “government in waiting” they would constantly assess government declared policies and implementations, challenge government to ensure good governance by upholding the constitution and adherence to democratic principles and to ensure that the leadership of the party worked closely with SLPP Members of Parliament. He also lamented over the state of the party’s finances saying it needed to improve. © Politico 11/07/13