Abass Bundu faults SLPP

One of the five people touted to run for leadership of the main opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party at its August national delegates’ conference, says he doubts he will go on with his ambition. Speaking to Politico, Dr Abass Chernor Bundu says the process has been “thoroughly corrupted” and he will not feel comfortable to contest as that will be a “waste” of his resources. A close confidante to the SLPP presidential candidate in last year’s election Julius Maada Bio, Bundu says he may withdraw from the race because he does not trust the process and is “not too happy with the behaviour” of the party’s Chairman in the North, Dr Bobdon Sesay whom he accuses of “corrupting the process” in his region. The former foreign minister accuses Sesay of reopening the election process in Port Loko and Bombali districts after it ended claiming it has not been “properly done”. He says the regional chairman is only mandated to handle lower elections at the chiefdom and constituency levels and not at the district level, alleging that Sesay went ahead and did that because he “wanted to corrupt it in favour Allie Bangura” who launched his campaign ten days ago. Abass Bundu also alleges that Bobson Sesay openly endorsed Mr Bangura’s candidacy on 3 July in an open meeting in Port Loko, and questions his professed impartiality which he says has been compromised. He says he has filed a complaint with the Political Parties Registration Commission on the matter. Dr Alfred Bobson Sesay has denied all the allegations. He said Dr Bundu was made Chairman of Port Loko district by default as the favourite defected to the governing All People’s Congress party. He said party members in Port Loko protested against the leadership of Dr Bundu and called for a re-election. He alleged that Bundu invited all constituency members to declare his intention to run for district chairman in a private meeting where he told them that whoever did not support Maada Bio to be given a second chance as flag bearer would not be given a position. He said that once he heard about this he thought there would not be a free, fair and credible election emphasising that eligibility to contest must not be narrowed down to support for anybody else’s ambition. Dr Sesay said that as Regional Chairman he called a meeting of district executive to conduct the election as mandated; a process he said Dr Bundu called on members to boycott and allegedly attempted to disrupt. On whether he had publicly endorsed Allie Bangura’s candidacy, Sesay said that he did appear with Mr Bangura in Port Loko but insisted that he only did so because he had been invited. He stressed that so far Mr Bangura remained the only person to have invited him. He ended by saying that he told the Port Loko gathering of the allusion of a twin mother who must be ready to breastfeed more than one baby but would need to turn to the more glutinous one at night if she must have a sound sleep. (C) Politico 16/07/13