SLPP In Disarray

By Alpha Amadu Jalloh

Satan must have taken a seat, folded his arms and decided to watch the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) perform a political drama that even he may be struggling to understand.

The governing party appears increasingly consumed by contradictions, competing pronouncements and an emerging succession battle in which senior executives are publicly contradicting one another at a time when Sierra Leone is already wrestling with a controversial constitutional amendment process. What exactly is happening inside the SLPP?

The National Chairman, Jimmy Batilo Songa, recently created a political storm after remarks attributed to him suggesting that President Julius Maada Bio would provide the direction regarding who should become the party’s next flagbearer. Speaking to constituency chairmen in Bo, Songa reportedly suggested that when the President brings a name, party members should follow their leader.

That was enough to awaken the political volcano because National Secretary General Umar Paran Tarawally publicly rejected the Chairman’s position, describing it as his personal opinion rather than an official decision of the SLPP. Tarawally went further, saying the Chairman was wrong and insisting that President Bio had repeatedly maintained that delegates should determine who becomes the next flagbearer.

These are not two ordinary party supporters quarrelling at a roadside cookery shop. We are talking about the National Chairman and National Secretary General of Sierra Leone’s governing party. If the Chairman says the President will provide political direction towards a successor and the Secretary General publicly says the Chairman is wrong, something is clearly not right within the leadership structure.

President Bio himself has previously maintained that the next SLPP flagbearer should emerge through a transparent democratic process and be someone capable of uniting the party and winning the country. If that remains his position, why are senior officials speaking as though a successor might descend from State House carrying presidential blessings?

While Sierra Leoneans were still trying to understand that controversy, National Public Relations Officer Moses Mambu entered the arena and spoke about the SLPP preparing itself to win the “2028 or 2030 elections.” That reference to 2030 created another national stir because Sierra Leoneans understand the next elections to be due in 2028. Mambu did not explicitly announce that the Government intended to extend President Bio’s tenure, but mentioning 2030 alongside 2028 was enough to ignite suspicions already circulating across the country. Why even mention 2030 at such a sensitive political moment?

Sierra Leone is already embroiled in a constitutional amendment brouhaha. Citizens are questioning the process, parliamentary procedures and the implications of proposed constitutional changes. Opposition voices are suspicious, civil society is watching and ordinary Sierra Leoneans are listening. Against such a background, the Public Relations Officer of the governing party should understand that casually mentioning 2030 will not be treated as comedy.

Interestingly, Chairman Songa has since assured Sierra Leoneans that elections will go ahead in 2028 and that the SLPP does not intend to change the electoral calendar. So who should Sierra Leoneans believe? The Chairman says 2028 while the Public Relations Officer says 2028 or 2030. The Chairman speaks about following President Bio’s political direction regarding succession while the Secretary General says delegates will decide and publicly rebukes the Chairman. Meanwhile, the constitutional amendment controversy continues. This is why I say even Satan has taken a seat.

The SLPP needs to put its house in order because this is no longer amusing. A governing party cannot communicate like several competing governments operating from the same headquarters. Political parties can disagree because democracy requires disagreement, but when those disagreements concern presidential succession, election dates and constitutional arrangements, clarity becomes a national responsibility.

President Bio must also be careful about the atmosphere developing around him. Every ambitious politician wants to demonstrate loyalty, every aspiring successor wants to appear closer to the President than the next person, and supporters are beginning to interpret handshakes, photographs, appointments and presidential compliments as evidence that their preferred candidate has received the sacred blessing. That is dangerous politics.

The SLPP flagbearer should emerge according to the party’s constitution and democratic processes. President Bio can have an opinion, vote, advise and exercise political influence, but the process must remain credible enough for whoever emerges to carry legitimacy beyond State House. Otherwise, the party risks entering the next election wounded by its own internal warfare.

The constitutional amendment issue makes everything even more sensitive. When citizens hear senior governing-party officials mentioning 2030 while constitutional changes are being debated, suspicion is inevitable. Leaders cannot create ambiguity and then become angry when citizens ask questions. Sierra Leone belongs to its people. Election dates cannot become political footballs, constitutions cannot become instruments of convenience, and political parties cannot preach democracy nationally while suffocating it internally.

The SLPP is one of Sierra Leone’s oldest political institutions and should understand better than most that succession badly handled can tear a party apart. Chairman Songa and Secretary General Tarawally cannot operate publicly from different political hymn books, while Moses Mambu must understand that the mouth of a governing party’s Public Relations Officer is not a playground. Words coming from that office can calm a nation or create unnecessary anxiety.

The SLPP must therefore answer some fundamental questions. Is the next flagbearer going to be freely elected by delegates? Is President Bio going to choose or influence a preferred successor? Are elections taking place in 2028? Where did 2030 suddenly come from? And how does all this confusion intersect with the constitutional amendment controversy already causing serious national disagreement?

Perhaps somewhere Satan is still sitting quietly, watching senior SLPP officials contradict one another and wondering whether his services are even required, because right now the SLPP appears perfectly capable of creating its own confusion. Unless somebody restores discipline, clarity and respect for democratic processes, this disarray could become the party’s greatest enemy long before the opposition even enters the battlefield.