By Alpha Jalloh, Freetown.
The ruling APC has lost over the last couple of days two solid assets in the persons of the late Hussein Bitter and the late S.A.T.Koroma.
SAT Koroma, who died earlier this week, was one of the founding members of the APC with people like Siaka Stevens, Bangalie Mansaray, SA Fofanah,CA Kamara-Taylor and so on. He was one of the few surviving members of that founders group if not the only one.
SAT, popularly known as Ojuku, was dearly loved by his people in one of the constituencies in the Port Loko district with Masiaka as a base.He served as member of parliament and was minister of several ministries including agriculture, sports and social welfare. He was one of the few top APC politicians who could openly speak his mind at party meetings and was not afraid of challenging the country’s first president, Siaka Stevens.
He played an invaluable role as mediator and political adviser during the in-fighting in the party and the during the weeks and months leading to the elections. One of his sons is an APC parliamentarian.
Hussein Bitter passed away on Friday January 4th 2008. He was a Sierra Leonean with Lebanese ancestry. Party members paid tribute to him at the party’s National Secretariat in Freetown.
Bittar died in a road accident along the Kono/Makeni highway on his way from Kono.
Paying a tribute to late Hussein during a laying out ceremony held in the Great Hall, at APC National Headquarter Old Railway Line, Freetown, President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma described the death of late Hussein as a sad moment in the history of the party.
Dr. Koroma said: “The death of the late fallen hero is not only a loss to the Bittar family but also to the APC and the people of Sierra Leone ”.
He described Hussein as a committed member of the party who was always punctual at all party meetings.
Hussein, according to Dr. Koroma, was not an ordinary supporter but one who was fully dedicated to the cause of the APC. President Koroma said that he would always remember the good work of Hussein.
The Vice President Sahr Samuel Sam Sumana revealed that it was a difficult moment for him to bid farewell to Hussein Bitter.
The Vice President recalled that Hussein went through a lot of intimidation, harassment and molestation because of his support for the APC party and his loyalty to its leadership.
“But he never relented in the propagation of the then Presidential candidate’s message to the electorate”, the VP said.
Mr. Sam Sumana said that Hussein’s support and loyalty to the APC would serve as an example to the Lebanese Community in Sierra Leone , to the APC party as well as Sierra Leoneans at home and in the Diaspora.
The Minister of State, Office of the Vice President, Leonard Balogun Koroma, described the late Hussein as a real hero who worked diligently towards the success of the APC party but died at a time when he was needed most.
Mr. Koroma said that Hussein Bitter was a great admirer of the APC leader and the then presidential candidate Hon Ernest Bai Koroma and therefore appealed to party stalwarts, friends and family members to mourn the late man who he described as a hero.
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