Vice President Solomon Berewa(photo) will be leading a high-powered SLPP delegation on a visit to North America September 4.
In an interview with the Vanguard, SLPP North America secretary general Kalilu Totangi said the vice president will be accompanied by SLPP National Chairman Alhaji UNS Jah, National Secretary General Jacob Jusu Saffa and other party officials.
Kalilu revealed that Berewa will "meet and greet" the party branch in North America and hopes to encounter the party membership from around the United States and confer with them and the rest of the leadership "on issues germane to the future of our country and the party."
He said the next objective of the visit is to give the vice president the opportunity to engage the broader Sierra Leonean community and the American community including political players and the business community.
The final objective, Kalilu went on, is to raise funds to support the party and the standard bearer in the 2007 presidential and parliamentary elections.
"We have committed ourselves to these objectives in full cognisance of the challenges facing our nation and in full hope and confidence in the ability and commitment of our party and its leadership to move the democratic agenda forward because we know that is the only way we can ever achieve our development goals as a nation", Kalilu explained.
On the recent decision by the PPRC on the PMDC petition against the vice president, Kalilu said Brerewa, being a lawyer himself, had said all along that there was no merit to the petition.
"And frankly it does not take much to see why the PPRC ruled the way they did.By the same token one could clearly see why the PMDC continues to judge this matter in the public court", the SLPP North America scribe observed.
He condemened a recent statement by PMDC National Secretary General Ansu Lansana who said his party will not appeal the PPRC decision and would rather meet with representatives of the international community in Freetown and express their concerns over what Ansu described as the SLPP’s "excesses of incumbency" and the dangers they pose for peace and stability in the country.
"I think that kind of statement and the mindset behind it is unfortunate.I heard someone describe the attitude of the PMDC as that of a "spoiled kid" who owns the football. If he does not get selected for the match, nobody plays.That person could not have put it more succinctly", Kalilu said.
The PPRC had recently ruled that the vice president is eligible and qualified to contest the next elections. The PMDC had contended that he violates the constitution by being both vice president and party leader which gives him an edge over other presidential candidates and that he should relinquish one of the positions or drop out of the competition.
Continuing, Kalilu noted that it is now "abundantly clear" that the PMDC does not have any issues to run on and that they(PMDC)had tried to overturn the votes of the electoral college of the party in order to ensure that their leader returns to head the SLPP and have failed.
"Now they are trying to preempt the outcome of the forthcoming elections by crying "wolf" even before they get to the bushes. I think it’s truly deplorable for them to try to undermine the credibility of our democracy for their own ends", Kalilu observed.
On the recent ban on political campaigning by the National Electoral Commission, Totangi said the SLPP is in full agreement with it and that it has been the position of the party all along.
"We are a responsible and disciplined party and we will abide by that dictate", he said.
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