By Santigie Momoh, Freetown, Sierra Leone
Politics can be a very difficult and complex game. For a very long time almost everybody knew Dr. Samura Kamara, a former Finance Minister, will be selected to be the presidential candidate or flagbearer of the the main opposition party, the APC, in the upcoming elections slated for June 24 this year. But what nobody could guess with any certainty was who would be his running mate.
Many candidates showed interest but Samura himself did not seem to the final decider. After much dilly dallying he finally announced today that young lawyer and politician Chernor Maju Bah, popularly known as Chericoco (photo) will be his running mate just like in the 2018 elections in which the APC lost.
Although the party says there was voting for the position by members of the National Advisory Committee, the highest decision-making body of the party, it is common knowledge that former President Ernest Bai Koroma, who was until recently Chairman and leader of the party, makes all the major decsions in the party.
Maju belongs to the powerful Fula ethnic group, now beleived to be the third largest in the country and one of the most wealthy with the means to give huge donations to any political party in the country. It is believed they now control the domestic ecnomy.
The APC may have calculated that with Chericoco as running mate the party would attract huge funds from the Fula community and that many would vote APC. The only problem with that assumption is that the Vice President of the ruling party, Dr. Juldeh Jalloh, is also Fula. The Fulas are all over Africa where they are variously known as Fula, Fulbe, Peuhl or Fulani.
Social media was on fire today when he APC running mate was announced. Some APC members support Chericoco while others say he will not do much for the party. They wanted somebody from the south or east because, they argue, no party would win national elections in Sierra Leone without the support of all regions.
Chericoco is from the Western Area, Freetown to be precise. The APC has huge support in the north and Freetown but not in the south and east. The SLPP is very strong in the south and east and it is seriously competing for votes with the APC in Freetown and the north where the current Vice President in the ruling party comes from.
President Bio is from the south while Samura Kamara is from the north.
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