Contributed
From the shadows of his dark corner since his meteoric fall in the 2018 elections in which he got nothing more than 6% approval rating by the voting public in Sierra Leone, Honourable Dr. Kandeh Yumkella (photo) is fast showing us that he is an over-exaggerated political figure of no consequence when left on his own.
The National Grand Coalition ( a misnomer in itself because we don’t know who they coalesced with), is a party swerving towards the precipice of another fall that might eventually culminate into extinction. Their doctored inflation rate and sexed figures of prices of good since the government of President Julius Maada Bio took over power in April 2018, shows how intellectual dishonesty in the DNA of KKY and his NGC proselytes.
Last night in a highly publicised interview with the Africa Young Voices or AYV, Dr. Kandeh Yumkella ranted a lot about the performance of the government of President Julius Maada Bio. One particular blab of this egocentric man that caught my attention and prompted this piece is his charge that the SLPP is full of arrogant intellectuals. My initial reaction to that thoughtless accusation was that he probably had ran out ideas and needed something to say to compensate for his lack of depth on the issues he wanted to discuss. But as a man who likes to feed his ego, my other instinct told me it was deliberate and calculated and intended to get under the skin of some government officials, whose support he desperately craved for when running for the SLPP leadership in 2016/17 but did not get.
If there is any Sierra Leonean intellectual more arrogant and conceited than Dr. Kandeh Yunkella, we are yet to see him or her. Dr. Yunkella is not only arrogant but has a bloated opinion of himself and has arrogated omniscience to himself, creating an impression of all knowing on every issue, whilst he has so many to fix up. That explains why perhaps his party the NGC, teems with people of his character and persona. Check the likes of Dr. Dennis Bright, Dr. Hashim Bayoh, Dr. Columba Blango ( who is always on the wrong side of history) not to mention Engineer Andrew Keili who just last week came under a barrage of pen fire for suggesting that President Bio’s speech in South Africa at the Mining Indaba was out of touch, and you will know who between SLPP and NGC is more arrogant. If it were not for arrogance and narcissistic instincts imbued in the bulk of the NGC members, they probably would have just kept shut and stealthily weave their way back to the SLPP for a resounding 2023 victory. It was KKY’s arrogance that repulsed most of the grassroots SLPP members from supporting him in his quest for the SLPP totem pole in 2016/17. It was his arrogance that led him to form his own party which performed abysmally low in the 2018 general elections. And it is this same vice that will make him another Charles Margai of Sierra Leone politics ( presented with a golden opportunity to lead but gaffed it out of arrogance).
Last night’s AYV interview just cemented the view most people hold of Dr. Kandeh Yunkella, as an arrogant and intellectually dishonest person who cherishes ego tripping than ingenuity.
Then he betrayed his real of asking for the interview and giving it so much publicity, when he said gatekeepers at State House are preventing President Bio from benefitting from his expertise and knowledge. If this is not intellectual dishonesty of the highest degree then it is mere ignorance. In the first place, as a member of parliament which is an important organ of government, Dr. Kandeh Yumkella has all the opportunities to contribute meaningfully to the government. The only reason why he chose to make that statement is because President Bio has refused to be wining and dining with him and in the process not making him more relevant than he really is. He has a job to do in Parliament already that can still contribute to national development, and the president has allowed him to do it. But what he wants is a personal appointment in some capacity so that he would eventually take the credit for any success that comes out of it, as he did with UNIDO when he wanted to run for president.
You underrate President Bio at your peril, and KKY and others are still doing it. Let KKY focus on his job in parliament and allow the president do his. Nobody has come out yet to analyse their work in parliament. If we do, that will be the day the chips will begin to fall and the cookie will eventually crumble.
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