This is now lacking in the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) when important personalities like John Oponjo Benjamin and Julius Maada Bio begin to bite each other in the media in their leadership struggle.
In the past two years more dynamic forecasting has been done by both the print and electronic media in favour of Julius Maada Bio but the recent coverage on John Oponjo Benjamin in the media seems to have reduced Maada Bio’s popularity considerably.
Both John Oponjo Benjamin and Julius Maada Bio served in the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) and were best of friends. Indeed, they were together day in day out. But it is now clearly apparent that John Oponjo Benjamin and Julius Maada Bio no longer see each other as members of the same political party. The acrimonious relation between these two politicians has created room for war of words, accusing each other of corruption malpractices and embezzlement of funds.
John Oponjo Benjamin recently told the people of this nation that Julius Maada Bio is a corrupt leader who has misused funds donated by members of the party from the Diaspora. This has been the biggest allegation against Julius Maada Bio bordering on embezzlement of funds from members of the party in Europe and America.
Julius Maada Bio may be a grassroots politician but such a revelation about him may dent his popularity and character. The passion people have about Maada Bio as a young man could easily change the minds of people when it comes to the choice of leadership of the party. Like I said in my last article, the SLPP may be suffering from ancestral vices and therefore they continue to fall apart.
In fact, what is now clear is that Maada Bio as a former leader of the NPRC has a lot to answer. Secondly, he has been a great deal of measurement in the political arena of this country, and thirdly, people like Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella, Mr. Andrew Keili and Alhaji Ansu Jaiah Kaikai should not be underrated in the contest for the leadership of the SLPP.
What is also increasingly coming to light with more revelations about Julius Maada Bio is that he has a criminal record in the United States of America.
I will tell more about this in my subsequent articles.