It could be recalled that when the issue of whether or not Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella was a registered member of the SLPP came up, the suspended National Secretary General was the first party officer to have assured the public in two press releases that the two-time Director General of UNIDO was indeed a bonafide member of the SLPP. His claim was also corroborated by the Chairman and Leader of the party, Chief Shebora Somano Kapen III.

But their defense notwithstanding, supporters of Julius Maada Bio still insisted that Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella was not a registered party member. They only backed down after the formal registration of the flag-bearer aspirant on Thursday 7th January, 2016, though not without another controversy. While the Julius Maada Bio supporters are claiming that last Thursday was the first time for the flag-bearer aspirant to have formally registered as SLPP member, the KKYM supporters have retorted that Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella only updated his membership to Distinguished Grand-Chief Patron as demanded by his people in Kambia District.

But be that as it may, the claims made by Hon. Philip Tondoneh that the money which Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella sent to Lawyer Sulaiman Bajan Tejan-Sie and Dr. Yilla for him to be registered as SLPP member was chopped by the receivers should be investigated since the ongoing debate on his membership in the SLPP has threatened his credibility. Though Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella’s battery of lawyers have presented documents to substantiate the membership in the SLPP, yet one would begin to question the authenticity of those documents given the allegation Hon. Philip Tondoneh has leveled against Lawyer Sulaiman Banja Tejan-Sie and Dr. Yilla of Bo, where the flag-bearer aspirant was claimed to have registered in 2013.

Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella returned home after his resignation from the United Nations with the confidence that had been registered as SLPP member. But his first attempt on Monday 23rd August, 2015 to meet with officers of the National Executive Council (NEC) was met with stiff resistance from exuberant supporters of Julius Maada Bio that humiliated him, his biological mother and supporters that accompanied him to the SLPP headquarters on Wallace Johnson Street in Freetown. Should this have happened to Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella if his registration process was genuinely and sincerely handled by Lawyer Sulaiman Bajan Tejan-Sie and Dr. Yilla?

I believe both Lawyer Sulaiman Bajan Tejan-Sie and Dr. Yilla should come out clean on the allegation leveled against them by Hon. Philip Tondoneh as regards the chopping of Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella’s money meant for his party membership registration. If the allegation is true, then all the embarrassments that the flag-bearer aspirant has faced together with his mother and supporters would be blamed on those who received the money for his registration. This allegation should be investigated to name and shame those that created the embarrassment for Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella, who I believe would never lie about his membership in the SLPP by virtue of his international clout as global advocate with enviable credibility, though one may not rule out the fact that he may have been disappointed by the proxies he entrusted for his membership registration. I am just too curious about the issue!