Another big loss for the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) as former flag-bearer aspirant, Andrew Keili, on Monday resigned from the Party and pitched his tent with the National Grand Alliance (NGC) Party.
Addressing journalists and his supporters at the Stadium Hostels, Keili said such a decision for someone who has been in the SLPP for generations, “ As I am talking, I just feel like crying. It is such a difficult decision to make”.
Keili said he has been a lifelong member of the SLPP who has also contested for the flag-bearer in 2012. “Coming third out of 19 aspirants and who until recently was still pursuing the flag-bearer for the next election.”
The engineer alleged that over the years the Party has been characterised by “bigotry, unilateralism, constitutional violations, thuggery and lack of inclusiveness. It has become beholden to a special interest group that has little respect for its time-tested positive.”
He said before making the decision he consulted with his family, friends and supporters and that some people advised him “to stay within the party and be a voice of conscience. Many have encouraged me to become an agent for change by helping to chart a new direction for our country”.
But this cannot work because of the calibre of people within the Party now and so he has come to the conclusion that “meaningful change will come from the ideas of like-minded people who want to effect change in a resolute systematic way to take this country on a new development trajectory”.
“For all these reasons, I have made the decision to resign from the SLPP forthwith and join the National Grand Coalition”. And that his discussion with the leadership have given him considerable assurance that “I am moving to a
Party with a vision for our beloved country to which I subscribe – a vision of inclusiveness, justice, respect for others, economic empowerment and enlightenment in an equitable manner in this country”.
He said about 111 of his supporters have registered with the NGC and there are more, especially from the diaspora, that will be coming in to join the NGC.
Intrim Spokesperson of NGC, Imran Sillah, welcomed Keili into the Party as they are looking forward to free the country from bad governance for over 56 years. He said this is a very remarkable day as less than one week of registration they have been getting such support “this tells you that change has come”.
PRO of the SLPP, Lawrence Leema Lahai, said they have not received a resignation letter from Andrew Keili and so could not comment on the issue.
BM/23/10/17
By Betty Milton
Tuesday October 24, 2017.
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