By Our Correspondent
After what some people have described as a very unimpressive performance in London recently,the Vice President of Sierra Leone and presidential candidate of the ruling SLPP Mr.Solomon Berewa(photo) is reportedly doing his best to sell himself to the usually highly skeptical and very critcal Sierra Leoneans in North America.
According to our sources, the Vice President’s performance at the United Nations General Assembly which usually show cases the leaders of the diffrent member nations, was "unremarkable" and quite ordinary compared to the "brilliant and admirable" nature (in content and delivery) of the speech of Liberia’s president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
"But you don’t expect Berewa to be a male version of Ellen, do you?", a Sierra Leonean in New York who wants to be anonymous queried.
Berewa, who was for many years a private lawyer and only became a politician after the 1992 NPRC military coup in Sierra Leone is viewed differently by many Sierra Leoneans. Some, mostly members of the opposition, consider him as somebody who lacks charisma,woefully lacks oratorial skills and is a burden for the SLPP because of his record as the Attorney General who sent 24 military officers to their death after the restoration of the Kabbah government in 1998, among other grievances.They also believe a Berewa presidency will fail to unite the country and heal the wounds of the past.
Others, mostly SLPP supporters, think Berewa is the best person to lead the SLPP at this time because of his intelligence, vast experience in public and private life and because of the fact that he has a cosmopolitan outlook which is another way of saying he is not "tribalistic".
They also believe he can match or even surpass the other presidential candidates in terms of oratorial skills although one can detect a certain uneasiness in some of Berewa’s most ardent supporters when oratory is mentioned.
At a function organised by the New York SLPP branch Berewa later spoke at length on how the country would sink into anarchy if Sierra Leoneans fail to elect him in 2007 and how he is the most experienced and fit among the present candidates for the presidency.
He also promised to continue the programs and policies initiated by current president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.
In a brief speech at the UN yesterday, Berewa expressed profound thanks to the UN on behalf of the government and people of Sierra Leone for its assistance during and after the rebel war.
He however stressed that the country still needs urgent help in its peace building and developmental objectives.
He mentioned the strides being made by his government through what he called the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and its development agenda.
Berewa concluded his remarks by calling on the UN to help Sierra Leone organize the next elections scheduled for July next year, noting that Sierra Leone "cannot afford to have this watershed elections wrong".
We shall bring you more reports of what promises to be a huge media blitz as Berewa tours various parts of the United States to meet Sierra Leoneans and potential investors.
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