By Daniel Buya Kanu
Dallas, Texas.
As an eighteen year resident of the city of Dallas in the State of Texas, a founder and long time team manager of the most popular social club in Dallas-The Sierra Stars Soccer Association, long time spokes- man of the same club, founding member and two-term secretary general of the A.P.C Dallas Chapter, in short, a socialite and community activist. Yes, I have been here long enough and have participated in many social functions over the years, and I can safely say that I know a lot of the Sierra Leoneans living in the Dallas Metropolitan area on a personal level. And I also know their ideological leanings as far as Sierra Leonean politics go. I have been canvassing my fellow country men and women to join the A.P.C since 2004 after I was elected secretary general of that organization.
This is why I am amused and bemused to read that John Benjamin of the SLPP party has won converts from Dallas residents that claim to be A.P.C supporters. Without telling the reading public a single word or statement that J.O.B said during his presentation that made these APC members in Dallas want to switch party alliances, the SLPP in typical fashion made these broad claims. But this comes as no surprise at all. In less than two years in the opposition bench, the SLPP has become a lean mean lie machine. If the SLPP think they can regain power back in Sierra Leone through the manufacture of scintillating lies and illusions, I say dream on!
Soon after the APC Dallas Chapter was formed in 2004, my self and Mr. Sheiku Tejan Koroma, now Minister of Health, set out to recruit members. One of the first people to join us was Mr. E. T. Kamara, former Secretary General of the APC under Siaka Stevens and Joseph Saidu Momoh. AT a time when it was unfashionable to be APC, we toiled on, and even after we overcame, no other former APC big gun, other than Mr. E.T. Kamara, joined our chapter. And we never heard of any such former APC minister living in our midst. But again, we know some were APCINO (APC In Name Only). Some people call them political prostitutes. Their ethnical lineage rather ideology, tends to be the driving force. They joined the APC as it was and is still is the only big tent party in Sierra Leone. Where were that former APC minister and his $ 50.00 donating daughter when we were struggling? If they chose to hide all these years, they should be ashamed to call them selves APC members.
Gone are the days when politicians could lie their way to parliament or the State House of the people. Gone are the days when you could just throw allegations against your opponent without proof and secure votes. Now you have to show what you have done and what you could do better than the person you want to replace.
My final word to the SLPP is, keep it up. Go ahead, cry "wolf" at any thing the APC government does. Shout on the top of your heads when they renovate national treasures like the Clock Tower, the Cotton Tree, and all government buildings and institutions like the Military Hospital (34) in Freetown. Call them liars, "banyafakes" for all the road construction going on all over the country, two new sub-powers stations in Freetown; for cleaning and clearing the city. Hey, the APC is lying about a first class market center now under construction at the Victoria Park. Bumbuna will soon start bringing 24 hours light to the nation. All these are APC lies that should be fodder for the empty SLPP souls. But tell you what, whilst the SLPP is busy painting a picture out of the figment of their imagination, Ernest Koroma and the APC are busy working on improving the lot of the Sierra Leonean people. EBK is trotting the world seeking valuable assistance to help him keep his electioneering promises to the people. By the time the SLPP woke up from their slumber, the Sierra Leonean people would have dissected their bunch of lies and elected EBK to a second term.
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