Commentary
By Lango Deen, USA.
When Kadi Sesay, Ph.D., announced her intention to run for leadership of the Sierra Leone People’s Party in April 2010, the news, not entirely unexpected, reverberated amongst Sierra Leoneans everywhere.
In Bonthe, the new aspirant for the SLPP Presidential Platform - 2012 was carried shoulder-high in the mainly fishing community as she stepped off a boat that took her to the island. At Mile 91, a small town in Tonkolili District, men and women packed a tiny hall to hear her speak. In bordering towns and cities, she drew huge crowds in Bombali District to the northwest, Kono District to the east, Kenema District and Bo District to the southeast. In Makeni, the capital city of Bombali, Sierra Leoneans rallied for Dr. Kadi Sesay as they did in Bo, Kenema, Moyamba, and Koinadugu.
5,000 miles away, Kadi Sesay supporters started a Facebook Group page, a blog and Twitter account to share news and photos of the grass-root movement to elect Kadi Sesay leader of the SLPP and, in 2012, President of Sierra Leone. By July, when she arrived in the United States of America, the social networking efforts had paid off. There were more than 600 members in the Elect Kadi Sesay 2012 Facebook group; the blog had steady Web traffic and Twitter was tweeting with Kadi Sesay talking points.
In real time, a smaller, but dedicated band of supporters was pulling together to start fund-raising activities across America. Margaret Libby, a long-term Virginia resident and a SLPP member, said her dream was to organize the biggest town hall event held stateside. In a few weeks she’d sold her idea to Gladys Bannister, also based in Northern Virginia, Fatmata Tarawali, of Maryland, Jeneba Bangura, in the Big Apple (New York City), and Philadelphia-based Mariatu S. Bah, immediate past Women’s Leader of SLPPNA. Supporters from Texas and, New Jersey-based Rosemarie Morkeh-Yamson, also joined.
The first conference call to lay the ground work for the fledgling KS2012 North America organization was held early September. Says Jeneba Bangura, Chair of KS2012, "The focus of the group became clearer after the SLPPNA Women’s Empowerment Fund Fundraising Event held in Washington D.C. on August 27, 2010." Dr. Sesay, then deputy chair of the SLPP, was guest of honor at the event. An appropriate choice considering that in her capacity as SLPP Regional Women’s leader for the North, she had provided technical assistance to female SLPP candidates for all elections.
On any given Sunday during the month of September, more than a dozen people would conference call with other KS2012 volunteers, discussing and fine tuning details for sponsored events. After hundreds of phone hours, countless emails and numerous text messages, KS2012 launched in Dallas, Texas, Friday, October 29, 2010, with Dr. Kadi Sesay as the keynote speaker.
Sierra Leone is approaching 2012 with her citizens standing on the crossroads, Dr. Sesay states. The choice for Sierra Leoneans is between "continuing to propagate the harmful divisions in the country or promoting unity and peace, reclaiming our youth from violence, joblessness and poverty or continuing to use them as agents of terror, giving women an important place in society or continuing to relegate them to the margins of society, privileging patronage and incompetence or rewarding competence and hard work," she says.
"KS2012 is a group that aims to mobilize supporters in favor of Dr. Kadi Sesay’s platform and vision," explains Jeneba Bangura. "The group’s mission is to bring awareness to Dr. Sesay’s candidature by organizing into a structured group, expanding to different places around the globe and raising significant campaign funds," she says, adding, "KS2012 is inspired by Dr. Kadi Sesay and we strongly believe she is the best candidate to take the SLPP to victory come 2012."
Le50 Million Leones is the candidature fee required from each aspirant in the SLPP leadership race, as has been determined by the party’s National Executive Council. The KS2012 chair says she hopes the North America-based organization will come up with the remaining Le40 Million to float the Le10 Million deposit that has already been paid by Dr. Sesay to the SLPP’s development account.
KS2012 continues to recruit members across the United States. There’s also bold talk of a KS2012 UK and Europe. And even KS2012 Asia. Far-flung as KS2012 supporters may appear, all eyes remain trained on Dr. Kadi Sesay and the Sierra Leone-based campaign team who are poised to get, and secure, delegate votes. It’s still early days to do a tally of the number of delegates Kadi Sesay has racked up, but KS2012 members are confident that she will wind up with the highest total where it really counts — the delegates who will choose the party’s nominee at next year’s SLPP convention.
The next KS2012 fundraiser will be held November 6, 2010 in the Washington Metro area. Click here for details http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=108041869258309
To become a member of the KS2012 organization, please contact the chair at KS2012@inbox.com
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