Commentary by Galaxy

It is no longer a secret that general elections are around the corner. One main event that took place in the last few days was the meeting between President Julius Maada Bio and the National Grand Coalition (MGC) Leader in Parliament, Hon. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella aka KKY.

What the two dignitaries spoke about is unknown because it was a closed door meeting. But what political thinkers, pundits and social commentators are saying about this meeting is that, the NGC’s Yumkella could possibly be thinking about rejoining the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) or possibly engaging President Bio towards creating a merger with the SLPP at the coming elections just so that they make a formidable body to keep the All People’s Party (APC) at bay.

According to political analysts, the NGC cannot in its weirdest dreams, compare itself to the two main political parties that have historically ruled Sierra Leone; in a similar vein like the two main political parties: Democrats and Republicans which are the two major parties that have been ruling the United States of America since independence.

Against this background, it is not unreasonable to state that, Sierra Leone has and is being ruled by two major political parties since independence – APC and SLPP. Therefore, when NGC’s Hon. Yumkella on the eve of elections campaign begins to hold closed-door meetings with President Bio, the alarm bells begin to ring signaling his motive or motives.

In a distant but quite similar scenario, the world was shocked to hear that the President of Ukraine invited the President of Russia to a meeting to resolve the current impasse between the two states.

What this indicates is that, the Ukraine President has come to the realization that he cannot fight a power bigger than his. He also could have realized that he cannot fight fire with fire.

But coming back to the Yumkella fraternizing with Bio issue, it could be that the former has finally realized that his party cannot survive without the SLPP where he originally came from and left because he wanted nothing less than being Number One!

Be that as it may, Yumkella knows where he is coming from. He can vividly remember the cusses, struggles, constraints and other hurdles he went through while he was in the SLPP. He can recall that he left the SLPP to form the NGC because he disagreed with the SLPP executive at the time over issues that could have been resolved had he not been adamant and proud.

But as all of this is going on, the All People’s Congress Party (APC) is watching the unfolding events with eagle eyes. It is a fact that the APC, NGC and other opposition parties formed what has become known as the Consortium of Progressive Political Parties (CoPPP) which is agitating for the demise of the SLPP through the ballot box.

The APC on the other hand, might have its own agenda. But this issue about Yumkella allegedly bowing to President Bio is something that the APC is seriously thinking about in order to know where they stand with regard CoPPP and with the NGC.