By Alfred Koroma
While making a statement preceding the approval of nine Presidential nominees, Hon. Mustapha Musa Sellu singled out Daniel Kaitibie, the new Executive Director of the Sierra Leone Maritime Administration to emphasize the challenges of the office he has been appointed to take over.
Hon. Sellu recalled that since 2018 to date, Kaitibie is the fourth person to head Maritime Administration, hoping that the new Maritime Head will use his experience to address the challenges facing the agency to prevent it leadership instability and keep him in the job.
In the process of saying this, the MP made a displeasing mistake in the House which was crowded with members and supporters of the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) who had attended the sitting to throw support for the nominees.
Hon. Sellu said they have changed Executive Directors at the agency several times, but they hope Kaitibie will now serve until the end of 2028 when SLPP would have exited the power.
“We have changed over three or four DGs in that position,” he said. “We believe that you will now serve till the end of 2028 when SLPP would have exited the power.”
The statement sparked murmuring and laughter in the gallery and Well of the House, forcing Hon. Sellu to clumsily change his statement saying: “After 2028, we will continue through the ballot box.” It was a troubling ejaculation that overshadowed everything the MP later said.
But even though it may have been considered a mistake, Hon. Sellu’s statement about SLPP exiting power in 2028 is not far from the general public perception regarding change of government in Sierra Leone.
Most Sierra Leoneans believe there would be a change of government from one political party to the other after every ten years. This has been the case since the start of multiparty democracy in the country, which may have influenced the MP into saying it.
