POLITICS SLPP Ingratitude And Berewa’s Vicious Attack on Kabbah Part 11 Posted by Philip Neville Executive Editor on Mar 16, 2009, 13:43

Oh Happy Days... Solomon Berewa and Ex President Kabbah....When The Going Was Sweet

This writer is aware of the undoubted fact that Solomon Ekuma Berewa will be finding ways to get at him, either directly or indirectly for putting these series of articles together which he may not find palatable, but offending.  This is so because he has the heart of the biblical Ahab or King Pharaoh who strongly believes in the Mosaic Law. His character is predictable, unlike ex-president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah who has a shrewd and deceitful behaviour. That was why he survived a number of things and why Solomon Ekuma Berewa is reputed as the master schemer and planner of all things. His contribution, using these attributes to contain Foday Sankoh was very remarkable and excellent, which Sierra Leoneans would always remember him for and tap him on his back, for cleverly putting the number one enemy of the state of Sierra Leone out of existence. But, it is not at all times such attributes are welcome, only in cases of national stability and cohesion.

Solomon Ekuma Berewa should not be troubled by these articles for the attempt is not to present him in a bad light or shape to the public as he did few days back in Kenema to ex-president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, but to remind him that the man he stood up and crucified is the same man who played sign role in his life.  The man who transformed him from being a private legal practitioner to a powerful and most feared Attorney General and Minister of Justice.  A position he never dreamt about when he was a boy, a school teacher or a bread seller at Dwazark farm.  This is the man he humiliated accused, tried and got the SLPP delegates and supporters to pass a verdict of guilty against him without going through the due process of the law or allowing him to give his own side of the fairy tale, a situation that saw natural justice being compromised.

Solo B For President With His Hench Men....After Casting His Ballot at Hill Station

The attempt, also by this columnist is not to paint Solomon Ekuma Berewa black, but to inform the public that ex-president Kabbah did nothing wrong to prevent the state of Sierra Leone from degenerating into chaos and anarchy. He did nothing to deprive or destroyed Solomon Ekuma Berewa’s chance of becoming the next president of Sierra Leone, In fact it was Solomon Ekuma Berewa who destroyed his chance of becoming president due to several factors, which would be highlighted in this article and others that would be published in the coming days.

Ex-president Kabbah provided everything for the SLPP Presidential Candidate to win the 2007 election, money was no problem for him, vehicles were no problem and human resources were in abundance and to his advantage. In the next piece, we shall examine this area and see whether or not all these facilities were utilized properly, if they do, then why?

What should be made absolutely clear for Mr. Solomon Ekuma Berewa to know that this is not a fight on behalf of ex-president Kabbah, but a fight to bring out the truth and allowed the public to judge and make fair comment, although he went too far to heap blame on the ex-president for his misfortune, it would however serve him well in future after going through these articles to re-adjust himself and be less feared by the people. The perception of the voters about him caused him the big loss of the presidential ticket. He is perceived as wicked, unforgiving and a human destroyer who takes pleasure in strangulating the happiness of others and use the rule of law as scapegoat and defence of his action.

Things Turning Sour......Handing Over The Reigns of Power To Ernest Koroma

If any journalist is to be annoyed, or contribute to his cry and hate against the ex-president, this writer should be one and Paul Kamara of For Di People Newspaper another, because for four consecutive days; preceding the 2007 Presidential and Parliamentary elections, this columnist was detained at the Central Police Station and later whisked to the Pademba Road Maximum Prison on the instruction of ex-president Kabbah for merely publishing an article that has to do with gifts donated to this country by Colonel Gaddafi of Libya.  And in the case of Paul Kamara he was sent to jail for publishing about the coco-coffee deal, which ex-president Kabbah would not want to reflect on during his life time on planet earth.

But for truth to prevail, this writer/columnist has considered it a national task to inform the public that what Solomon Ekuma Berewa told the delegates and people of Kenema was not absolutely true and correct especially those of us who are privy to all that took place before the election.  Ex-president Kabbah managed the affairs of the election until the results were announced by the Chief Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Christian Thorpe, and he protected Solomon Ekuma Berewa from several law suits filed against him and the SLPP by the PMDC leader.

The ex president, behind the scene used the legal skills and knowledge of judges of the Supreme Court to render the matter impotent under the legal maxim “No Locust Standi” Has Solomon Ekuma Berewa forgotten so soon the role played, and that if ex president Kabbah wanted to deprive of the presidency as he claimed in Kenema, he should have commenced it with the leadership battle in Makeni or the PMDC Constitutional case filed against him and the party to proceed in court and judgement delivered.  Therefore, both Solomon Berewa and the SLPP should be grateful to ex-president Kabbah for the skillful manner he handled the entire affairs, which the party and the presidential candidate are now accusing him of wrong doing.

Mr. Ekuma Berewa was not SLPP until he was appointed Attorney General and Minister of Justice by the ex-president, a position that most SLPP stalwarts were totally against because of egocentrism and the feelings that he was not one of them, but Kabbah defied all arguments, because of his conviction that he was doing the right thing. Solomon Berewa some time ago told the SLPP when they approached him and Dr. James Jonah for financial contribution to the party that not all Mendes are SLPP and that it was ex-president Kabbah who brought him to serve in his government, which was true at the time, until when he realized what is political power and how sweet it was to be at the top. He willingly started making unexpected financial contribution to get a firm grip of whatever is marked and called “SLPP’.

As Attorney General and Minister of Justice Mr.Berewa excelled, gained prominence, recognition and was greatly feared.  This was the beginning of what could be interpreted or referred to as self destruction of a man who considered himself of being in possession of the keys to everyone’s life, protection and freedom. The killing of twenty four ambitious soldiers, including Kula Samba who was picked up late at night from the Pademba Road Prison, where she was detained during the court martial and passed the night with a top prominent politician with assurance, that she would not be killed like her colleagues, only to be collected in the early hours of the morning after services rendered to save her life and whisked to a slaughter house, tied to a tree and shot to death in one of the most barbaric manner was unimaginable. Wicked and gruesome, despite several pleas from the international community and non-governmental organizations to spare the lives of those soldiers, whose families and loved ones depended on them for their livelihood did not yield any positive dividend. 

Solomon Ekuma Berewa had the power to stop the untimely deaths of these young Sierra Leoneans but decided to be complacent. Alhaji I.B.Kargbo, Mr. Dennis Smith and a handful of others could have been dead, had it not been for divine intervention. Solomon Ekuma Berewa as a fine criminal lawyer is good at reading the law and interpreting it his way, but his criminal legal background did not help him when according to him ex-president Kabbah invited him to the Presidential Lodge and showed him a piece of paper with numbers on it purporting to be the result of the 2007 Presidential election. He should have used his criminal knowledge in law to treat the information with no amount of seriousness, but allowed ex-president Kabbah to give him 419, which he informed the delegates, that it was another way he betrayed him.

Assuming that the piece of information was true, Solomon Ekuma Berewa in his quiet moment would have been convinced that his boss may have tampered with the results or had influenced Dr. Christiana Thorpe. In future, Solomon Berewa would have lost confidence on Dr. Thorpe, which could have led to her termination or dismissal from the National Electoral Commission when he (Berewa) would have been the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone. Did he not present a vehicle to Dr. Thorpe as a birthday gift?  Mr. Berewa is aware of the fact that ex-president Kabbah is not the Chief Returning Officer with constitutional mandate to announce and release election results, but he believed  the information he shared with him on a piece of paper. One begins to picture the kind of desperation in a man who wanted to be President at all cost.  

As Attorney General, he did so many things, some were good and some were bad, but would cleverly put up very strong defence that he was doing it in the interest of the state and following the due process of the law.  The SLPP started becoming unpopular prior to the arrest, detention, trial and death of Chief Sam Hinga Norman who had fought so hard for the restoration of the party when it was overthrown by Johnny Paul Kamara and others.The debate that the entire military should be disbanded because of lack of confidence and trust was another chapter that presented Solomon Berewa in a rather gloomy light.

In 2002 ex-president Kabbah wanted to prove whether or not Solomon Ekuma Berewa was over ambitious for political power, when he suggested to him that he would want him to be his running mate and not Dr. Albert Joe Demby any more.  He accepted the offer without thinking about the fate of Dr. Albert Joe Demby his brother from the south. He would prefer that seat than occupying the seat of Attorney General and Minister of Justice and become the second most important gentleman of the state, while Dr. Joe Demby was sent packing out of his office weeping and asking why Solomon Berewa wanted his job? (Read next edition when Solomon Berewa became the Vice President)