Concord Times (Freetown)
Rachel Horner and Tanu Jalloh
12 May 2008
Freetown — Speculations are rife that the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC) may soon dump its old but vibrant secretary general when executive members converge later this year to hold their national delegate conference and elect a new executive.
Victor Bockarie Foh, who sounded repulsive on the phone, has refused to comment on the matter but party sources suggested that a top APC member in the diaspora has already been identified for the position, despite assurances that the election process would be transparent.
Until recently when he came under scathing criticisms for corrupting the award of party symbol in the run up to the local government elections slated for July 5, Foh has proven to be one of the most loyal party stalwarts to have hailed from the Sierra Leone Peoples Party stronghold in the south.
On January 11, 2008 it was reported that Foh was one of two veteran politicians from the ruling party to have spent months making successful in-roads into the opposition's SLPP territory.
"Our independent investigations show that Victor Bockarie Foh and William Juana Smith have been winning hearts and minds of strategic southeasterners using a variety of devices. Whilst many southeasterners are avid supporters of the SLPP, the soft approach of both Foh and Smith in the south and east have been yielding dividends to make the territory more pliant to the leadership of Ernest Bai Koroma," a local newspaper reported.
Meanwhile, a political heavyweight, who preferred anonymity, told Concord Times that any attempt to get rid of Foh by way of supporting a candidate from the overseas could be criticized strongly by the rank and file of the party membership.
"I am a northerner but if Foh were to be sent out of the party's executive now we would all have been guilty of tribalism and regional discrimination," he avowed.
The source suggested that rumours about Foh's imminent dismissal could not be completely baseless. He made reference to Foh's vexed comments before he delivered a statement during the launch of government's Attitudinal and Behavioural Change initiative at State House on April 26.
Foh had registered his annoyance to the high table comprising the minister of information, Alhaji Ibrahim Ben Kargbo, presidential and public affairs minister Alhaji Alpha Kanu, Vice President Samuel Sam Sumana and President Ernest Bai Koroma that his name was deliberately misspelt.
This outburst on the part of the APC scribe, according to our source, was not typical of the peaceful Foh he has always known.
"Many party members had wondered why would Foh be so gravely angry with the organizers because they merely misspelt his name. Some had posited that he might not be part of the original list of speakers," he said.
However, an old APC supporter Isatu Marrah who trades in confectioneries along Sani Abacha Street in Freetown said Foh must change his attitude.
She said Foh was "a rotten fish within the APC and must not be allowed to go scot-free. I also think we need new decent people in our politics and not the likes of Foh. He must go, come the next convention."
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