Freetown — The national secretariat of the opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) Tuesday received letters of intent for the leadership contest from two more candidates, bringing to 20 the number of people that have officially declared to lead the party to the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections.

Former minister of Labour and Industrial Relations in the erstwhile Tejan Kabbah government, Alpha Timbo and SLPP legal adviser and constitutional expert, Dr. Bu-Buakei Jabbi have both paid the sum of Le10 million each as part payment of the Le50 million candidature fee charged by the party executive.

Timbo was the deputy secretary general of the SLPP but tendered his letter of resignation as mandated by the new party constitution before making his declaration. The SLPP constitution, among other things, states that all executive members who have intention of contesting for positions in the forthcoming delegates' conference should resign from their positions four months before the said election.

"This is my happiest moment; having served the party for two consecutive terms as assistance secretary general of our great party, I have decided to move forward to the leadership contest because the SLPP needs credible and sustainable leadership. I have all that is required to lead this party to successful presidential and parliamentary elections in 2012," he said.

"My track records at the Sierra Leone Teachers' Union, Labour Congress and at the ministry of Labour are glaring that Timbo can deliver the goods needed for the success of the SLPP." He added that the SLPP is the only political party in the country that demonstrates a high level of democracy and appealed to his supporters to galvanize more support for his leadership bid.

For his part, Dr. Jabbi said in the present political situation in the country, he was confident that his candidature would surely reap overall victory for the SLPP come 2012. "I hereby declare and do submit this declaration of my intention to contest for the position of flag-bearer or presidential candidate of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party for the national presidential elections in 2012," he declared. "I have read and fully understood the rules and regulations governing the election of the SLPP presidential candidate. I further declare that in the unlikely event of losing the contest I shall remain an active member of the SLPP as I have always been."

Chairman of the SLPP, John Oponjo Benjamin said, at the party's conference held in Bo, delegates made certain amendments to the 1995 party constitution in addition to enacting a new code of conduct for members intending to become presidential flag-bearer.

"These instruments which were submitted to the Political Parties' Registration Commission pursuant to the provisions of the Political Parties' Registration Act were published in Gazette number 51 for a period of one month and are now binding on the membership. As a result of this development the national executive issued a public notice requesting interested party members to declare their intentions for the election of candidate for the 2012 presidential elections.

"In this regard as at midday 31st August 2010, twenty people have each paid Le10 million, constituting only part of the candidature fee to the secretariat," he concluded.

Meanwhile, as we went to press Concord Times learnt that the party executive has extended the time for members who still want to run for the leadership position to do so, as more potential contenders were said to have been queuing at the Commercial Bank to pay their candidature fee.