For the last couple of months now, there has been a systematic and well-coordinated campaign of calumny against the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Hon. Chernor Maju Bah aka “Chericoco”.
Those who have been following Chericoco since he was growing up at Berwick Street in Freetown to the Lahai-Taylor area at Brookfields, west of the capital, to his St Edwards Secondary School days unto his Fourah Bay College days will tell you that he has been one of the politicians of the All People’s Congress (APC) who have always stuck by the ideals and ideology of the APC.
Unlike some party stalwarts who have been acting as Fifth Columnists within the APC; Chericoco’s loyalty to his party has never been questionable. His efforts towards strengthening the party in and outside Parliament are immense, and his financial contributions towards the party’s activities are indescribable. He has made personal and professional sacrifices for the APC that are beyond any iota of doubt about his total commitment to the APC.
The APC Members of Parliament will tell you that Chericoco has always been providing great leadership in parliament. They will tell you that, contrary to the systematic and well-coordinated campaign of calumny, the Leader of the Opposition has never been found wanting in his role in the House of Parliament.
But his critics want him to do more than the ordinary. They want him to squeeze water out of stone; they want him to do the things that cannot be done, and they are now trying to paint him as someone who is selling out to the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP). His only crime? He might be seen as the one who appears to be standing in the way of some overambitious “Comrades” in the party’s fold.
Every politician believes in his or her method of operation to drive home their points of view. Most of those who are now baying for his blood simply want the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament to always unsheathe his sword in situations that need sane and logical moves to get out of parliamentary labyrinths. Well, Chericoco doesn’t believe in the crude confrontational politics of old to make a point or his views known.
What his critics have not been telling the world is how the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Hon. Chernor Maju Bah aka Chericoco, has been giving helping hand to those at the party’s Brookfields headquarters; how he has been helping countless people in his Brookfields constituency, and how he has been of help to even some of those who are now baying for his blood.
But it is an innate trait in Chericoco not to be bordered by distractions. He is unruffled by noiseless noises because he is focused on one thing: the 2023 general elections!