By: Mercellina Fatu Koroma
Former National Chairman and Leader of the Sierra Leone People’s Party, SLPP, John Oponjo Benjamin, has on 19th August,2026 said that political party affiliation may become secondary when it comes to supporting a Presidential candidate from the Eastern Region.
Speaking during SLIK TV’s Today Show_ breakfast programme, Mr. Benjamin stated that voters could rally behind a candidate from the East, regardless of whether they belong to the All People’s Congress, APC, or the SLPP.
He stressed that the conversation should not center on financial inducements to delegates, but rather on addressing what he described as the long-standing marginalization of the Eastern Region in national leadership.
“For far too long,” he noted, “we in the Eastern Region have been deprived of leadership and much-needed state benefits.”
Mr. Benjamin added that if a candidate from the East emerges, questions of party loyalty or the amount given to delegates may not necessarily determine public support.
His comments have since sparked renewed discussion about the role of regional identity versus political loyalty in shaping Sierra Leone’s electoral landscape.
The senior politician is a former Minister of Finance and former Minister of Development and Economic Planning under the SLPP government.
Mr. Benjamin also served as Leader of the National Unity Party (NUP), and won parliamentary seats in the 1996 elections.
He is currently a Presidential Flagbearer Aspirant for the SLPP and a strong voice on issues of governance, democracy, and regional representation in Sierra Leone.
