On the 24th August 2016, Minority Leader of the House of Parliament Hon. Dr. Bernadette Lahai has confirmed that she is no longer going to contest for a seat in the next Parliamentary elections that are proposed to take place in Sierra Leone in 2018.

“That’s not true, because I have never contested for any position in my constituency before, and also, I have won all the elections I contested for,” she said.

She said the lower level elections that will be conducted in Kenema District will determine who will succeed her as she is not interested to return to Parliament as an MP, but that does not mean that she is not a politician. “I am a full politician and an SLPP member,” she said.

She added that she is serving her third term in Parliament and has thanked her people for giving this position to her for the past fourteen (14) years and informed them that she has no interest to come back for a fourth term.

“There are many of our brothers and sisters that are interested in becoming a Member of Parliament for constituency 013 and all of them shall have my support either financially or morally and they need to tell me why they want the position and what they are going to do for the people of lower Babarah Chiefdom, Constituency 013 to be specific.”

She disclosed that the dignity, respect, and discipline that once characterized the SLPP have now faded. She said there is no peace in the party.

She said the lower level elections for constituencies 013 and 014 have been conducted and the rest of other constituencies will be conducted very soon as expected by Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC). She said the party is moving at a snail’s pace in presenting its executives across the country, considering they should also be thinking of presenting their Flag bearer by now.

She catalogued the developmental activities she has undertaken in the constituency, such as building schools, feeder roads’ maintenance, empowering girls, and supporting a secondary school she built, and has been paying teachers for the past five years now.

She added that she is the first Sierra Leonean that has been a member of executives in the Pan African Parliament. She ended “as vice President of the Pan African Parliament, members will now have the confidence to give any executive position to Sierra Leoneans in that African Parliament. This is all because of the outstanding leadership I showed.”