By Brima Michael Turay
What I have contained in this piece is going to anger some people and soon they are going to start saying that I am against the APC, or am not a true APC, or an Agent of the SLPP, or am Sam Sumana.
But let me start by making one thing very clear here. I did not join the APC. I was born in the APC. My father, a Limba from Tonko Limba Chiefdom, and my mom from Sella Limba in the now Karene District, were both APC throughout their lifetime. I have never joined any other party nor jump from another party into the APC. I have, and still continue to suffer discomfort and indignities to this day for my being labelled APC. I have served the APC even at a time when most people thought I would sit back and not do anything for the party.
My effort with that of other indigenes of Constituency 058, in the Tonko Limba Chiefdom, won the MP seat and 5 Council seats for the APC in the past elections. We have 4 Wards in that constituency but because of the numbers we polled for the APC, we were able to secure 5 instead of 4 Council seats. With no direct support from the party, we used our personal resources to secure this victory for the APC in our own little way. So, no one can claim to be more APC than I am and therefore I deserve to be heard.
We all love this APC and wanted to see the party win the 2023 Presidential elections but no one is talking about why we did not adequately fund the campaigning. No one is asking about how much money came into the campaign coffers and how it was expended. No one is asking for our official disaggregated figures by polling centres in the districts. Apart from boycotting governance, no one is asking about what the next official moves by the party would be. No one is even asking about what would happen to our MP- Elects after the constitutionally mandated 30 days elapse without their being sworn in as Members of Parliament.
Since this whole rejection of the election results by the leadership of the APC started, we have not seen one single collated figure by the party’s collation centres that were actively putting the numbers together.
It is my understanding that each of those collation centres was acting independent of the others – so much that when one centre calls the other to send whatever figures they had so that the party could have one properly reconciled figure, there would be serious resistance. So, in the end, every collation centre held unto their numbers.
Could this be a reason why we have not been able to see any official figures from the party, save those released by Macella Samba of the National Elections Watch (NEW)?
By not releasing and debating the figures we have against those announced by Konneh, all our arguments are currently standing on a faulty premise. Our syllogism in any debate over this matter is therefore going to be downright faulty.
If we release those figures, we cannot be accused of Prejudicing a case because the matter is not in any court at this moment since the leadership of the party has expressed scepticism over addressing the issue through our judicial system.
Why then is the party not releasing the figures they have to its membership or, at least, to the Publicity team, so that we can argue our case in the Court of Public Opinion for the world to see what Konneh has done to our democracy?
But this is the danger the party and our elected MP face after the 30 days elapse.
Prior to elections, the party submitted 2 lists of nominated candidates to the ECSL. Those in the first list would be the ones to take the first spot in the seats that the party won during the elections. If they are not sworn in 30 days from the day they were supposed to have been sworn in, they risk the chance of occupying those seats. In that case, the second list will then kick in as the next batch that is qualified to be sworn in to represent the party in Parliament.
Let us keep in mind that most people in that list were already disgruntled because they were not placed in the first list. Some have accused the leadership of the party and the Team A faction of excluding them because they did not dance to the tune of their political rythm. What do we think is going to happen, if by any circumstances, these people now have an opportunity to be called to parliament and be sworn in as MPs? Do we think the party will have control over them as it had over these ones on the first list? This is great danger that both the current MP elects and the leadership of the APC face.
We cannot let our emotions get the better part of our abilities to rationalize and face the realities that have presented themselves before our faces. People have sacrificed for this party beyond anything that some of us could ever have imagined ourselves to do for it.
Some of us sailed on the backs of others to propel ourselves to prominence in this party. We owe it to those martyrs of conscience who should forever be remembered for their political toils.
Do we even have a game plan or exit strategy apart from staying aloof? Let us think very critically and stop being sentimental about something as serious as this.
Some of these young men and women sold houses and other valuable property and gave everything they had in their possession in order to secure this national blessing of representing their people in the Sierra Leone House of Parliament.
Dr. Samura Matthew Wilson Kamara who strongly believes that he won the 2023 Presidential elections has taken a path different and far away from any form of jurisprudence. These young men and women won their seats in Parliament without objection. Would it be fair to let them lose this chance in the name of unconventional resistance to the outcome of a presidential election?
We really have to think about this because it could be you tomorrow and you would want fairness to be exercised in your favour. Are you willing to do the same now?
I do not want to be the carrier of bad news but should we get to that point, their will be serious resistance against the current decision by the party’s leadership from most people in the second list. This is food for thought.