SLAJ elections: may it make the association stronger!
Tomorrow, 26 March 2011, is the big day when members of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) will elect a new executive that will steer its activities for the next two years. (Photo: Adeyemi Paul)
This year’s exercise will mark the first time in the history of the association that its elections are being held outside of the capital Freetown, this time in the Eastern Regional headquarter town of Kenema.
As a journalist and a proprietor of one of the leading newspapers in Sierra Leone, I believe in progress and fair play, and I pray that the election will be conducted in a peaceful atmosphere and that the results will be accepted by all concerned.
I say this because I am apprehensive since I learned that one of the contenders for the position of President, Mr. Mustapha Sesay, has pointed out that a lot of names that are on the voters list were put there by the President, Mr. Umaru Fofana, without going through the constitutional process.
If this proves to be true then we envisage a lot of problems in the conduct of the elections which may seriously affect the credibility of the results to the point that they may either be not accepted or they may be challenged in Court.
While I do not for one minute hold any brief for either Mr. Sesay or Mr. Fofana I want to call on the Electoral Commission of the association to thoroughly investigate this allegation and make amends before allowing the elections to go ahead tomorrow.
I would also want to caution them to be very impartial in this exercise as I will hate to have to grapple with a lot of post elections problems.
I wish the best of luck to all the candidates and may God give us the best team.
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