APC North America PRO on the recent violence in Bo

Fellow Sierra Leoneans around the world, you may have been following the recent outbreak of violence in the Southern city of Bo, in Sierra Leone, and its consequences on property and human life. It is sad that after 10 years of a brutal rebel war, we still have people who believe that violence should still form part of our conflict/dispute resolution machinery. This is not good for our stability as a democratic nation. Those who contributed in bringing peace to Sierra Leone had to sacrifice so much to get us to this point.

We had elections in 1996, 2002 and 2007. The transfer of power, in all three elections, was relatively peaceful because we all chose peace over violence, even though there were issues that could have been petitioned or protested against by the respective party leaders. We acted as a people who had grown, politically, and had made compromises where we should, in order to lay the foundation for lasting peace.

There have been skirmishes here and there between the three main political parties (APC, SLPP and PMDC) since 2007; most of which were bloody and resulted in the destruction of property. We, as a country, can no longer afford to sit by and tolerate acts of violence in the name of securing political gains. The APC party continues to be labeled, by some people, as a “violent party” because of its past. The SLPP is perceived as a political party that doesn’t like to be in the opposition and would use violence, when necessary, to regain power. The truth about these perceptions would depend on one’s assessment and analysis of the activities of both political parties. Violence should never be part of the answers to our problems. We must all condemn it in its entirety regardless of the political party we belong to because, whether provoked or not, the consequences of violence are always dire.

We can go on pointing fingers and blaming the incidents on one another. The facts remain that certain key security pieces are missing in terms of the way we handle political rallies and the manner we respond to violence arising thereof. One of the pieces that are missing is our “Respect” for the laws of Sierra Leone and our law enforcement personnel.

The Southern city of BO is one of the main support bases of the opposition SLPP party. The SLPP won 67% of the votes in that city, making it the 3^rd largest vote puller for the party in the 2007 elections. The APC captured 33% of the votes. One would therefore assume that if the SLPP is going to have a meeting, rally or procession in the city of Bo, the party’s leaders would have already communicated, well in advance, with the police and then draw their attention to this event. If they had done that, they would have given the police an opportunity to arrange and provide adequate policing of the event and securing party offices and other government infrastructures to insure the safety of every participant and every member of the Bo community. If that did not happen, then the government has to very seriously look into insuring that this arrangement is put in place for all future political events.

I strongly condemn the wounding of Mr. Julius Maada Bio in Bo on Friday and hope that the rightful criminals are apprehended. But it is now very obvious that the injury sustained by Mr. Julius Maada Bio on Friday is not commensurate with the damage and destruction that was perpetrated, in retaliation, by the SLPP youths. How can we possibly grow our democracy if we continue to adopt the “eye for an eye” mentality? What would happen to our democracy if the SLPP experiences the same attack from the APC supporters in any of their strongholds like Bombali, Tonkolili and Port Loko?

The response by the APC administration to the violent activities that have taken place within the last few months has not been tough enough to discourage further violence. We, as a government, have to be seen as serious enough to utilize our law enforcement agencies to go after and prosecute any perpetrators of violent activities in the country.

President Koroma issued strong warnings here and there to Ministers and other members of the public but it has not yielded enough to curb further violence in some parts of the country as has been manifested and evidenced in the Bo incident.

We therefore call upon our President and members of his administration to do more by way of instituting discipline around the country through our law enforcement personnel. We do not want to see the gains that we have made, in the areas of peace and security around the country, go down the drains. We want to be seen as a government that is capable of insuring the peace and security of our people, our friends, and our foreign and local investors. The common interest of maintaining peace, security and sustainable development must not be compromised by our lack of resolve to point out what is missing and what is faulty in our law enforcement systems.

Mr. Julius Maada Bio’s supporters have had a couple of clashes within members of his very SLPP party prior to his election as Presidential candidate. Prior to this latest incident in Bo, he has been the center of discussion in many discussion forums and media outlets in relation to the activities of the NPRC regime and the perceived violent nature of members of his group. He has come under fire from members of his SLPP party in recent times for such violent activities from his supporters. Mr. Bio therefore has to understand that he does not belong to a group anymore but to the watchful eyes and the scrutiny of a whole nation. He has to do enough to clear his name to the people of Sierra Leone and to the International Community that he can be counted upon when it comes to the safety and security of the Sierra Leonean people. The incident in Bo has not helped him along these lines. If his supporters are not tolerant in a place that is supposedly his stronghold, how can they possibly operate in any APC dominated environments? We want every political party to be able to campaign freely and robustly in any nook and cranny of the country.

The APC, as a political party, relies heavily on its 4 year record under the presidency of Mr. Ernest Bai Koroma. Close to a Million registered voters (905,407) in the country voted for President Koroma in the 2007 elections over Mr. Berewa’s 789,651vote count. President Koroma therefore understands that he has a responsibility to the entire nation, and so far, he has been doing a tremendous job. Let the people, under their free will; choose who should be their president. That decision should not be made through our muscles in the form of violence and intimidation.

I call upon President Koroma to energize and strengthen the “All Political Parties Commission” so that it may be able to follow up with any investigation relating to violent crimes committed by supporters of any of the existing political parties in the country. The Commission should continue to work side by side with law enforcement to insure proper handling of all cases.

Mr. President, you have done so much in such a short time. We do not expect everyone to agree with that; but we know the majority of Sierra Leoneans understand where we are, as compared to where we were, in terms of our internal and external development.

Let not your softness be taken for weakness by those who are bent on creating instability in our peaceful country. The world is watching you every step of the way. Above all, your maker is also eyeing you closely. Both understand your good intentions and will be by your side as you take this nation to unprecedented levels. May God continue to bless our nation.

Brima Michael Turay, PRO – APC North America

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