Constituency 96 creates symbol committee
The long awaited Symbol Award Committee creation takes place at Constituency 96 tomorrow Saturday September 1st 2012 at 10:00 am in two places simultaneously.
Constituency 96 has two Wards, meaning that the Constituency will be divided into two for the purpose of identifying and naming the members of the Symbol Award Committee.
The Symbol Award Committee is made up of 100 members drawn from across the board with special emphasis on membership of local institutions and organizations that are part and parcel of Constituency 96.
However, the institutions and organizations that will be taken into considerations are those that have legal existence for representations in the Electoral College; that is, registered institutions that are already in existence before the idea was conceived by the National Advisory Council (NAC) of the APC.
The two Wards of Constituency 96 are Ward 346 & 347. The incumbent councilors are Councilor Mary Kamara in Ward 346 and Moses Salieu Kamara in Ward 347. And the incumbent Member of Parliament is Hon. David Sesay.
In a recent meeting, the Regional Campaign Manager and Minister of Mines, Minkailu Mansaray, in his statement at the Allen Town gathering said that the Constituency would be divided into two, each one comprising 50 Electoral College Members, bringing that to a total of 100 Electoral College Members also known as Symbol Award Committee members.
The Symbol Award Committee Members in both Wards will be drawn heavily from among the Constituency executives, numbering 11 according to the 1995 constitution. As much as it possible the Constituency executive members will be found in at least one of the two Wards of the Constituency as much as practicable.
In addition to that, prominent Sierra Leoneans within the two Wards may also be part of the Symbol Award Committee including incumbents if they are not contesting in 2012.
Those that will be drawn from the institutions that exist in the two Wards have been kindly requested to call a meeting of their members to elect or select their own representative in the Symbol Award Committee.
Moreover, members of existing organizations that will be represented in the Symbol Award Committee must convene a meeting of their members to elect their representative whom they believe will do their bidding. They must remember that if they fail to elect an honest representative their vote may be thrown away by their representative if he chooses to vote for the wrong person.
Therefore, the Mosques and Churches of Constituency 96 must meet and elect one representative each into the Electoral College or Symbol Award Committee and so must all other organizations.
Those who will also elect a representative into the Symbol Award Committee include but not limited to Ward Committee Members, Okada Riders, Drivers Union, City Council, NUAS Organization, APC Youth Federation, the disabled, market women, traders, teachers, the Sierra Leone Police, the Army, traditional healers, young generation members, traditional societies, concern women, development organization, SUMEK, Council of Chiefs, members of the press, nurses organizations, NATCOM, National Revenue Authority, Printers, educationists, masons, Christian Organizations, Muslim Institutions, carpenters and several other organizations as may be applicable.
President Koroma himself has insisted that the process must be all inclusive and none-marginalizing.
The President also advised that only organizations that have been in existence that will be included in the list of the Electoral College, not new ones created recently and unregistered.
The President also had a strong advice for Constituency Executives not to support or solicit support for any aspirant publicly as that will confuse the process.
He advised all Constituency Executives to be completely neutral and provide a level playing field for all aspirants for the sake of peace and stability and for enhancing democratic practice.
But the President also prescribed a penalty for violating this code of conduct; the President said that any Constituency executive caught publicly supporting any aspirant or publicly soliciting support for an aspirant will be expelled from the executive and the aspirant disqualified.
President Koroma appealed to all Sierra Leoneans to be peaceful, law abiding, non-violent and constructive.
President Koroma also appealed to all Sierra Leoneans, especially APC members, not to look at the Award of Symbol as a matter of life and death, but to know that there is something much more fulfilling after the Symbol Awards.
He urged all APC members to work for the victory of the APC during the first ballot.
On that note, residents of the two Wards of Constituency 96 will converge in their respective places and carefully select the 50 members of their Electoral College, either in Ward 346 or 347.
To that end we urge all APC members of Ward 346 to assemble at the Pamaronko Community Centre at 10: am. On Saturday September 1st 2012 to select and identify their 50 Electoral College Members, or better still their 50 Symbol Award Committee Members. Aspirants will not take part.
This system is in use in all democratic countries and it must therefore gain support in Sierra Leone.
The same must also be done at the Sankma Hall in Allen in Ward 347, where the 50 Electoral College Members or 50 Symbol Award Committee Members will be selected in a very inclusive but responsible manner.
These two processes at Pamaronko, Calaba Town and at Allen Town must not be seen as life and death, but must be seen in the context that it will unify the APC and the nation through fairness and transparent justice.
We must always bear in mind that while the Symbol Award Committee process is a good tool of democracy, we must maximize it to give President Koroma an unblemished victory in 2012.
The President wants us to know that those who will lose the symbol contest have to support the winner as it is not about personalities but it is about the APC.
We must remember that when President Koroma wins all of us have won.
The 2007 experience revealed to us that some of those who lost the symbol in 2007 are better off than those who won, when the former were appointed to positions of cabinet ministers of deputy ministers. There are other vacancies too for those who may not win depending on one’s qualifications.
Let us therefore make our Symbol Award selection a happy and peaceful one in Constituency 96.
We thank you for coming and for being there on time.
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