How the West was won
In the first installment of this article, I wrote that the title was inspired by an old Western film about how, following the first settlements on America’s east coast, the settlers gradually spread westwards until they reached the Pacific Ocean. It was not an easy task but the objective was reached all the same. There was brute force, cajoling, intrigue, betrayal etc., etc., until the entire continent was conquered. (Photo: Dr. Sama Banya)
The APC’s Parliamentary and Presidential victory of 2007 could be compared in many ways to how the Indians lost in North America, or How the SLPP lost to the APC. There was intrigue, betrayal, threat of force, all combined under the umbrella of regime change. I named some of the perpetrators of the scheme which was led by Victor Angelo at that time the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General. He was aided and abetted by NEC chairman Christiana Thorpe and the operative or hit man Carlos Valenzuela. He had been specially recruited by Angelo and was assisted by two computer mechanics from Liberia. Theirs was a deliberately conceived plan that succeeded in overturning what should have been an SLPP victory. As I keep repeating and much to the discomfiture of APC fanatics, because of these people we lost the result of the elections to the APC.
Readers would recall NEC chairman’s declaration that the results would be announced as they were received, meaning first received, first to be announced. That of course was the deception. Results from Bombali, Tonkolili, Port Loko and other districts and from the western area were the first to be announced. Out of every such announcement there would be one or two from the east or the south. Everyone was aware that the respective areas were the strongholds of the APC and the SLPP. Thus about 80 percent of the votes cast were in favour of the APC. From the east and the south, the initial results were those in which the APC did well even though they did not win the seats. It was a psychological tactic that was meant to demoralize the SLPP and its supporters. The impression was being created that Ernest and the APC had carried the day. Naively we sat waiting, consoling ourselves that when the counting got to our strongholds we would more than cover up. The SLPP flag bearer Solomon Berewa soon detected this and wrote a letter of concern to the chairman of NEC which was never acknowledged.
Worse was taking place at the same time. Valenzuela and his boys were discreetly inflating the APC figures from their strongholds while at the same time deflating he SLPP figures from the south and the east. Readers would recall that because of all that fiddling Carlos Valenzuela and his boys could not balance the figures against the 8.30 scheduled announcements on Monday morning September 17; the proceedings were pushed back to 9.30 and even with that there were glaring inconsistencies in tallying the totals. NEC hurriedly and I would say criminally destroyed their website in under six months of the election results by which time Valenzuela and his operatives had been quietly shipped out of the country. Christiana Thorpe was aware that she had no constitutional authority to invalidate results; that was the legal responsibility of the Presiding Officers and of the courts. There again there was an indecent haste to destroy the NEC website.
As for the security apparatus, the least said now the better. When an attempt was made to serve an injunction on the NEC chairman, the court courier was not allowed to get near her and Berewa’s security was detained by the Police. And there was great rejoicing after it all.
I have brought this matter up now because in spite of a non approval by both the PMDC and the SLPP the President and his advisers are bent upon renewing Christiana Thorpe’s contract so that she would scheme up and perpetrate more irregularities. The only people of integrity on the commission and who refused to be part of the conspiracy Eddie Nyallay and Winston Minah were unconstitutionally sacked while Hindolo Momoh was humiliated into resigning his appointment. But rogues will always fall apart and it did not take long for our good lady to fall out with her co schemers Al-Gassimu Jah and Daphne Olu-Williams who soon resigned their appointments. This is to sound a serious note of warning to Christiana Thorpe and her newest ally Steven Mattia that come 2012 we shall keep a watchful eye on them LONTA
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