Bumpy Road to APC Convention!
PPRC, Secretariat accused of complicity
The Court Ordered emergency National Delegates Conference (NDC) of the main opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) party has been bedeviled by rancor and discord among the membership of the 21-man Technical Committee charged with the responsibility of conduction delegate elections in 132 constituencies, which has the propensity of throwing the convention berserk.
The dominant faction in the committee, representing the Establishment as 3rd accused in the court matter are going the extra mile to frustrate efforts towards the re-run of elections in seven constituencies in Kono, Kambia and Bo districts cancelled due to orchestrated manipulation of the polls by agents of the Secretariat in the interest of a favoured flag bearer.
On the other hand, representatives of the plaintiff, Alfred Peter Conteh, the National Reformation Movement (NRM) and the so-called Big-6 made up of aggrieved former and potential presidential candidates, are said to have urged the Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC) in their Wednesday 8th September 2021 meeting following the half-hazard conclusion of the elections, to conduct a re-run in the affected constituencies.
“By all indications, it is clear that the PPRC is dancing to the tune of the Establishment”, said a member of the Committee on condition of anonymity.
In a letter dated 10th September 2021 addressed to the Chairman of the Commission, Counsel representing the plaintiff raised concerns of what he described as breach of the Court Orders of 9th August 2021, stating that elections for delegates were held in only 125 constituencies and not 132 as ordered by the Court; and warned of the legal implications of such an omission.
“Since your institution is the one charged with the mandate of supervising and making sure that the democratic principles are maintained in the structures of the political parties operating within the four corners of Sierra Leone, we would at this point draw your attention to the delegates list sent to your institution that there are no representatives representing constituencies 24, 25, 26 and 27 which are constituencies in the Kono district…. Added to that you would also find out that 2 constituencies in the Bo District and one in the Kambia District are conspicuously absent on the said delegates list that has been prepared by Ambassador Dr Alhaji Osman Foday Yansaneh simply because elections have not been conducted in all constituencies herein aforementioned”, the letter reads.
The letter further makes reference to the illegal inclusion of approximately “58 or 59 affiliate groups” on the list of delegates without conducting elections, contrary to provisions of the APC constitution of 5th December, 1995.
In the midst this controversy over the re-run of elections, the road to the APC convention slated for 17th to 19th September 2021, remains bumpy, casting a cloud of doubt over a peaceful outcome.
By Abdul Kuyateh
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