Chairman of the defunct ITGC (Interim Transitional Governance Committee) still appears to be a threat to APC (All People’s Congress), senior party members day. Alfred Peter Conteh is reportedly threatening to take another legal action against the party for what he called an “illegal convention.”
Speaking on media, platforms, Conteh says APC’s recent convention is a sham.
“I am still Chairman of the Interim Transitional Governance Committee. The convention held in Makeni is illegal,” Conteh declares. The ex-ITGC Chairman argued that the APC was under an injunction implying that they were not supposed to hold any convention. He made it clear that Justice Hannah Bonnie had banned the convention after an APC member, Francis Gbondo filed a lawsuit against the APC.
Gbondo’s contention holds that those battling with matters at the Commissions of inquiry should not stand for positions within the party. The commissions of inquiry were set up in January, 2019 to investigate persons who were President, Vice President and ministers in respect of their management of state resources.
Adverse findings were made against APC officials who were former ministers including, the current flag-bearer, Dr Samura Kamara. Recommendations for banning the implicated officials from holding public offices were made.
These are recommendations Gbondo would like to capitalise on in the new APC case. To some extent, the argument is however weak in that Justice Bonnie had withdrawn the injunction before the convention. The judge was also never known as a presiding Judge in all of APC’s matters, and the convention was a court order issued by Justice Adrian Fisher. Condemning the conventions also means that Conteh does not recognise Kamara as flag-bearer and leader.
It remains unclear whether he would take fresh case again at the court as the party prepares for the general elections which is about three months more. As discussions and debates continue on the ex-ITGC Chairman’s claims, senior APC members have tagged Conteh as a threat to APC’s political existence. He took APC to court at a time the party was struggling in the hands of the ruling SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party).
He argued that the mandate of the old executive led by former President Ernest Bai Koroma had expired, and had to give way to a new body. It was also argued that most of the officials that held executive posts were selected and not elected. After months of legal exchanges, the party reached an out-of-court settlement through compromise.
According to the compromise plan, a 21-man interim committee should be put in place to conduct lower elections for a substantive executive. The respondent, APC should provide 12 members, and Peter Conteh must produce nine. The plan which was unanimously agreed upon came after the dissolution of the Koroma-led executive. Owing to catalogued instances of power abuse (ultravires), the duty to conduct elections was transferred to a new body known as as Transitional Interim Independence Elections Management Committee (TIIEMC).
The committee conducted all elections that resulted into the substantive executive, and was also the new body that took APC to the February convention of which Conteh is still highly critical. By his actions, Conteh is widely accused of embarking on a suicide mission in the APC, a party he purports to love and cherish.
In his short tenure as ITGC Chairman, he single-handedly took decisions that nearly wrecked the party. Democracy is about consultation, and the leader usually carries out a policy or decision after it has been vetted and accepted by all those concerned.
According to APC members, it is a different case for Peter Conteh. The party witnessed how the erstwhile ITGC Chairman, Alfred Conteh issued a press release ordering all financial and material resources to be put under his care and control, a move that was bitterly opposed by other ITGC members.
Issuing press releases as well as control of finances and resources is a function of the secretariat, a popular argument holds. Such powers should not be usurped by the ITGC Chairman. The hullabaloo that emanated from the struggle for control of resources went on for days. Proxy wars ensued between the ITGC Secretary, Honourable Abdul Kargbo and the Publicity Secretary, Issa Bumneh Kamara.
Claims and counter-claims, allegations and counter-allegations from the two sides filled the airwaves of radio and TV stations and newspaper spaces. As if that was not enough, the ITGC Chairman was also accused of attempting to reinstate ex-APC officials with membership issues without observing accepted procedures. Such attempt was also another Pandora’s box that was also widely opened.
The dust settled only after Conteh was sued for contempt. Senior APC members alleged that Conteh had trampled on Justice Fisher’s ruling which indicated clearly that any decision taken had to be by the vote of a simple majority. Conteh quietly retired to his trench after he was threatened with the nemesis of a contempt of court. Yet, Conteh might surface again with another fresh suit if not stopped to stop APC from contesting on an equal platform with its main contender, SLPP. The Kai Gbondo’s case should not be overlooked.
It is another time-bomb waiting to explode. Since it left power in 2018, APC has always been in court to solve its internal problems.
In January, 2020, the party was dragged to court by a group of young APC boys who formed the National Reformation Movement (NRM) within the party. The NRM was poised to see radical reforms injected in the reviewed APC constitution prior to adoption.
One of the key reforms was the abolition of the ‘selection clause.’
The clause was seen as one of the main factors that led to APC’s defeat in 2018. A delegates’ conference in PortLoko, North-West city, was aborted following an injunction slammed on the APC. Like Conteh, a compromise plan between the APC and NRM was also reached. But, Conteh’s contention still seems unresolved, and might strike one day at close range.
Ahead Of June Elections… Is Ex-ITGC Chairman Still Threat To APC?
