Veterans (old politicians) of the main opposition, All People’s Congress (APC) have strongly warned the Chairman, Minkailu Mansaray owing to ongoping allegations of sabotage and disloyalty to the party. One of them, Ibrahim Bangura (not his real name) who joined the party in mid 1960s before Mr Mansaray came into the APC directly accused the Chairman of sabotage disloyalty to the party following a public statement for another election in 2026 and not 2028. The claim which runs contrary to the aspiration of the majority of APC members sounds the most offensive to the veterans calling on Minkailu Mansaray to recant.
“Such statement is a complete sell out to SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party) which has completely damaged the country than any other political party in history. We call on Minkailu Mansaray to withdraw such statement or we move to remove him from office,” the veterans warned the APC chairman.
Bangura who speaks on behalf of the veterans is one of the oldest surviving members of the party, and he witnessed firsthand APC’s struggles, decades ago, to gain a foothold in a political landscape crafted for one-party rule not until the party worked hard to turn the threats into opportunity.
As allegation of a sell-out filters through the public, Bangura and other APC veterans send a strong and compelling message to work in the party’s interest at all times and must know that he is not among APC’s founding fathers.
The APC Chairman was also cautioned to tread with consciousness to save himself from the anger of the party’s membership and elders. The party, Bangura said, went through turbulent times in history especially in its formative age prior to its present state.
According the veterans, there are equally competent men who can lead the party at this trying time, but every moment has its own leaders adding that Minkailu Mansaray is overwhelmingly elected in a National Delegates Conference to lead the party with deep commitment, unwavering loyalty and high sense of responsibility.
But, the APC Chairman, veterans allege, has abused most the principles which the party holds in high esteem by mesmerising a cabal of politicians who have left the country and the opposition party in ruins. Other senior politicians including Dr Samura Kamara do not hesitate to refer the PAOPA as “ethnic militant cabal.”
They also touched on the recent donation of Le100m (one hundred million old Leones) recently offered to President Julius Maada Bio for the funeral of his late sister but ignored to do the same thing for Samura Kamara upon the death of his elder sister.
According the veteran politician, Kamara who is currently the party’s flag-bearer and presidential candidate must be shown more sympathy by the party than a member of the PAOPA regime, but the APC Chairman chose to go his way at the expense of his own integrity as well as that of the party. As if embroiled in a spinning spree for the ruling party, the APC leader publicly announced 2026 as the date for another election during a press briefing last Wednesday at the APC headquarters.
The announcement for the said date for another election comes at a time the Tripartite Committee is about to round up its work and make recommendations to government for permanent electoral reforms as well as free, fair and credible elections. Smelling the rat about the Tripartite Committee’s recommendations, the ruling party, few days ago, invited the opposition leader, Dr Samura Kamara for negotiation.
The invitation was however turned down by Kamara probably owing to tough public backlash and threats of attacks made by the party’s grassroot members.
The intransigence shown by APC members and supporters towards SLPP politicians might have prompted the ruling party to embark on a short cut to get the APC Chairman on their side for bidding as well as to trade and traffick with him.
According to the veterans, the PAOPA regime would have enjoyed an easy pushover over negotiations with the APC had President Julius Maada Bio worked towards such move on the first day he was entrusted with the responsibility to rule the country. They justified their stance based on the cordial relationship which ex-presidents enjoyed with their successors even before they came to the presidency.
He said ex-President Ernest Bai Koroma worked well with his predecessor, President Ahmed Tejan Kabba who he respected throughout, and went after none of the SLPP supporters for mere exercise of their political rights: free speech, association and assembly among others.
In return, President Bio had a direct working relationship with former President Koroma who gave up power in April, 2018, but did not enjoy, the honour and respect due a former Head of State. Public opinion holds that Koroma is humiliated by his successor hiding behind the cloak of pursuing justice for Sierra Leoneans. From the outset, the PAOPA regime has successfully used corruption and money laundering offences as effective tools to bring down the former President by rendering his actions odious to all minds.
The former President simultaneously faced the defunct commissions of inquiry and the Anti-Corruption Commission for alleged misappropriation of public funds as his name was prominent in a list of bad-loan debtors that decapitalised Sierra Leone Commercial Bank, one of the country’s main parastatals.
Owing to the allegations, ACC officials went after the former President to nab and nail him for concocted corruption charges although the former President was hailed by local and international reports for leading a transparent and accountable governance system throughout his two terms.
The treason charge after the November 26, 2023 shoot-outs at police and military facilities in Freetown was the last that saw the former President out of Sierra Leone to Nigeria where he currently resides to ensure a peaceful Sierra Leone.
But, members and supporters of the ruling party see him a fugitive who must be forced to face justice one day. Such oppression of former Head of State and government officials through manipulation of the legal system has created a bad blood between the two political parties.
Looking back at recent past, the veterans see no reason for a compromise between the ruling party and the main opposition owing to extra-judicial killings, political intimidation, oppression and terror tactics which, the veterans said, opposition politicians had suffered in the hands of the PAOPA regime.
The killing spree started in Rosengbeh, a tiny village in Tonkolili district before spreading over to Makeni, Lunsar, Kambia, Tombo and Freetown itself with no one held accountable. Inmates at Pa Demba Road prison in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown were also allegedly massacred on April, 2020 at the peak of Corona following a protest.
The protest was a resistance to a ban imposed by then Chief Justice, Babatunde Edwards who ordered that no inmate should see the light of day when a suspected case of Corona was detected within the prison facility. According to reports, 31 prisoners including a prison officer were shot dead although unofficial sources indicated a higher figure.
The continued killings in opposition strongholds, according to observers in the public and media, are part of a scheme to exterminate a particular tribe in the North-West regions. They share a common pattern: they are ignited by state authorities through their actions or omissions, and the killers usually enjoy a field day. The PAOPA regime also led a government of thuggery, political intimidation and harassment of opposition politicians by way of illegal arrest and detention.
Sierra Leoneans witnessed firsthand how past government officials and APC sympathisers were placed behind bars to keep them out of politics. Former Defence Minister and several others were locked up at the correctional facility before restoring their freedom.
APC members and supporters were also targeted for indiscriminate arrest and detention based on allegations of attempting to overthrow the government of President Julius Maada Bio. Residents in eastern Freetown never saw peace and tranquility after the alleged coup attempt as their residences were raided, searched and ransacked by security operatives.
They were accused of harbouring and shielding the coupists from arrest although nothing of police and state interest was discovered at the end of the search. The oppression started in the early days of the PAOPA regime and intensified very close to the June 24, 2023 elections during protests staged by the people of Sierra Leone against cost-of-living crisis and other forms of bad governance over the years.
The protests also prompted several arrest of voters in opposition strongholds as a form of rigging the elections. Voters who showed up at registration centres in opposition strongholds were chased while those in the South-East regions were safe with the aim of gaining a definite political advantage.
Although such objective was never achieved, it nevertheless brought about negative impact on the APC as it dampened the zeal of many APC politicians to take active part in the elections.
The oppression never stopped as it continued onto the day, SLPP was falsely declared winner of the elections by the Chief Electoral Commissioner, Mohamed Kenewui Konneh. Konneh is head of the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone, a body mandated by law to conduct and supervise all public elections and referenda. Even when the Tripartite Committee was formed following a peace deal between APC and SLPP, the oppression and intimidation never stopped. It is routinely carried out by government agents and seems to have reached boiling point.
Political intimidation took wider dimensions after an alleged failed coup to topple the Bio regime. The ceaseless intimidation tactics of opposition politicians are burning issues at the moment and the APC executive is expected to take on the government and not work for compromise that will not work.