By Tony Yayo
International Coordinator for the National Reformation Movement (NRM), Alfred Conteh has hit hard on the parliamentary main opposition leader.
The NRM international Coordinator, Alfred Conteh, a senior member of the Diaspora Wing of the Main opposition, All people’s Congress (APC), accused the opposition leader, Chernor Maju Bah for failing to raise “serious” and “pertinent” issues affecting the safety and security of APC members. “Despite his standing as a lawyer, Chernor Maju Bah has not been able to defend his party, instead focus on discrediting the NRM agenda,” Conteh alleged.
Conteh made the remarks after a Freetown High court indefinitely adjourned the legal matter between the APC and the NRM.
The party members and supporters, Conteh said, had been “violently intimidated” and “attacked” by some members and supporters of the ruling government since the party lost the 2018 presidential elections.
“The intimidation has resulted into injuries and illegal incarcerations,” Conteh said. Apart from the physical injuries incurred by the APC, Conteh went on; the party members had also seen series of property damage. “The attacks have caused huge financial loss to the party,” he stressed.
The Coordinator made specific reference to some APC members, Abu Bakarr Daramy and Herbert George Williams currently incarcerated at the Pa Demba Road Male Correctional Centre in Freetown.
The two inmates, Conteh said, were the Public Relations Officer for APC, Western Area and the former Mayor of Freetown City Council respectively. The NRM Coordinator also alleged that the attacks against the APC were reportedly “orchestrated” by the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Lahai Lawrence Leema. “The party members of parliament who are supposed to be the voice of the party at national level have remained silent on these issues,” Conteh alleged. “Since the attacks commenced on the opposition, no APC Member of Parliament has ever raised such issue in the house for prompt action to be taken,” Conteh emphasised.
Conteh however called on the APC MP’s to consider the safety of members across the country so that the nation would practise “good democracy.”
Similarly, The NRM Coordinator seems dissatisfied with the action of the Chairman and leader of APC, Former president, Ernest Bai Koroma, who he said, was tight-lipped on the attacks suffered by the APC.
Conteh is most worried at the political attacks as he put it: “They come at a time the party needs the strong leadership and encouragement of the President to win the next elections in 2023.”