In a question posed to members of the APC grassroots on who they would side with on the fight for electoral justice, either the party’s executives or Dr. Samura Kamara, the APC grassroots have sided with Dr. Kamara saying that they believe in the electoral justice fight and that the executives are in the wrong for breaking rank or faith with the presidential flagbearer, and by default the people of Sierra Leone on all sides of the political divide who still don’t know how or if their votes were reflected in the count that gave the incumbent president Julius Maada Bio the winning advantage on the 24 June 2023 multitier elections.
The highly upset APC partisans say the post Ernest Bai Koroma history of the APC has been nothing but confusion, disagreements, and airing out their dirty laundry in public, adding that despite all the SLPP government and the president have done since 2018 the APC and their executives have swallowed all line, hook, and sinker without making any strong public denouncement members of the public would hold on to for succour that things would get better.
Apart from this action from the APC executives to abandon a presidential election they had initially led their supporters into believing that they had won for a future election, the APC grassroots say the APC as a party has a history of either not responding to government excesses or abandoning a cause before its hopeful or logical conclusion.
From the commission of the GTT report that labelled the APC government circa 2007 to 2018 as “a criminal racketeering enterprise”, the commissions of inquiry to the imposition of the Speaker of the Fifth Parliament, and down to the possible presence of wanted European cocaine kingpin, Jos Leijdekkers in the country under state protection, the APC has not made democracy vibrant and interesting by being quiet. The only man according to the grassroots that has been able to articulate the wrongs of the SLPP regime is Dr. Samura Kamara that they believe the party has abandoned in his fight for electoral justice, which fight they say is nonpartisan.
The following are the responses from APC grassroots supporters around
“We stand with Dr. Samura Kamara over the APC executives. These guys have not kept their promise to us to protect our votes. They have all been compromised by their selfish interests that are beyond the party’s and the needs of the people. The executives are in the wrong for abandoning the fight for electoral justice. Without electoral justice how are we confident, what guarantees do we have that 2028 will be a whole different ball game from 2023?”
“So let us try and understand what the APC executives are doing. These guys believe that they lost the 2023 presidential vote due to errors in the vote counting or tallying process hence believe that they won. But how does it make sense to them to abandon their 2023 victory in the hopes that 2028 will be the party’s miraculous return to State House without the assurances of the electoral justice cause?”
“Since the Tripartite Committee delivered its highly anticipated report the SLPP government has not implemented one of the 84 recommendations. This did not elicit any serious response from the executives. Instead of fighting like mad men for the soul and integrity of our electoral processes, the APC executives have abandoned this cause on the hope, and I don’t know what promises from president Bio, that 2028 will work out itself by miracle. But they should be reminded that they should not trust any promise or assurance from the SLPP who have severally stated that they will not hand power over to the APC. So if the APC wins 2028 like we believe we won 2023 then what guarantees do we have that they will hand power over to the winning APC team?”
“The APC executives have succeeded in delivering victory for the 2023 presidential elections to the SLPP by accepting to abandon the fight for electoral justice. Apart from returning back to join the government of Sierra Leone which action gave legitimacy to Maada Bio’s second term administration, the APC executives’ abandoning the fight for electoral justice is like the nail in the coffin of the fight for electoral justice. But we side with Dr. Samura Kamara. Any true democrat and Sierra Leonean patriot will join Dr. Samura Kamara to ensure that we get electoral justice or we will never be sure of our elections results announcements which situation will always bring us to the brink of running street battles. By abandoning the fight for electoral justice the APC executives have set a dangerous precedent that going forward we will continue to have issues with anyone that wins a presidential election in Sierra Leone. Without electoral justice our democracy will be a sham, the laughing stock among world democracies.”
“Let me ask you a question instead. Imagine that the 2023 presidential elections had happened somewhere in Europe with all the issues at play, do you think the APC executives would have the nerve to abandon the fight for electoral justice? As a matter of fact they would have still been out of government. The fight for electoral justice became complicated when the APC returned to government which is like them conceding that the SLPP government is legit. The APC executives have not been faithful and consistent to the fight for electoral justice but Dr. Samura has. Despite interference by political godfathers Dr. Samura Kamara has stayed the course and this consistency is a verdict against the APC executives.”
“We side with Dr. Samura Kamara over the APC executives because we believe that there are a lot of people who would rather be in Dr. Samura’s shoes. Therefore since they are not Dr. Samura, they are siding against him to usurp his position and authority. But if God chooses our leaders then he is also the one that deposes them. The 2023 presidential election is a first of its kind in Sierra Leone where we see the political godfather syndrome affecting the possibility of real change in the way we hold elections in Sierra Leone. And in case you don’t know the history of our presidential elections when held up to the light of electoral justice has been a shameful stealing of the mandate to lead by mostly incumbent parties and or leaders. This has to stop. We cannot continue holding elections like this without us considering that one day it could lead to all out mayhem. This is the position that the APC executives are dragging us to by abandoning the fight for electoral justice.”
“If we don’t get electoral justice right this time around I don’t think we will ever get it right. Dr. Samura Kamara is in the right.”
Members of the APC grassroots have put the word out: they don’t trust the intention of the APC executives for abandoning the fight for electoral justice. The party’s grassroots who say they are “the power behind the powers that be in the APC” are calling on their executives and their elders to set aside their petty squabbles and their personal interests and side with the embattled APC flagbearer and see that the people of Sierra Leone get electoral justice. Lonta!