By Allieu S. Tunkara
Captains are good captains if they smoothly navigate rough seas and come out without any casualty. Chairman and Leader of the main opposition, All People’s Congress (APC), former President Ernest Bai Koroma is currently a captain facing rough sea. He will be described as a good captain if he comes out of the rough sea without any casualty.
Put in plain terms, the APC Chairman and Leader would be called a good leader if he leads the party in this turbulent period without rancour and further litigations. No one can bury its head and pretends that all is well in the APC when all is not well.
It is completely correct to refer APC as a party in crisis as former President Koroma refuses to step down. No sign exists to show that the former President would go away despite calls for him to go have come from various quarters. The former President assumed control of APC in 2001, a period referred to as the most difficult for the party.
APC which has been out of power since 1992 called for a robust and astute leadership that would take it back to State House. Situation at that time was acrimonious owing to vaulting ambitions for power among rival groups in the party.
Between 2006 and 2007, former Ambassador to UK, Eddie Turay, Attorney-General, Serry Kamal, Jengo Stevens and Osho Williams were rival groups for party’s leadership. The intra-party conflict, at that time, almost sounded APC’s deathnell especially when the party was too weak in parliament.
APC, at that time, had only five parliamentary seats facing SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party) which was a dominant force in the house. But, under the Ernest Koroma leadership, all factions, were brought under one umbrella. Unity was restored and consolidated owing to negotiation and mediation effort.
The presidential candidates dropped their intentions and rallied behind President Koroma for the presidency. With unity, APC one of the hotly contested elections in 2007, and President Koroma became President. The Koroma’s presidency would go down into the country’s annals as the most remarkable in terms of development, social justice and political tolerance.
During his tenure, the party was a united force. It acted as one and spoke with one voice on intra-party and national issues. However, APC started to experience problems between 2017 and 2018.
It was about succession dispute; close to 30 candidates including Alpha Kanu, popularly known as ‘The Apprentice’ were determined to succeed the former President. None of those who expressed their intentions for the presidency were successful. A man who never voiced his intention for the presidency was handpicked by the former President.
The manipulated APC Constitution, at that that time, permitted the former President to act as he did. The constitution contains a ‘Selection Clause’ which allows the Chairman and his team to select officials in the party including a presidential candidate. It was owing to this power vested in the party leader that facilitated the emergence of Dr Samura Kamara as flag-bearer in 2017.
Dr Kamara faced a heavy political weight, President Julius Maada Bio, a retired Brigadier. Bio’s contribution to the restoration of democracy in 1996 made him a household personality in the country. Signs were clear that it would be difficult for Samura Kamara to make it in the ballot box.
Despite his academic pedigree and probity in public life, he is little known. He lost to President Bio in the 2018 polls. A party in governance was plunged into opposition with Samura Kamara still at the helm.
Although he lost and accepted, Samura Kamara did not accept one thing-relinquishment.
Samura Kamara still eyes the flag-bearership. But, this time, he has to submit to an election in a convention of delegates. He would certainly face the likes of Chief Sam Sumana, Dr Richard Conteh, Alfred Paolo Conteh among others in the intra-party elections. Some modifications have been injected in the reviewed APC Constitution.
The constitutional modification resulted into expunge of the ‘Selection clause’ after NRM (National Reformation Movement)’s lawsuit. The ‘Selection Clause’ was the major source of acrimony in the APC. The NRM was appeased after most of their demands were met.
They withdrew their matter from the court with the hope that sanity would prevail in the party. What NRM members expected is contrary to what prevailed. Instead of normalcy getting back to the party, conflicts reign. APC has seen the highest rates of lawsuits than other party.
The litigations revolve around the exit of former President Koroma out of the APC. The man at the centre of the campaign for the dissolution of the Koroma-led executive is a diasporan member of APC, Alfred Conteh, resident in the US. Conteh is of the firm view that the Koroma-led executive is long over-due.
To demonstrate that he meant business, Conteh challenged the executive’s existence APC lawyers threw their weight behind the executive by presenting arguments in the court. The lawyers lost as the ruling did not favour APC.
In April, this year, Justice Fischer ruled that APC officials numbering 161 should not take part in a national delegates’ convention to adopt the revised 1995 APC Constitution. Chairman and leader, former President Ernest Bai koroma and the Secretary-General, Ambassador Foday Osman Yansaneh too were barred from taking part.
Justice Fischer made the decision on the strength of the case presented by counsels for the plaintiff. It was the court’s opinion that the constitutional adoption processes would be marred if they are allowed to participate. The ruling opened a Pandora’s Box owing to whether there should be a zero- political participation of the officials.
Some APC members were of the view that the Chairman and the Secretary-General as well as other members should not participate at all. In a subsequent ruling handed down in May also this year, Justice Fischer made some clarifications. He said the judgement stopped only the voting rights of the Chairman and the Secretary-General.
The verdict, he said, did not stop the Chairman and Leader as well as the Secretary-General from directing and guiding the process of the constitutional adoption. The clarifications emboldened the Chairman and the leader to hold on to the forte.
Despite the judgement to go ahead with the convention, delays owing to conflicts held back the party. To date, the new constitution is yet to be adopted, and the much expected lower level elections yet to be conducted.
The party has been held to ransom owing to conflicts. Matters were made worse after a lockdown was proclaimed the previous week. Health experts confirmed the prevalence of COVID-19 Third Wave in Sierra Leone.
APC, definitely, is in a lockdown as the new rules are not in sync with politicking. The Chairman and Leader would show sound leadership by quickly ensuring intra-party elections for party officials and a presidential candidate.
Doubts filter through the party in respect of how long would it take the party to emerge from conflicts and litigations in the face of lockdowns. Will Koroma emerge as a good captain in a rough sea?