It has come to the attention of Nightwatch Press courtesy of certain stalwarts or strong supporters of the ruling SLPP not belonging to the New Direction faction of the party that they want APC back at State House because they care about the country over the SLPP and admire the APC’s integrity for not buying or paying people to either vote for them or swell up their campaign rallies in an effort to impress the rest of the nation with huge crowds.
The ranking SLPP stalwarts and others say they admire the new APC executive for not only having the decency and integrity of not buying votes but for also being a constitutionally democratic party.
Despite the infighting in the APC, the key SLPP members said the party has moved or been transformed under the capable leadership of the executive from a junta to a fully fledged democratic institution.
‘The transformation from junta to democratic party was not an easy one. We called the APC then a junta regime because they used to select their executives. But a lot of people still want to cause problems and don’t believe in election and would rather the party still select its executives. There are people causing problems in the party but at the end of the day the APC has very strong institutions and formidable stalwarts. We really admire them. They have the integrity to carry the party all the way to State House,’ said the strong SLPP members.
Comparing the APC to the SLPP in terms of being a democratic party, they said in the SLPP it took just one man to decide for the whole party who the party’s chairman, leader and flagbearer will be in what they described as an executive convention in Bo that was not intended for the purpose Dr Prince Harding and others took the convention for.
‘We in the SLPP are surprise and impressed with the people of Sierra Leone willingly coming out to support the APC without charging them or without the party paying such people. A lot of voters still consider money over their votes. No serious citizen will think fifty thousand and a t-shirt can last him or her five years. Our party has been dishing money left right and centre all over this country hoping to use that to win elections. Despite this the people are still saying they will vote for the APC over the New Direction.’
‘The SLPP is counting on the t-shirt and Le50,000 or whatever amount we can give the people to make them forget their struggles of the past five years. We don’t see or hear the APC doing this; we don’t see the party bribing crowds to boost their rallies. The SLPP is our party but they gave out t-shirts and cash to people that were not even SLPP who were openly APC and from other parties who said they took the money because the money belonged to the state hence the people. Despite taking the clothes and money people have said they will still not vote for the SLPP no matter the assurances the president and his team had been given,’ the SLPP strongmen narrated.
They continued that since election time is the only time people ever receive money and visits from elected partisans they decided to ‘take the money and run because after the elections we won’t see or hear from these people again’.
The committed Sierra Leonean citizens cum SLPP members said that to rally for the SLPP is not a big task or deal, adding that they will rally and dance for the SLPP but won’t vote for them. They said that they will vote for a party that has given the people of Sierra Leone legacies for the past 10 years, which they admitted has been the APC.
‘The SLPP has ruled for five years resulting to untold hardship and suffering with inflation and high costs of goods and services. We go to sleep not knowing what to expect the next day as prices seem to be on a daily uptake. We are deciding to vote for the APC because we want to bring an end to SLPP misrule and stop runaway prices of goods. When things like these happen it is not those in power that suffer but the people from all walks of life. We know that the current regime cannot fix the mess we are in.’
‘Consider these as examples: In 2007 the country was the darkest in the world. EBK promised us power in 100 days, which he did. On the contrary, Bio complained in 2018 that EBK had left the price of a bag of rice at NLe200, a difference of NLe140 from where President Kabbah had left it at NLe60. Then JJ Saffa promised that they will turn the economy around in six months. But today we are buying rice at NLe700 per bag in under five years of President Bio’s regime, the economy is in shambles and the leone to dollar is at NLe2,350 per $100. Now the same JJ Saffa is saying that if reelected they can fix the economy in under three months after 24 June,’ they narrated.
The SLPP stalwarts say they are tired of the New Direction lies and cannot afford to have the regime go for another five year term as this will collapse the economy throwing the country into a violent tailspin. ‘We are therefore calling on the international community to support and help the grassroots regain control of the country and economy. The only way we can be assured of changing all the damages that this regime has caused the nation is by electing Dr Samura Kamara and the APC to power. We are Sierra Leoneans and care about this country more than any party. This is how we expect all politicians to see themselves in light of representing the country over the party’s or personality’s interests,’ they concluded.