By Hassan Osman Kargbo
The former presidential aspirant for the main opposition All People’s Congress – APC for the June 24, 2023 election, Dr Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara, made a lot of pointers during his recent address to the nation on the Tripartite Committee recommendation. One among many issues raised by Dr Samura Kamara is the incompetence of the Electoral Commissions of Sierra Leone (ECSL) in the management of the electoral processes. According to him, the ECSL is incompetent and has failed in providing a transparent in how the June 24, 2023 multi-tie election votes were tallied.
But, the ECSL held a press conference sometime in June this year and clarified misinformation circulating from political bloggers and stakeholders regarding the 2023 general elections.
The primary objective of the briefing, as stated by Chief Electoral Commissioner, Mohamed K. Konneh, was to dispel rumours and misinformation while addressing questions from journalists concerning the previous year’s elections. He emphasized the ECSL’s commitment to transparency and adherence to legal provisions in electoral processes.
Despite the clarification from the ECSL boss Konneh, Dr. Samura Kamara empathized that, it’s unfortunate that the fundamental right had been denied to the people, pointing out that ECSL has failed to provide transparency on how the votes were tallied. He noted that another excuse that he gave was that the Results Reconciliation Forms (RRFs) are classified information and Dr. Samura said this lack of transparency is deeply troubling.
In all of these, the APC party and its supporters should try to focus on the bigger picture. It’s not a secret that the June 24, 2023 multi-tier election is done and dusted. President Bio has already clocked a year in office and it has shown that the APC party should put their house in other and prepare for the 2028 election. At a time like this they must put their personal interest behind their backs, and put the APC party first. They must try to reach out to their colleagues in other to see reason that no one can take credit for this great work, but it is a collective responsibility upon all comrades to work as a team. It rumours that they have blogger that have been paid to attack senior comrades of the party this practice is undone. Their primary objective as bloggers should be to defend the APC Party irrespective of the current political stability in the country.
Therefore, I want the party or the APCians especially the authorities in the APC Party to start promoting or propagating this type of messages in their various meetings and assembly. So that the people will have faith in them that they are ready change the narrative.
In all of these, the APC party and its executive really need to up their game if only the want to match to State House in 2028.
