The political culture and tradition of always violating the laws of the All People’s Congress – APC must stop and leaders should learn to play by the rules of the party in accordance with modern democratic principles and in conformity with the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone.
Irrespective of the dictates of the laws they must be obeyed by all. Anyone who acts out of the legal framework of the APC 2022 Constitution should be considered as anti-party member and must be disciplined appropriately. Offenders at whichever level of the party should be penalised for any wrongdoing to prevent reoccurrence of unlawful acts in the party. In the new APC the law is the only channel of party governance which is why a new constitution was drafted in 2022 much as there were widespread dissenting views about the 1995 Constitution.
Though not really perfect in terms of inclusivity, regional, ethnic and other divisive aspects, the 2022 Constitution is now the only living law of the party. And no one is expected to take a shortcut in doing things in the APC. The party has no bad laws. If it has then they are APC laws which should be obeyed by all members with full compliance.
Considering the existing circumstances, the APC 2022 Constitution is certainly not a good law for the likes of the former presidential candidate, for the June 24 2023 election, Dr Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara and Chief Samuel Sam Sumana as well as other partisans. It poses certain limitations with stiff restrictions more so on the extension of the terms of presidential candidacy of an aspirant, which is where the 2022 Constitution can hardly come to terms with the proposed candidacy of Dr Kamara should in case he attempts to vie for the party’s top seat for a third term. That in the APC under the 2022 Constitution is unacceptable, especially wherein he didn’t win the country’s presidential election. Dr Samura Kamara should therefore step aside and accept a respectable ex-officio status in the APC.
For the prodigal politician, Sam Sumana, the new APC laws requires the returnee to join and stand in the queue for a period of five years before he can be eligible to contest for the party’s flagbearer position. That is the law .Nothing else but the law. And it must be obeyed by all APC members. Therefore should we be expecting a Sam 33?
Proceedings of wilfulness with impunity and deliberate violations of past APC constitutions have in previous years cost the party if not only electoral victories and reputation but also its democratic credentials. So learning from those ugly lessons have prompted widespread of calls for reforms with good number of party members raising scores of legitimate concerns that the APC should stop doing things by the old ways of conducting the party’s transition processes; wherein the party elects a national executive for a period of five years.
By so doing a free, fair, credible and transparent conduct of the approaching APC National Delegates’ Conference – NDC is highly anticipated to be held wherever and whenever the party reaches a collective decision to do that. A Credible electoral process is always the best way forward for the party. It produces an outcome that will satisfactorily meet expectations of all contenders. Conducting the forthcoming NDC, the outgoing nation executive should play by the rules with full compliance with the letters of the APC 2022 Constitution making sure they deliver a free, fair, transparent and credible manner, without compromise.
For the NDC, no matter how challenging they pose or prove disadvantage to whoever feels so, equal opportunities should and must be given to all contenders in sync with the laws of the APC; i.e., if the laws of the party says that a presidential aspirant should run for two terms then so be it. But anything out of that with attempts by aspirants who may want to bend the law in their favour should be resisted through a civil means in a competent court of law of the land.
For instance the National Constitution mandates candidates vying for the presidency under the tickets of their respective political parties should be allowed to run for two terms, which certain politicians in the APC party have long exhausted since the June 24 election was declared over by the electoral commission for Sierra Leone.
Therefore such politicians are no longer qualified to contest for another term, and going beyond that will be deemed lawless and unconstitutional, especially in a situation where he or she didn’t win the general election. The APC is not far from such approaching events which have already cast their shadows over the party which needs to be averted now by doing things correctly by democratically electing the national executive including the flagbearer for the race to State House come 2028.
APC is capable of doing this. The party has done so in the past and the outgoing leaders must save their reputation by upholding the democratic values of the party in line with national constitutionality. Hence the conduct of the approaching NDC must be sanitised of electoral malpractices to say the least. Democracy must be allowed to reign in its fullest allowing all members to exercise their franchise by way of voting their choice of candidate or be voted for as mandated by the laws of the APC and the National Constitution.
There is no bad law much as principles and self-discipline are concerned. And if there is any then it must be obeyed, nevertheless the law being what it is, be it bad or good laws, they must be fully obeyed. As a national political party aspiring to take up State governance, the APC should be seen obeying their own very laws, instead of always taking pleasure in violating them.
Inconsistencies with national constitutionality challenges with the APC 2022 Constitution or not, the party must obey the ‘bad’ APC law going into the approaching National Delegates’ Conference to elect another executive accordingly.
The APC party cannot afford to have another Maada Bio in the office of its flagbearer.
