A LETTER TO THE CHAIRMAN OF APPA-SL

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RE: COMMUNIQUE ON THE NATIONAL CIVIL REGISTRATION AUTHORITY’S (NCRA) CONFIRMATION OF PERSONAL DETAILS OF REGISTRANTS AND REGISTRATION OF THE UNREGISTERED POPULATION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PERMANENT CIVIL REGISTER BY THE UNDERMENTIONED POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE ALL POLITICAL PARTIES ASSOCIATION (APPA-SL)

Karamoh Kabba — NSG, APPA-SL

C/O PPRC Office, OAU Drive, Tower Hill

Freetown, Sierra Leone

Tel: +(232)-78-345-022 +(232)-76-179-090 +(232)-77-441-143Email: appasl1995@gmail.com

28thFebruary 2020

Mr Prince Coker

Chairman, All Political Parties Association – SL (APPA-SL)

C/O PPRC

Tower Hill, Freetown

Dear Mr. Prince Coker:

RE: COMMUNIQUE ON THE NATIONAL CIVIL REGISTRATION AUTHORITY’S (NCRA) CONFIRMATION OF PERSONAL DETAILS OF REGISTRANTS AND REGISTRATION OF THE UNREGISTERED POPULATION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PERMANENT CIVIL REGISTER BY THE UNDERMENTIONED POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE ALL POLITICAL PARTIES ASSOCIATION (APPA-SL)

Permit me to refer to the abovecaption of the Communique you signed as Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) alongside nine (9) other chairpersons/representatives of political parties as follow: Gabriel Samuka, National Chairman (UNPP); Halimatu Dean, Acting Chairperson, (UDM);Victor King, National Secretary General (CDP);Isaac T. Mongoh, Acting Chairman (RUFP);Tamba Sandie, National Chairman (C4C); Augusta James-Telma, National Chairperson(NDA); Alhaji A.K. Sesay, Deputy National Chairman(ReNIP); Nabieu Musa Kamara, National Chairman(PLP); and Martha C. Kargbo, National Treasurer (SLPP).

You are by now quite aware that the Communique you signed as Chairman of PDP along with nine (9) other chairpersons/representatives of political parties mentioned above in the said press conference you called as Chairman of APPA-SL is surreptitiously being disseminated on the mainstream print and electronic media and making roundson the social media as an APPA-SL document.

Mr. Chairman, you will recall that I called your attention to a notice for the “APPA Press Conference”issued by an unconstitutional source; the Chairman of ReNIP and Financial Secretary of APPA-SL, Alhaji A.K. Sesay, on that day, which reads in part; “The All Political Parties Association (APPA) is inviting all media houses to a Press Conference Today Thursday 27th February, 2020 at the Civil Service Training College, OAU Drive, Tower Hill, at 1pm prompt.”

You shouldalso recall that you explained verbally that the said press conference was called by individual political parties and that I responded that it was wrong for the Chairman of APPA-SL to call such a controversial meeting of individual political parties under the title APPA-SL in that conversation. I remember also drawing your attention to the fact that the All Peoples Congress (APC) and the National Grand Coalition (NGC) did not need to coalesce with other political parties to state their positionsin respect of NCRA’s notice of its verification and registration exercise the Authority is about to undertake.

Above all, I was not in any APPA-SL Council or National Executive meeting nor in custody of any APPA-SL Council or National Executive meeting minutes that was supposed to inform the “APPA-SL Press Conference” you called on that 27th February 2020.

Mr Chairman, I am on record for bringing to the attention of the APPA-SL National Executive through the established APPA-SL WhatsApp group,all correspondences including the NCRA civil register verification and registration notice dated 20th February 2020, the APC’s letter to the President titled;“Usurpation of Presidential Mandates and attempt to Breach the National Constitution by the NCRA,”dated 25th February 2020, the APC’s and NGC’s press briefings on the same NCRA’s public notice, dated 27thFebruary 2020.

Mr. Chairman, this was all intended to draw your attention to the alarm raised by subscribed political parties of our Association to very important constitutional breach by NCRA, hoping that you will perform your constitutional duty in accordance with Article 12.3 of the APPA-SL Constitution, which states that the Chairman,“Shall be the administrative head and shall preside over all meetings of the National Council and National Delegates Conference summoned by the Secretary General or Assistant on the directives of the chairperson.”

Evidently, I have articulated abundantly clear in the penultimate paragraphto this that no such APPA-SL meeting was summoned in the run up to the illegal “APPA Press Conference” you called.

Instead of directing me as the National Secretary General of APPA-SL to summon a meeting so that all parties could jointly address the issue we deem topical,you chose to disregard the APPA-SL Constitution and bypass the constitutional rights and functions of those you think will not buy into your dubious action. By so doing, your unilateral action led to compounding the wrongdoing of NCRA, and despite the fact that evidence abound that the NCRA overreached its mandate when it stated in its notice that “The authority further wishes to inform the general public that only those whose details are in the Permanent Civil Register will be eligible to obtain Biometric National Identification Cards and to vote in all public elections beginning with the 2022 Local Council Election.”

At this juncture, it is unfortunate to inform you that your action in collaboratingwith nine (9) other political parties to sign and issue out a joint communique under APPA-SLis unconstitutional and meant to achieve an unreserved support of NCRA’s verification and registration exercise despite the fact that, at least, two registered political parties with APPA-SL had registered serious constitutional concern with the verification and registration exercise. The foregoingis also abundantly in breach of Article 7(d) of the APPA-SL objectives in the Constitution “To rebuild any dwindling confidence and trust between the governing and opposition parties.”

Mr. Chairman, you will agree with me that the action of NCRA in assuming functions beyond its mandate as sensitive as voter register authority has indeed “dwindled confidence and trust between the governing and opposition parties” as foreseen by the drafters of the APPA-SL Constitution, which therefore, renders your action disingenuously against the spirit of the Association’s hopes and aspirations and leaves me to believe that yours was a deliberate ploy anda stratagemto deceive the unsuspecting general public that APPA-SL shares your well and carefully orchestrated surreptitious position ona very important matter of national concern for personal gains.

Your argument that we have been attending meetings in which issues were deliberated is not far away from the truth. What is wrong is the fact that you tried very hard to let the unsuspecting public believe that we reached conclusive agreements to support NCRA anyhow, which I believe is a gross misconception. I am afraid that the NGC that has been in attendance in all the meetings you referenced would not have stated that “We therefore ask the NCRA to postpone the start of the exercise allowing for sufficient consultations about the implementation, mobilization and publicity to be done involving political parties, religious groups, traditional leaders etc.” in their press briefing.

Your written response is graciously solicited sir.

Yours Faithfully,

Karamoh Kabba

National Secretary General, APPA-SL

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