The National Secretary General of the main opposition All People Congress (APC) Lansana Dumbuya Esq has said in Freetown that his party is destined to win the approaching Saturday June 24, 2023, presidential elections.
He informed that the APC is prepared to resist any attempt by elections management bodies to rig the elections, clearly stating that APC will also reject and resist any challenge to use shortcut approaches to flout legally laid down procedures and protocols in the management of the 2023 elections.
Lawyer Dumbuya yesterday Thursday 23 March 2023 made the predictions whiles addressing a press confab at the APC National Secretariat, on 11A Old Railway Line Brookfields, West of Freetown.
Before moving to the specifics of the news conference, Lawyer Dumbuya called on all present to observe a minute silence for three falling heroes and heroin of the party, including former Sierra Leone High Commissioner to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and later Minister of Energy, Mr. Henry O. Macaulay, Amid Sesay, Leslie Allen and Hon Haja Hafsatu Kabba, who also served as one time High Commissioner to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and a minister of the party’s last political governance administration.
He informed that the APC National Leader and presidential candidate for the June elections, Dr Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara is expected to address the nation by next week on diverse national issues.
The APC Scribe observed that Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad are fully aware of what the APC has on the table for them, reiterating that the APC is indeed ready to take up governance come June.
On the coming June polls, lawyer Dumbuya Esq drew the attention of the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) seeking clarifications on certain matters touching and concerning the June 24 elections’ management protocols.
“As we are getting closer to the elections, the need for closer collaborations on elections management, matters and confidence building becomes superlative. It is in this respect that we want to engage the public and to draw the attention of ECSL to seek clarification on certain matters”, disclosed Lansana Dumbuya Esq.
He therefore underscored the importance of inclusive and robust elections management, pointing out that it is key in delivering free, fair, transparent, credible and non-violent elections which is acceptable to all sides in every democracy. The APC National Secretary General said due to recent policy pronouncement by the ECSL and experience gained in participating in elections, bye-elections in the past five years, the APC has deemed it necessary to take stock of issues that are the building blocks of a credible and watertight electoral management system for the 24 June 2023 elections.
He noted that the tallying procedures, disaggregated voters’ registration figures at polling centres, voter identity cards distributions, electoral data management protocols and the sharing of information by ECSL.
“Recently, we were informed by our representatives to the Political Parties’ Liaison Committee that at their last meeting, the ECSL made a policy statement that tallying of voters for the presidential elections will only take place at regional level. We are very much concerned by this statement, as its runs contrary to the provisions of extant electoral laws as contained in the public elections Act, 2022. Section 51 of that Act provides that, valid votes casted will be counted at the polling stations and the certify result of the counting shall be transmitted to the District Returning Officer, who will in turn certify the results and transmit them to the Regional Returning Officer, who shall again certify and transmit same to the National Returning Officer,” he informed.
Lansana Dumbuya Esq among other issues disclosed that it is impossible for the District Returning Officer to certify the results of the total votes cast at polling stations in a district and transmit same to the Regional Returning Officer without any form of tallying taking place.
He said that it the policy ECSL intends to adopt, then it will be tantamount to laying the foundation for massive electoral malpractices which will be a recipe for violent.
“People will be dissatisfied and there will be serious chaos when it comes to election day and also post polling, during votes counting”, he emphasized, and reiterated that, “that the APC will reject and resist any attempt to shortcut legally laid down procedures and protocols in the management of the 2023 elections.
He recalled that the ECSL after voter registration only published final voters’ registration figures at National, Regional and District Levels and failed to publish disaggregated voters registration figures at polling centre level.
“We are therefore requesting that the voter registration figures at polling centre level be published immediately, not only because of transparency. Credible elections management demands that it is necessary in aiding the APC,” he noted.
He highlighted the inclusiveness of the electoral process in 2012 which allowed the monitoring of the whole electoral process, adding that the utterances of the First Lady in her condemnation of the APC National Delegates’ Convention, saying that it was not an election but a selection. He informed that the APC has sent a written complaint to the Political Parties Regulations Commission, notifying the commission about the remarks of the wife of the Leader and presidential candidate of ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party, President Julius Maada Bio.
On the issue of the One Million, Two Hundred Thousand Leones (Le1,200.000.00) fine levied on the APC by the PPRC, on the alleged use of profanity by the APC, National Secretary General Dumbuya Esq said the party has legally responded to that on the grounds of lack of evidence.
He reassured all that every mechanism will be put in place to ensure peace, free, fair transparent, non-violent and credible elections.
