Scores of the weak opposition All People’s Congress (APC) partisans are now basking in regret, shifting blame on the shoulders of the national executive, and the Samura Kamara leadership failure to take legal action against the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone regarding the outcome of the 2023 election.
As an exact opposite of what followers of the All People’s Congress of the APC 2023 Presidential candidate deemed as a strategic move towards championing electoral justice, such a move has been exposed and described as an effort that undermines the very electoral justice they pretend championing to save democracy and the people’s votes.
Such revelations were made by one of the leading APC flag bearer aspirants, Dr. Richard Konteh, in an interview with Dr. Mankota’s online TV show. “To say that Dr. Samura Kamara is championing electoral justice…. Dr. Samura Kamara undermined electoral justice. We all stood strongly behind the party to fight for not only electoral justice but to ensure that it does not happen again…and as a party, we met and took a very strong decision. In fact, you will be surprised to say just after ECSL announced the results, I got a call from JFK and the late Abdulai Conteh. We were on the verge of going to court within the seven days of the announcement… to file the matter to court. JFK asked me if I was ready to sign the affidavit, adding he didn’t get people, including Dr Samura Kamara, to sign the affidavit.’’
Dr. Konteh explained that he did not only sign but drafted it, underscoring his in-depth knowledge about the case, and sent it to JFK to put it in legal language within the time-frame.
‘‘I had a meeting with the international community. The message I received from the international community was that the APC should go to court because if they don’t go to court, it means accepting the result,’’ added Konteh.
Konteh said they succeeded in convincing the extended NAC meeting to go to court, to which the party agreed, adding that just after they were about to leave, Minkailu Mansaray received a call and told them that Chericoco had told him that he and Samura Kamara had agreed that they were no longer going to court.
Konteh informed that he called Chericoco, telling him that they have met with the international community and were advised that the APC should go to court; but Chericoco and Samura Kamara agreed that they were not going to court, a reason the APC ended up not going to court within 7 days after the announcement of the election results.
He revealed that the APC party leadership came up with a political action by way of boycotting governance, but Kamara told NAC that he initiated the dialogue, which also undermined electoral justice.
He added that Kamara met and struck compromise with him, explaining that the SLPP consistently refused to discuss results at the 9-man committee meeting, but Kamara accepted and signed the document, which also undermined electoral justice.
Dr. Konteh further narrated that the SLPP also refused to discuss results at the Tripartite Committee, and that the APC decided not to agree because the result was part of the APC’s participation at the Tripartite Committee.
