By Hassan Alimamy Kamara
The honourable member of parliament for the All People’s Congress (APC) representing constituency 059 Munu Masungbala Chiefdom, Thalla and part of Magbema chiefdom, Kambia District, who also doubles as a member of the Interim Transitional Governance Committee (ITGC), honourable Abdul Karim Kamara (AKK), has urged party stakeholders both young and old to stand firm and redeem the All People’s Congress (APC) party from the hands of bad politicians who will stop at nothing to sink the party.
“Now or never we must liberate the APC party,” he said.
He said this on Friday 11th November 2022, at the APC party headquarters Old Railway Line Brookfields Freetown.
He added that as members of parliament they are always united for the good cause of the party, that they have never voted against what the party stands for, and that they respect the party leadership in Parliament. “Sons and daughters of APC stand firm,” he reiterated. He asked for them to stand firm in unity as he said in the struggles of APC there is a victory for them. He made this call on Friday 11th November 2022, at the APC party headquarters, Old Railway Line Brookfields Freetown.
He said this as the party is undergoing some difficult moments within the party structure headed by the court order organ of the ITGC having Alfred Peter Conteh as the chairman, whom many have seen to be the virus of the party alongside his cohorts.
With political parties activities of the APC like the lower level elections and other intraparty activities being faced with several setbacks which key stakeholders of the party believe to have been orchestrated by the ITGC chairman, so, Honourable AKK urged for members of the party to remain strong in order to salvage the party from its current situation.
Craving for such a resilient move, he mentioned that humiliations, harassments and all sorts of attacks, for as long as they want to stand for the party, are things they should not hesitate to face.
He added that they should be prepared to be intimidated and even detained for the success of the party. Making more emphasis, he said a good number of opposition members have been faced with all kinds of humiliations ranging from the councillors, to members of parliament and the list goes on and on. He said this should be their position right now simply because the party is going an unusual way which he said they should all step up and unite against.
Allaying the fear of party membership and the public, he said confidence should be bestowed on them as members of parliament as they are seeking the interest of the party rather than their own selves. He mentioned that people have been accusing them of a sellout of the party’s interest for which he said why should they when if the party regains governance, they are among the first priority to benefit. On such a note, he mentioned that doing so is not only a disservice to the party but the nation at large; so he ended that it is needless to do otherwise other than what the party stands for.
As the chairman of the stakeholders meeting, the honourable member of parliament of Falaba District, honourable Lahai Marah, said nobody can stop them, Alfred Peter Conteh cannot stop them, and even the ruling party, SLPP cannot stop them to achieve what the party stands for, as he said it is only the APC party that makes for elections to be conducted in Sierra Leone. He added that Alfred Peter Conteh wants to destabilize the APC party, he wants to disorganize the future of the party; for this, he said the problems of the party is not in the hands of members of parliament or the Interim Transitional Governance Committee (ITGC), but the fault of Alfred Peter Conteh and his followers.
He added that Alfred Peter Conteh is not representing the interests of the party, but himself. He said it is ironic for someone who took the party to court because of a lack of democratic principles within the party to now doing otherwise, in fact, worse. “Our hands are clean,” honourable Lahai Marah stated. ” It is Peter Conteh that is destroying the party,” he said. As a result of this, he mentioned that they do not want to play with the lives of the people and their future as he said they know the situation the party is going through right now. So, he said it was high time they fight against all elements factoring the disunity in the party.
Representing the voice of the students in the APC wing, the Public Relations person of the National Union of APC Students (NUAS) expressed his dissatisfaction over the actions and activities of Alfred Peter Conteh.
“Peter must go,” he exclaimed. On this, he said NUAS has stepped up for good. “We can’t afford to suffer any longer,” he said. He expressed that they are ready to challenge the situation to bring the party back to power. He added that they have realized that Alfred Peter Conteh is not an APC member and that they will continue to resist him and cannot allow him to hijack the APC party. He came as a democrat but now has shown the attributes of a dictatorship. “We will never betray you, anybody who is against the party we are against him too,” he declared.
