By Foday Moriba Conteh
During a Press Conference held on Monday 7th December, 2020 at Oniel Street in Freetown, the Global Chairman and Leader of the APC Progressive Alliance (APAL), who also happens to be one of the three plaintiffs that filed a law suit against the APC Executive in the High Court of Sierra Leone, Bumneh Suaymani Kamara, has urged the Leadership of the All People’s Congress (APC) to address certain issues before entering into any negotiation or any further peace facilitation process with the Party.
In his statement, Bumneh Suaymani Kamara reiterated that he is one of the three plaintiffs that filed a law suit against the APC Executive in the High Court of Sierra Leone, adding that he is also a prominent figure in the NRM and have contributed immensely during the past years furthering how he is also the CEO and Founder of the ‘Red Siren”, a reformer group that analyzes political issues in the APC and the country with the sole objective to advocate for good governance, promotion of human rights, the rule of law, and democracy in the country.
Bumneh Suaymani Kamara stated that he joined the NRM wagon to challenge the undemocratic antics that were allegedly perpetrated by the leadership of the All Peoples’ Congress (APC) Party pointing out that their aim is centred on fostering the democratization of the APC Party and facilitate the amendment of specific clauses notably, the ‘SELECTION CLAUSE’ in the 1995 APC Constitution. He said after that they will later focus on advocating for good governance, the rule of law and democratic practices in the country with the hope of enhancing the inclusiveness of members of their party and the entire citizenry but, however, lamented that it had been a tedious fight that has span more than two years now and more.
Bumneh Suaymani Kamara revealed that few months ago, a peace facilitation process was started to bring the APC and NRM together disclosing that it was during that peace process that the leadership of the NRM limited consultations with its membership, especially the plaintiffs and only concentrated having consultations with a small group; a semblance of college camaraderie or fraternity. He revealed how a decision was taken by the NRM to visit Dr Ernest Bai Koroma in Makeni and that was later communicated in a short time but said many other reformers, including him, vehemently opposed the said trip, raising concerns of manipulation by the APC Executive stating how he gave a warning that he would make a public disclaimer disassociating himself from any outcome of that said meeting.
He pointing out that the NRM leadership issued a statement to assure the membership that no Memorandum Of Understanding or Consent Judgment issue will be discussed or reached but to his chagrin, a MoU was signed and consent judgment for the withdrawal of the case from court was reached and that a consent judgment agreement has already been prepared and signed by other parties of which he did a public disclaimer that he was not a party of the team that visited Makeni where the MoU was signed.
Bumneh Suaymani Kamara said that he will not take responsibility of the outcome of the said MoU which involves the signing withdrawal of the case in court and he has notified the legal team representing the plaintiffs on the matter as well as notifying the leadership of NRM in writing and verbally.
He said he is aligned with the ‘APC’s PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE’ (APAL) as its Global Chairman and leader which is a group of like-minded reformers in Sierra Leone and the Diaspora that seek the true democratization of the APC party.
On this note, he said APAL seeks the following issues to be addressed before entering into any negotiation or further peace facilitation with the APC party:
The drafted APC Constitution (2020) must be adopted before a consent judgment agreement is entered into, the APC Executive must educate the party membership on the drafted APC Constitution (2020) thoroughly before adoption of same, the APC Executive needs to educate its membership on the positive/negative impact of the Government’s COI/ white Paper on the persons of interest as the party considers entering into the electioneering process, and the APC Executive needs to further educate its membership on any MoU entered into for inclusion and better understanding of issues thereof.
On behalf of APAL, Bumneh Suaymani Kamara made an appeal to the Judiciary to expedite the court case noting that as the saying goes “Justice Delayed is Justice Denied” disclosing how they strongly believe in the independence and integrity of the Judiciary system.
