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APC NATIONAL DELEGATES CONFERENCE ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
BY ERNEST BAI KOROMA
PARTY LEADER AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
(MY VISION)
My dear colleagues – delegates, today, you the members of our great party the All Peoples Congress, have decided to bestow on me the honor of carrying the banner as your candidate for the forthcoming presidential Elections. You have made this decision after long and weighty deliberations, fully aware of the responsibilities involved, the demands of the office and the expectations of the nation. The process of selection has been carried out with the thoughtfulness and seriousness befitting the dignity of the highest office in our land. I extend my heartfelt thanks to all members of the Party – men and women, young and old, members of yesterday, today and of tomorrow, each and everyone – for your hard work and support that has culminated in your nominating me as your candidate. With the deepest sense of humility, I accept the nomination.
In thanking everyone, we must also spare a thought for those pioneers of the Party who are no longer with us but who in their lifetime, struggled to establish the Party and put it on a firm footing – Dr. Siaka Stevens, S.I. Koroma, C.A. Kamara-Taylor, Borboh Kamara, Nancy Steele. We owe them all a great debt of gratitude for making what is happening today possible.
I am well aware of the burdens that go with the office but I accept the challenge, fully confident that with your support and that of the nation at large, I will discharge of the responsibilities of President of the nation with dignity and courage – dignity to ensure that the values of the nation embodied in the office and enshrined in our Constitution are upheld so that Sierra Leoneans can hold their heads high wherever they go and courage to be able to make effective decisions and act purposefully at all times in the interest of the nation.
I promise to offer strong leadership guided by compassion and not treading out of the bounds of the Constitution. History is replete with leaders whose perception of strong leadership means ruthless elimination of opponents, a total disregard for human rights and fiddling with the constitutional instruments to serve their own particular purposes. I totally reject this concept. Indeed the APC rejected this concept when it ushered in the 1991 Democratic Constitution, which the country now enjoys.
When I first undertook this great task to contest for the leadership of our Party and for the Presidency of Sierra Leone, I did so with the full conviction that those of us who had our roots in the APC should never flounder in our manner. Our Party had set the record of wiping out tribalism and regionalism for a period exceeding twenty years and this explains why even when our Party was unconstitutionally overthrown by the NPRC it was still very clear that those Sierra Leoneans who manned state institutions and other government offices came from every tribe, religion and region in Sierra Leone. And this explains why I will always insist that nobody should feel ashamed to associate himself with the APC If for no other reason than the fact that APC is responsible for the infrastructural development of Sierra Leone and such developments range from the demolition of the ancient ferries between Sierra Leone and Guinea to the construction of the Mange and Kambia bridges, making transportation between the two countries easier than ever before.
The All Peoples Congress Party (APC) will never shy away from the fact that during its tenure a Sports Stadium of International standard was constructed in Sierra Leone; the history books still have it that the most successful Commercial Bank in Sierra Leone, the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank was established during the tenure of office of the All Peoples Congress (APC). The National Insurance Company, one of the successful parastatals, the Dodo Hydro Electric Project, the Bo Power Station, the new Police Headquarters, the Teko Military Barracks, the Youyi Ministerial Building, Bo Teachers College, the Defence Headquarters at Cockeril, the Aberdeen Bridge, Brookfields Hotel, Bintumani Hotel Complex, Cape Sierra Hotel, mammy Yoko Hotel, the Bank of Sierra Leone Annex, OAU Villas, 7th Battalion and many others including new road networks constructed by the German firm, Wahmann Abu, Waterloo – Masiaka Road, the Juba Bridge, Congo Cross bridge, the list is so long. The All Peoples Congress (APC) continues to be a Party of the people. During its tenure of office, not only did All Peoples Congress (APC) government provide opportunities for school leavers to study in Universities in the former Soviet Union but also in other parts of Eastern Europe, the Peoples Republic of China and the West. When it was becoming difficult for our lower middle class income citizens to sponsor our children to pursue courses in Law and Medicine, the All Peoples Congress party (APC) made sure that a Law Faculty was established at Fourah Bay College and a school of Medicine was also established. Today, Sierra Leone can boost of training its own lawyers, doctors, engineers, etc. Having stated the above I am forced to lament that all that the All peoples Congress (APC) Party did over a period of twenty years has either been destroyed or neglected, which means that when our Party comes back to power, there are huge challenges ahead of us to make good.
Notwithstanding the above mentioned achievements, the APC cannot run away from the fact that we made mistakes in the past, both in the political management and the administration of the economy. Those mistakes have propelled me to make it clear to all Sierra Leoneans and the International Community that there is a fundamental need for a change in state governance.
This also explains why I have deliberately entered the race if for no other reason that the fact that there is need for a change and the imperative for Sierra Leoneans to rebuild their country. I must also state however, that in a globalised world, I will work hard to make the All Peoples Congress into a respectable democratic party. Every Sierra Leonean must benefit from the resources of the state, without discrimination. Every child of school going age must be in school and all youths must be sent to work if we expect to build a tension-free and cohesive state.
The APC will implement
policies that will make a real change in the lives of people by giving
them the opportunities to improve their lives. Many Sierra Leoneans do
not have that chance at the moment especially after the tragedy that the
country went through over a decade. Majority of Sierra Leoneans do not
have clean water to drink, they cannot afford proper housing. Hunger and
Disease ravage the nation. An APC government will focus on identifying
the areas of most needs and setting clearly defined development targets.
This will involve everybody including the private sector.
I use this opportunity
to assure all Sierra Leoneans that the APC Party is now assured of
sympathetic and dynamic leadership that will treat the delivery of
social services as a priority. As President of our dear republic, our
Party, the APC, will consult stakeholders in the Health and Education
sectors to eradicate the perennial problems that have caused health and
educational development to shamefully lag behind.
Ladies and gentlemen, my
executive will provide the country with a new vision, an executive that
will instill discipline among all members of the Party and an executive
that will revolutionize the administration of this country to the
admiration of both the citizenry and the international community. I have
made this statement deliberately out of my conviction that our Party has
a new vision and capacity to work towards the provision of excellent
managerial skills, not only to tap our natural resources for the benefit
of all, but also to ensure that all resources, including financial
resources, are expended prudently.
Successive governments
have neglected involving business and private sector adequately enough
in their development planning and the implementation. Our nation will
benefit greatly if we strengthen the private sector, seek and use their
expertise in policy development and implementation and above all, ensure
that there is a safe and stable climate for investors. We will seek to
attract private investment from home and abroad and give incentives,
which will make the country more attractive to investors. Open
competitive markets could generate employment and bring in much needed
economic benefits.
I want to be a President
that swaps the national begging bowl for tools to build industry and
commerce. A President that goes to the international community not for
donations, but as partners in trade. We have had a president that prides
himself on his experience on the public sector and his ability to raise
donations. It is time for a president that prides himself in being
self-made, his experience in the private sector and his ability to
attract investment. Sierra Leone needs to be self-made. Sierra Leone
needs a thriving private sector in order to be able to invest in our
public services.
The bane of corruption
has crippled our country for too long. An APC government headed by me
will make a sustained attack on this disease and ensure openness and
transparency. If this problem is not tackled with the seriousness it
deserves, we will not only squander our meager resources but stand to
lose the goodwill of the international donor community who have seen aid
money often getting diverted into the pockets of politicians and
officials, with the poor people for whom it was originally intended
never benefiting from it.
Ladies and gentlemen, I
need not overstate the fact that good governance is a major
pre-condition in the administration of our country in the global
democratic world. The APC will ensure that democracy is given priority
and that decentralization of state government is effective.
I will work tirelessly
to ensure that every Sierra Leonean feels that he or she has a stake in
the nation. No Sierra Leonean is a stranger in his own country or in any
part of it. The notion that some people are more Sierra Leonean than
others is not healthy for our national development. At this time when we
are just coming out of a divisive and traumatic experience, it is
important that we show a determination to work together. The mould of
tribalism must be broken – I am determined, with your help, to find a
way of doing so. Together we should eradicate this cult of the
personality that has been with us for too long – a government does not
belong to the tribe or ethnic group of the president. Neither should a
party be associated with a belonging to any particular ethnic group.
These divisive perceptions have slowly destroyed our nation. The APC
intends to lead a nation that is united, with a commitment to fair play
and justice and equal opportunity for all.
We are thankful that we
have seen the end of the brutal war that took so many lives, mutilated
many innocent women, children and men. Let us pray that such a tragedy
never befalls our nation again. We thank the international community for
their sustained support during our difficulty. In particular, we wish to
thank the British Government, the United Nations, the United States of
America, and ECOWAS for the sustained help and the resources, human,
physical and financial, they have poured into the country to ensure that
we do not disintegrate as a nation. May God bless all those who have
genuinely worked to achieve peace and stability.
I am aware that we face
a great challenge but at the same time I feel inner strength- strength
in the belief that I have the support of you the members of the APC,
strength in the belief that the APC can survive against difficult and
severe odds. At one time when all the powers of the land, both political
and otherwise, were ranged in force against our Party, many deserted us
and others wrote our epitaphs. I say today to those prophets of doom,
the APC did not die and indeed no one can kill it. The epitaphs were
premature. The party has risen again stronger, better and ready to
govern once more.
In conclusion, ladies
and gentlemen, I want to assure you that I am a man of my word. When
elected President of this country, I will set up an Implementation
Committee which will ensure that all approved and budgeted government
programs, are implemented. I appeal for discipline of all members of our
Party as I assure all Sierra Leoneans that the APC has metamorphosed
into a more democratic, transparent, accountable and disciplined Party
that seeks to work for national reconciliation in the politics of this
country within the global context.
Again, I thank you and
may God bless our endeavours.
FORWARD INTO THE FUTURE!
4th September, 2005. |
