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THE ORIGIN OF THE ALL PEOPLES CONGRESS (APC) PARTY
Politics in Sierra
Leone is an APC/SLPP struggle for and maintenance of political power in
the context of Multi-Party Democracy. Since the departure of the
colonial masters, the British, the country has been torn apart because
of the vices of political administrators in these two political parties.
Various political parties mushroom from these two principal parties for
self seeking reasons without any coherent national agenda. This
underscores the reason for the limited life span of political parties
other than the APC and SLPP.
Sierra Leone is a garb
of problems – disease, illiteracy, high infant mortality, corruption,
bad governance and above all, national leadership. Under a heavy burden
of this litany of
woes, the country is collapsing into a failed state. The country finds
itself strapped with
the age old story of bad national leadership whose ruthless corruption
and reckless
misrule strip them of moral authority and legitimacy.
The road to the 1996
General Elections was messy and flawed but in the interest of Peace and
Democracy, the people of Sierra Leone accepted the results manipulated
by Dr. James Jonah, Chairman of INEC. The 2002 General Elections were
also flawed but for the same reasons, the APC accepted the results.
With an Executive
President, Sierra Leoneans are experiencing tremendous dictatorial
Kabbah Presidency. The great hopes the country welcomed democracy in1996
are dashed into despair. In very systematic manner, President Ahmad
Tejan Kabbah is hammering hard all opposition political parties and
setting their camps into disarray. The UNPP, PDP, NUP and DCP and all
other registered political parties in Sierra Leone have had a scar of
the Tejan Kabbah torch. Currently in Sierra Leone, the only surviving
democratic opposition is the APC which is itself on fire fanned by
President Kabbah and his politically manipulated corrupt judiciary.
The first opportunity
Sierra Leone had for a peaceful democratic transfer of political power
through the ballot box was aborted by military adventurists in March
1967. Since that unfortunate incidence, the politics of our country has
been under continuous military threat.
Since March 24, 2002
when Ernest Bai Koroma assumed the mantle of leadership of the APC, he
has made various public pronouncements. Some of these speeches are
reproduced in this document portraying Koroma’s concern for a better
Sierra Leone.
His profile and speeches give the reader insight knowledge of Ernest
Koroma’s character and vision for Sierra Leone. His tribulations as a
politician are highlighted by the internal struggle in the APC
demonstrated by Court Case followed by another Court Case designed to
bring Ernest to his knees and give electoral advantage to the failed
SLPP. The May
14, 2002 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, were neither free nor
fair. However, Koroma’s APC leadership demonstrated love of country and
genuine democratic spirit by accepting the results of those elections.
The Local Government Elections of May 2004 were equally flawed. The APC
overwhelmingly won the Freetown Municipality and produced the elected
Mayor, Winstanley Bankole Johnson. SLPP political pressure on The
National Electoral Commission (NEC) Chairman Eugene O. Davies gave rise
to this fine gentleman’s resignation from office over Koya Ward III
elections which President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah’s favored Candidate Sultan
Kamara lost to the APC Candidate, Mohamed Koroma. |
