By: Thaimu Bai Sesay
In the opening ceremony of day-one of the three-day mediation dialogue between the Government of Sierra Leone and the All People’s Congress party, Chief Minister David Moinina Sengeh has expressed that their government believes in inclusiveness and participatory governance, as he anticipates to see the participation of the APC in Parliament and Local Council.
Hosted by the Independent Commission for Peace and National Cohesion (ICPNC), the close-door mediation dialogue commenced yesterday, 16 October 2023 at Bintumani hotel in the midst of Commonwealth, ECOWAS, nine Government representatives headed by Chief Minister Sengeh, nine APC representative headed by the party leader Dr. Samura Kamara, America and EU representatives and other international representatives.
“President Julius Maada Bio is one that believes in intrinsic value of inclusivity and participation as critical ingredients for a peaceful, united, stable and cohesive Sierra Leone. It is a manifestation of such conviction and belief that government has since given serious considerations to the abnormal situation of having the other half of state governance, the opposition party in the house of parliament and local council,” Chief Minister Sengeh revealed.
Sierra Leone Chief Minister David Moinia Sengeh expressed that as a government they accepted for a dialogue because of their commitment, hopes and aspirations for national and collective movement forward. “And as such we expect that at the end of the mediated dialogue, we will see the whole participation of our friends, the All People’s Congress in government,” said Chief Minister Sengeh.
Showcasing the commitment of their government to peace and national cohesion, Chief Minister David Sengeh highlighted recent progress made in the sector. “Over the last couple of years, our government has repealed the seditious libel law. We have removed the death penalty. We have enacted the GIWI bill. We have reviewed and updated the PPRC act, education act, local council act, national investment act, Independent Commission for Peace and national Cohesion act. National Disaster Agency act, revised the Anti-Corruption law, etc”.
Sengeh went on highlighting the other laws and bills the government set forth to work on, justifying that all of those were aimed at ensuring that the necessary and appropriate legal and regulatory environment was created to enhance effective and efficient government for Sierra Leone, disclaiming that not government for SLPP.
“This is why when our friends from the APC go to parliament, there will be a lot more women in parliament in our lifetime in this sitting than it has ever been at any given point in time,” he assured.
In his opening ceremony statement, Dr. Samura Kamara leader of the APC expressed that their commitment to having free, fair, credible and non-violent elections had been attested to in their several press releases, before during and after the elections. Dr. Kamara went on alleging that the entire electioneering process was premeditated and carefully structured which lead into rigging. He added that the entire electioneering process was filled with violence, intimidation and a disproportionate display which he described as a gun foul against his party. “We also suffered through deep rooted ethno regional bribe that had succeeded in dividing this peaceful nation.”
Dr. Samura Kamara emphasized that since 2018 the APC party peacefully transitioned power to the SLPP, the leadership, members and supporters of the APC party had never been at peace under the regime. Dr. Kamara however said they considered the interest of the nation more paramount than their partisan and personal interest, adding that they wanted to keep the country united. He highlighted all of the party’s grievances and said the party still maintained its stands. Kamara however said they were expecting the government to listen to the APC concerns and the APC in turn would understand the Government situation while putting the people in the centre. He maintained that all they were hoping was for the truth to come out.
Executive Director of the Independent Commission for Peace and National Cohesion Hawa Samai started off by thanking the president for allowing the international mediators to come to Sierra Leone for the good of Sierra Leone and equally to the APC party for accepting to come to the peace dialogue all for the good of Sierra Leone. She thanked the mediator team, development partners, saying it had been a turbulent time but assured that they would have to smile at the end of the day. She affirmed that the process might not be a day but assured of a win-win engagement.
A representative of the European Union expressed that the EU was happy that the government and the APC received them well. She said that the government told them that they want APC to participate in the government process.