By: Problyn J. Alpha
The Chairman of the Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC) in Kenema Abdulai Bangura Esq. has said that the activities of the Twenty-one man Committee of the main opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) are seemed to diminishing the chances of the Party to compete effectively in the would-be 2023 general elections.
He made the statement in a telephone interview with our correspondent when clarifying the mandate of the PPRC and that of the Court order.
It could be recalled that in 2021 the then leadership of the APC Party was taken to Court by Alfred Peter Conteh based on violating the party’s constitution, and thereafter, the Twenty-One-man Committee of the All People’s Congress was established and charged with the mandate to oversee the affairs of the Party to conduct their party’s lower level elections and other Party structures
“ As one of the Primary mandates of (PPRC) is to supervise the activities of Political Parties, we have been following the activities of the Twenty-One-man Committee all this while, but unfortunately, it seems as if the membership of the 21-man Committee has spat and non of the factions is seem to be ready to shift grounds and work together as a team in the general interest of the Party,” Commissioner Bangura stated.
He further explained that because of the unwillingness of members of the Twenty- One man Committee, his institution needs to call a press conference to inform the general public and members of the All People’s Congress to be aware of the fact that the Twenty –One man Committee is bent on diminishing the chances of the Party to effectively compete in the 2023 general elections.
Our organization has exercised a lot of patience even when we published their rules, we have objectives and we send them the objectives for them to respond to. Still, unfortunately, they could not give us one response, adding each of the factions sent in their responsibility, one faction concept to an objective and their other faction objected to an objection, but since it is our commission dealing with those objectives we have patient enough to handle the two responses.
He noted that they concluded during those objectives and made their ruling, we instructed them to input the directive given to them in the verdict and they went later on and received two clean copies of the ruling in my office later. I called them to my office and advised them to bridge the decision to work in unity to further the interest of the Party. Since they left they never returned to my office Lawyer Bangura narrated.
Since the establishment of the Twenty- One man Committee they had never agreed on anything, adding, they only agreed when they were constituting their subcommittee after that everything about the Twenty- One man Committee is characterized by division, Lawyer Bangura opined.
Meanwhile, the rules and regulations for the conduct of the lower level elections have become effective since the first of November, 2022 and the judgment that established the Committee stated that they are to conduct their lower level elections within sixty (60) days from the date when the rules became effectual. The rule has become productive from the first of November, and therefore the sixty days timetable given by the court to conduct their ward, districts, constituencies and regional executive elections has started running.