By: Ilyasa Baa
The Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) Mayoral candidate for the Freetown City Council, Mohamed Gento Kamara has revealed to this medium that he is not going to appoint a Muslim to be the Deputy Mayor but a Christian.
Gento stressed that appointing a Christian, as a Muslim himself shows that he supports religious tolerance and has respect for the Christian faith.
Gento has strongly denied allegations getting round on social media that he made a hate speech past Friday during Juma prayers against Christians. He said his message was misconstrued to represent what he did not mean at all.
“Prior to that Juma video circulated on various social media platforms, I was approached by some elders and told that Yvonne Aki Sawyer had appointed a Christian so I should appoint someone from the same religious background. I told them that i would not do like what Yvonne has done by appointing somebody with the same religious backgrounds,” he said, adding that his message was skewed by APC politicians to dent his political gains in the city.
According to Gento, the combination of a Muslim and a Christian for the Mayoral and Deputy Mayoral positions preaches religious tolerance instead of having two Christians in such enviable offices. ‘I have so much respect for the two religions, my aspiration is to break the chains of tribalism and regionalism from the Council’, Gento further submitted.
It could be recalled that Yvonne Aki Sawyer had appointed lawyer Quaku Lisk, one of the counsels of late Mosiray Fadika, as her Running Mate while the SLPP candidate has not yet named Running Mate for the FCC.
There is a saying in Freetown that the Mayoral seat is for the Creoles who have been occupying that seat since independence. However, if it happens that the SLPP candidate wins the Mayoral election on June 24th 2023, he will be the first countryman or Muslim to serve as the Mayor of the capital city in many years.