By: Mohamed Jalloh
In an exclusive interview with A-Z newspaper Alhaji Alpha Mohamed Kallon the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) deputy, and national chairman has implored all eligible voters across the country to throng out and fulfill the ongoing registration exercise.
In less than a year since he was elected in position, Mr. Kallon has taken the lead by going out and about nationwide to urge the general public to show up en-masse in the different registration centres.
He further made a clarion to SLPP supporters to sacrifice a little time from their busy schedules and undertake the registration process and plainly pointed out that it is only when they are registered they can help the party to win the June 24th 2023 elections.
“We don’t want any run-off in 2023, so if we want to win the elections in the first rounds SLPP supporters, in particular, must go out in large numbers and register within their communities”, the deputy national Chairman appeals to SLPP supporters.
He said his registration campaign cuts across the political divide but further noted that the message of persuasion is more focused on the SLPP supporters.
Mr. Kallon urged first-time voters to grace the registration centres with valid age identification documents, as according to him, they represent a very large voting constituency whose votes are crucial for the SLPP to win the 2023 elections without a runoff.
According to Mr Kallon, he is currently carrying out a two folded responsibility as the Deputy National Chairman of the SLPP party by way of appealing to the electorate to register and at the same time engaging in monitoring the process.
“In one registration centre in Bombali District some people who were in the queue to register fled into bushes when they saw me and the security personnel disembark from the vehicle. I was told by the ECSL staff that they are presumably the people who participated in the August 10th protests in Makeni town. I later told the AIG northeast to hunt for the perpetrators of August 10th in the bushes because those people are wanted for prosecution but I further advised him to do it in a manner so as not to scare potential voters away from the registration process”, the Deputy National Chairman explain
Mr. Kallon said even though the SLPP party never wished for the August 10th protests to happen; he interpreted the running away of people in opposition strongholds for fear of being arrested as a blessing in disguise because they would not cast their ballot if they were not registered.
He later dilated on his deliverables since he was elected as Deputy National Chairman of the SLPP In December 2021.
“I have helped in unifying the party, we were having problems with some chiefs in the northern region but I have played my role in amicably helping to resolve the issue. I have helped many party supporters in diverse ways including paying the rent of squatters at the SLPP national headquarters because we urged all of them to leave the office to get it renovated”, the Deputy National Chairman narrated.
