This press release is from the government / State... not the ruling APC party. However, you can see how slanted the release is... more attacks on the opposition from the State? No, the State is not separate from the APC party. The State SHOULD be separate... and there should be a clear distinction between the State and political parties... but not in Sierra Leone. Sigh.

GOVERNMENT OF SIERRA LEONE

PRESS RELEASE

THE SLPP’S PENCHANT TO DERAIL THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS AND THE PEACE

After President Ernest Bai Koroma has consciously and assiduously worked towards maintaining peace and tranquillity in Sierra Leone for the past five years; after the President has wholeheartedly supported the National Electoral Commission (NEC) to the extent of committing government to pay its increased nomination fees for all candidates just to ensure a level-playing field for free, fair, and transparent elections; after the government has boosted the morale of the security forces in granting them additional incentives and adequate professional training to provide security for the conduct of non-violent elections; it is now becoming increasingly clear that the main opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) is bent on reversing the progressive and developmental gains so far registered by our once war-ravaged country.

The electioneering tactics currently being adopted by the SLPP have left many Sierra Leoneans questioning the patriotic credentials of its leadership. Of late, the SLPP has used very unconventional and uncouth methods to try to stifle the peace and create chaos.

The party’s presidential flag-bearer, Julius Maada Bio, had the effrontery to refuse a police order to stop in respect of a moving convoy of His Excellency the President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma. Had the President, as the peaceful man he is, and his security detail not exercised maximum restraint, the situation could have led to a bedlam.

Last week, in mainly the south-eastern parts of Sierra Leone, the SLPP targeted the private homes of supporters of the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC). In Kenema, Prince Bindi, who was once the SLPP’s District Chairman but now a candidate for the APC, was not only subjected to brutality and had his home ransacked, but his wife was actually stripped naked and molested in his presence by operatives of the SLPP. The minor opposition People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) has also reported about attacks on its supporters by members of the SLPP in the south-east.

On Sunday 4th November 2012, there was an accident involving a group of supporters of the SLPP along the Magburaka-Makeni highway at a village called Makump, where a vehicle rammed into them at around 9:30 in the night, leading to fatalities.

This is a most pathetic event that should attract the sympathies of every Sierra Leonean.

However, without thoroughly investigating and getting the details of the incident, the leadership of the SLPP went on a blitzkrieg campaign of calumny against the APC, reporting to international observers and foreign missions, among others, that their supporters had been deliberately targeted as a reprisal for campaigning in the President’s home district - a most unfounded and irresponsible allegation, taking into consideration the fact that President Koroma has indisputably become the most tolerant and human rights up-keeper of a leader this country has ever had.

Now that it has turned out that it was actually David Keilli, the brother of former SLPP flag-bearer aspirant Andrew Keilli, who was driving the vehicle that was involved in the accident, it is but appropriate that the SLPP should tender a public apology and inform all those that they have already misinformed. If they do not want to lend credence to the public perception that their current motif is to derail our democratic process through negative propaganda and violence, it is necessary for the SLPP to rise to the occasion and do the gentlemanly thing, especially when the police and David Keilli himself have authoritatively stated that it was a mere accident with no political undertones.

But even if the SLPP leaders refuse to do that, as they have previously done even with the incident of the presidential convoy, Government would want to assure the public that President Ernest Bai Koroma is still - as always - very much committed to the principles of democracy, which include the responsibility of ensuring the conduct of free, fair, transparent, and non-violent elections.

This Government’s determination to maintain law and order cannot be waned or dampened by the gravest of tactics being used by the opposition SLPP. We will not shirk our responsibilities; and all those who break the law will only have themselves to blame.

We appreciate the presence of the international observers and all other institutions, including the International Criminal Court (ICC), interested in seeing Sierra Leone through these very important elections, and to further encourage them to continue to do their job without fear or favour, as the security forces have been mandated to use their constitutional authority to the fullest.

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN

MINISTRY OF INFORMATION & COMMUNICATIONS

8TH FLOOR