Vice President and leader of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party, Solomon Ekuma Berewa was in a depressing mood after voting and returning to his Spur road Lodge on Saturday
When journalists met him there, we asked for his reaction about the current voting situation in the country, and Vice President Berewa in a very disturbed tone said “ ..I can’t say a word” asked why not he replied in a quiet and barely audible voice “I’m devastated by the attitude of the Police”
Somewhat shaking off the disappointment, his voice grew strong as he continued “I expected this to be an even handed contest … the way it looks now I would say the Police have really taken up war against my party and myself”
He pointed to a young man who was crying in the corner and explained “that man you see there, is attached to my office here, he lives in Kingtom Barracks, he went to vote this morning. As they saw him the Police pounced on him and accused him of having been sent by me with ballot papers … they beat him up in the presence of his family and his child … tore his clothes, that is why he is in that state of distraught … what is their own business in this … the amount of reports I have received today of policemen manhandling party agents of the SLPP at Polling stations and taking them away leaving the stations unprotected and my votes unsecured you call that fair play” he asked?
“Is that the way we are going to maintain peace in this country” he went on adding “is that the peace people fought for?”
VP Berewa continued “and everybody will applaud it as the best election in the world is that what we call best election in the world … why can’t they give both candidates a fair chance why can’t they?”
Asked how will this affect his accepting or not accepting the results he quickly replied “I cannot predict my reactions at the end of the day in the light of what we are seeing now.”
He stated “let them make it easy for us to accept it” asked how he said “incidents like these to stop them get our own polling agents at the polling stations where we provide them. If we didn’t provide them so be it but when we provide them there let them be there.”
Questioned whether these are the same reports he has been receiving for the whole of the country, Vice President Berewa said “well I’ve moved around a lot I’ve seen a lot of it happening in Freetown I’ve had reports of it in Freetown in almost every corner of Freetown starting from far west to far east.”