Deputy Minister of Information and All People’s Congress (APC) Publicity Secretary, Cornelius Deveaux, yesterday, Tuesday 7 November 2017, said politics is not a do or die affair and also not a war between political parties. He said Sierra Leone has grown over the years and people must be able to accommodate each other regardless of their political orientation.
“I am calling on all supporters of political parties especially those who are supporting the APC to be confident and respect their opponents, discuss with them, eat with them and be friends with them. We are all Sierra Leoneans and we should learn to accommodate one and another because politics will end and life will go on.
He said they should enjoy themselves and they should not engage in violence but campaign peacefully to their opponents.
Secretary General of the Sierra Leone’s People Party (SLPP) Napoleon Koroma said in the past days there have been some ugly incidences that they have reported to the police and they are waiting for action to be taken.
“We in the SLPP believe in peace and we want the coming elections to be peaceful, free and fair. We want all political parties to obey the laws of the land and respect each other. There is no reason for all the brouhaha that is taking place now, even when campaign is yet to start. Tearing down of posters is uncalled for as there is enough space for every political party to operate and every party has the same right in the spaces around. We are calling on those that are destroying our leader’s billboard or posters to stop as we have not done it to any other party.”
Lawyer Koroma said if there is enough political tolerance, then the elections come March 7, 2018 will be peaceful, free and fair. But if these ugly incidences continue to occur, it will not augur well for the country.
Imran Sillah who is the acting Publicity Secretary of National Grad Coalition (NGC) averred that the time is now for Sierra Leoneans to practice civilized politics by attacking issues rather than personnel with knives and cutlasses.
He the NGC has come to change the status quo and bring sanity to the country as they believe in dialogue and discussing issues rather than fighting and killing each other.
Sillah called on Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC) to make sure they do their job properly by looking into all the different complaints they have received so that they can be able to do the right thing during and after the elections.
“The NGC is appealing to all Sierra Leoneans to put aside violence and they should be talking about the bread and butter issues that are affecting them. Gone are the days when violence was used in elections. Now, it is the time for us to be decent and respectful.
Jesmed Suma of National Progressive Democrats (NPD) says the 7 March 2018 elections must be peaceful and transparent and should start now. He called on the youths not to allow themselves to be used and dumped but they should be marketable and be ready to lead. He said the NPD is already working with their supporters to educate them and make them see reason why they are the best. Suma called on leaders of the parties to educate their supporters and get them to behave in a normal way as well as training them to accommodate each other because the elections will come and go. AT/7/11/17
Wednesday November 08, 2017.
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