Acting Commissioner for the Political Party Registration Commission, Roland A Caesar has stated that, the country is currently faced with a serious and volatile situation following political unrests in the Eastern district headquarter city of Kono.
According to RA Caesar, the commission recently received a letter from the Secretary General; of the main opposition SLPP reporting of how party supporters in Kono were recently attacked by thugs of APC and that “for a Secretary General of a political party to write such a letter, then we are faced with a problem”.
The Acting Commissioner said, the country has come to a cross road where what its citizens “labored for appears to be going to the gutter and we will not allow that”. R A Caesar said, what happened recently in Kono should not be repeated or replicated in other areas. He stated that the PPRC has resolved to go to Kono “to see for ourselves” and that, they shall be informing the Inspector-General of Police about the failure of his men to put situation under control during political tensions. “The police appear to be powerless and this we will tell the Inspector-General”, R .A Caesar said.
Acting Commissioner RTA Caesar also said, the commission has resolved to take the Kono issue up with the President, Hon Ernest Bai Koroma.
Madame Christine Sheckler from the US Embassy in Sierra Leone and also of USAID said, the US Embassy is greatly concerned about the Kono incident and that the Embassy also takes the allegations from SLPP seriously. She said, they are behind the PPRC in investigating the issue.
Earlier, Commissioner Muctarr Williams told journalists that, what is currently happening seemed to be an upset in the electoral campaign especially in Kono and that reports of intimidation, harassments and destruction of property from Kono are not encouraging. “As a commission, we are concerned that, today it is Kono and tomorrow it could be somewhere else…We should not allow the reputation we earned in our past elections to be destroyed”, Commissioner Williams said.
Meanwhile, a press release from the PPRC has condemned the recent spate of violence in the eastern region, particularly Kono since “it is lamentable that such instability should occur during the height of the campaign period for the Local Council Elections…”
The commission therefore has called on all parties concerned “to demonstrate an attitude of peace and tolerance”.
In a snap interview with the Administrative Secretary for the opposition SLPP, Alhaji Brima Koroma, he expressed delight that, the commission has decided to investigate the issue but that he had expected the commission to have done that before meeting with the press.
By John Baimba Sesay
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