By Melvin Tejan-Mansaray
Top officials in the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) and the All Peoples Congress (APC) party have called on the High Court of Sierra Leone not to derail the country’s electoral process by slamming an injunction on the National Electoral Commission (NEC) seeking that it does not go ahead with the conduct of the March 27th 2018 presidential elections run-off.
This comes after both parties failed to secure fifty-five percent votes a threshold for the clinching of the presidency in the March 7, 2018 polls.
Abu Bakarr Joe Sesay Editor of the SLPP controlled Unity Newspaper who also doubles as a Member of the SLPP Media Committee described moves by a certain citizen Ibrahim Sorie Koroma seeking from the High Court to grant an injunction on the March 27, 2018 presidential election run-off as derailing to the effort, time, and resources being committed to the electoral process.
Joe Sesay said that: “They just want to derail the electoral process,” adding that the plaintiff I.S Koroma and his backers (the APC) are just buying time because they know that they have lost the presidential elections tot eh SLPP.
“They just want to derail the electoral process because they know that they stand no chance of winning the election,” Sesay said.
Joe Sesay however pointed out that in the interest of the peace and tranquility of the country, Justice Abdul Rahman Mansaray of the High Court of Sierra Leone temper justice in favor of democratic best practices and the rule of law.
Joe said “but we are confident that the judge will do the right thing in the interest of the country.”
Apparently, Justice Mansaray on Wednesday 21st March 2018 asked the plaintiff (I.S Koroma) and defendant (NEC’s Chairman N’fah Alie-Conteh) lawyers to serve each other papers ahead of today (Friday 23rd March 2018) case adjournment.
Similarly, the APC has also expressed slightly similar concerns to that of the SLPP asking that the Court do not grant an injunction putting on hold the presidential election run-off slated March 27th 2018.
Cornelius Deveaux Publicity Secretary APC and Deputy Minister of Information and Communication said in an exclusive interview with this Press that although the plaintiff is a member of the APC, he filed his case to the High Court as a private citizen (Sorie Ibrahim Koroma) as a result of ‘a lot of malpractices in the just concluded elections.’
“The APC is not at all connected to this Court matter; seeking a court injunction is not an official position of the party, had it been an official position of the party it would have been the Secretary General of the part who would have to file for an injunction on behalf of the party,” Deveaux said.
He added that “we hope that this court matter will not derail the electoral process because we want to go through the elections; we are very much certain of winning especially now that all of the various tactics and intentions of the opposition have been exposed.”
Cornelius however said that the APC has no reason to want to derail the electoral process because it has already won the majority seats in parliament which he says is a strong pointer of winning the presidency.
“We don’t know what the Court will say but we only hope and pray that the Court does not give an injunction for the postponement of the run-off presidential elections,” Cornelius Deveaux underscored.
-Credit: The Trumpet Newspaper
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