• Monday June 18th 2018:- The main opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) has stunned the country during past Saturday June 16th 2018 Bye Elections with an impressive performance which saw APC clinch five out of the six seats being contested for including taking over one of the seats previously held by the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) in Bonthe District, the home of H.E. President Julius Maada Bio.
The Bye-Election contests had to be conducted as a result of a major mistake made by Nfa Alie Conteh and the National Electoral Commission (NEC) during the March general elections. To the chagrin of many, after the elections were conducted, two months later in May, NEC announced that it had forgotten to ask the various parties to submit candidates for those six seats; namely 2 for a Multi-member Ward 308 in Bonthe, 1 for Port Loko Wards 234, 1 for Port Loko Ward 235, 1 for Makeni Ward 121 and 1 for Makeni Ward 123.
For the multi-member Ward 308 in Bonthe, the Bonthe Council needed two local councillors to fill two seats. All the other four Wards in Port Loko and Makeni only needed 1 seat vacancy each to be filled.
As a result, fresh elections were conducted which saw the SLPP’s Musa Minah win one of the two seats for Bonthe’s Multi-member Ward 308 with 690 votes but to the amazement of Sierra Leoneans, the second SLPP candidate, Michael Powells, did not clinch the expected second seat. Rather, SLPP’s other candidate took third place with 478 votes whilst the APC candidate, Daddy Avondor, took second place with 661 votes. This automatically gave the second seat in Bonthe to the APC candidate.
At the same time, the APC also clinched all the seats contested for in Port Loko and Makeni. The APC beat the SLPP and another party, the NGC hands down by massive margins in Port Loko and Makeni.
Meanwhile, the APC put up such a very strong showing in Bonthe that it has shocked the entire country. DADDY AVONDOR, the APC man who won one of the two vacant Bonthe seats got 661 votes which is only 29 votes less than the SLPP man, MUSA MINAH, who won the other vacant Bonthe seat with 690 votes.
During the March Presidential Runoffs Elections, NEC had announced that the APC got only 3,804 votes for the whole of Bonthe District. Now, Bonthe is a district with many, many Wards. However, last Saturday’s elections in *just one single Ward in Bonthe,* saw the APC’s two candidates scooped 976 votes (661+315) in total whilst SLPP’s two candidates got 1,168 votes (690+478) total. The margin of difference for the total votes between the two parties, was very slim for a place like Bonthe that was widely seen as an SLPP stronghold.
For the APC to get almost 1,000 votes in a single Ward inside Bonthe has raised happiness amongst APC supporters whilst SLPP stalwarts are perplexed. The APC supporters have been in a very jubilant mood. /END.
🌞 *APC DEMANDS CLARITY OVER THE MARGAI SACKING*
By John Koroma
The Publicity Secretary of the main opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) party, Mr. Cornelius Deveaux says the APC is calling on H.E. President Julius Maada Bio to explain directly to Sierra Leone citizens as to why Attorney General and Minister of Justice Charles Francis Margai, was sacked last week. He was speaking in an exclusive interview with Awareness Times on Friday June 15th 2018.
Mr. Deveaux said that even though it is the constitutional right for President Bio to hire and fire anyone within his cabinet but the APC party believes the abruptness of the sacking as well as malicious rumours floated against Charles Margai, was “unfair to such a high profile legal mind and a politician of no mean repute”.
Deveaux said the APC is “suspicious, very suspicious” of the motives behind the sacking of the no-nonsense lawyer especially as it was done in less than two months of him serving in the position. He said there was no hard evidence within that two months to support why Margai was sacked.
“It is morally wrong for the President to keep mute on such a dismissal,” said Mr. Deveaux. He therefore concluded by urging the government to hastily explain “with satisfactory clarity” what are the reason or reasons behind the ongoing disgrace being faced by Margai.
Margai was the former presidential candidate of the PMDC party who threw his support for Bio to ensure Bio won the Presidential runoff Elections. He was appointed as Minister of Justice and Attorney General but was sacked in a cloud of ignominious gossip and rumours.
The APC is the second party to demand answers over the sacking of Margai. Another party, the C4C, which has 8 seats in Parliament, along with its presidential candidate, Alhaji Chief Samsumana, have also demanded an explanation over the sacking of the erudite politician.
/END
©Awareness Times Newspaper
