Former APC Minister Cornelius Deveaux calls for party unity, but party member in New Jersey files lawsuit against former President and party leader
Mr. Alfred Peter Conteh of the New Jersey Chapter of the APC , through Lawyer Rashid Santigie Sesay, has sued former president Ernest Bai Koroma and the rest of his national executive members to the High Court of Sierra Leone.
Claiming to be a full fledged member of the All People’s Congress, Conteh alleges that EBK and his executive members are illegitimate functionaries of the party and that their terms expired in October.
However, Mr. Conteh’s action has been widely condemned by the rank-and-file of the APC at home and abroad. The APCUSA and APCNJ have dissociated themselves from the lawsuit. and are exploring every means to convince Conteh to withdraw the suit.
This came as the APC party has released a notice to conduct its conventions to elect new Ward, Constituency, District, Regional and National executive members, including the Youth, Women, Diaspora and Veteran wings of the party.
The APC is also in a legal battle with a faction from within that calls itself National Reformation Movement (NRM), that caused the slamming of an injunction on the party, debarring it from holding a mini convention in the country’s Northwest regional headquarters of Port Loko early in 2020. However , the NRM and the APC are in the concluding stages of negotiations to have the NRM withdraw the case. Two members have already signed to withdraw while one member is yet to follow suit.
As a matter of fact, the NRM released a statement dissociating himself from the Alfred Conteh lawsuit.
NRM PUBLIC NOTICE*
The National Reformation Movement and its entire membership wish to bring to the notice of the general public, especially, members of the All Peoples’ Congress that the Action of Alfred P. Conteh, represented by his Attorney, Rashid Santigie Sesay, on the recently filed lawsuit against the leadership of the APC Party has no bearing, whatsoever, with the matter between the NRM and the APC Party.
The NRM hereby dissociates itself from the actions of Comrade Alfred Conteh, as such an act is not only nefarious and cynical, but has the tendacy to undermine the successes of the reformation crusade.
The public could recall that the NRM took the party to court challenging certain obnoxious clauses in the 1995 APC Constitution, a struggle that has laid a clear road map for the development of the most modern and democratic party constitution in Sierra Leone, if adopted.
While the matter subsists in court, the Movement and the Party are currently engaged in fruitful negotiations, in good faith, to resolve the matter amicably before the next adjourned date, and our membership would be informed appropriately about the outcome of our engagements before the 22nd day of February, 2021, which is the date set for the next hearing of the matter in court.
Let it be noted, that while we are very insistent on achieving our primordial objectives of the Movement, we are strongly averse to any moves that would derail the progress of the Party.
ForGodAndCountry,
I remain,
Signed
*Comrade Mohamed Sheridan Kamara Esq.*
Leader and Chairman, NRM.
____________________________________________________
APC Must Be Responsive To Calls For Unity
By Cornelius Oguntola Melvin Deveaux
Sierra Leone’s main opposition All Peoples Congress is sadly caught up in a complexity of setbacks which are seriously limiting the partys ability to cement the blocks of the foundation of that nation we seek to build on the principles of accountability, transparency and good governance.
Another court case! And God knows how many more litigations to come. However, before delving into the issues of the APC and calls for unity, let me take a moment to bring to the attention of the public the blatant misuse of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) system and how the All Peoples Congress remains placid even as the SLPP voraciously erodes its legacies of good governance.
The All Peoples Congress government of former President Dr Ernest Bai Koroma introduced a Treasury Single Account (TSA) system as a good governance fiscal policy to block financial leakages, enhance effective public expenditure control and the efficient management of public finance, promote transparency and improved financial accountability, and to enhance and enable the consolidation and optimal utilization of government cash resources.
In his handing over notes to the incoming Julius Maada Bio administration in April 2018, former President Dr Ernest Bai Koroma singled out the introduction of the TSA system as one of his key reforms in improving transparency and accountability in the management of public finance.
The architecture of the Treasury Single Account system is to ultimately have a single bank account at the Bank of Sierra Leone (BSL) to which all revenues or monies collected by the government are deposited and from which all government disbursements are made. It is in line with the provisions of the Fiscal Management and Control Act of 2017 that President Julius Maada Bio on his assumption of office issued an Executive Order to the effect.
The Fiscal Management and Control Act of 2017 compel all MDAs to deposit all revenues into the consolidated revenue fund (CRF). Section 5(1) of the Public Finance Management Act (2016) entrusts the responsibility to manage and control public money through the management of the Treasury Single Account and the planning and forecasting of cash flow on the Minister of Finance. Section 23 of the Finance Act of 2019 and TSA manual launched by the SLPP government in 2020 reinforces this.
Allegations of corruption which have been made public by the Africanist Press and borders on the egregious loot of the consolidated revenue fund is indicative of an opprobrious conduct for which public officials should be censored and held accountable. Yet the Anti Corruption Commissioner, even as he gallivants with an international accolade, sees no reason to probe the veracity of the allegations being made by the Africanist press.
The Bio government should be accountable to the people and should speak to these allegations if it should pride itself as a transparent and accountable government.
Regrettably, the government continues to take Sierra Leoneans for granted and think it owes no moral and constitutional obligation to be transparent and accountable to the people and to respond to these allegations.
The huge financial losses highlighted in the 2019 audit report in tandem with the allegations made by the Africanist press shows a bizarre level of fiscal indiscipline in the management of government spending and an obvious misuse of the TSA system by the SLPP government.
The APC Members of Parliament should call for a probe into the allegations made by the Africanist press. The allegations from the Africanist press are alarming and demand affirmative action. Affirmative action obliges the government to speak out. For the opposition APC, affirmative action should go beyond issuing a press release.
As the main opposition and hope of a nation disgusted with this SLPP administration, history will judge the All Peoples Congress as failing in its obligations to uphold democratic good governance and hold the SLPP government accountable.
The rank and file, and by extension the general public, is not oblivious the APC is laden with an internal strife the preponderance of which are the polarization of party executives across all structures by flagbearer aspirants; an intense horse-trading with the ruling SLPP which jeopardizes the safety and security of well meaning comrades and is undermining the unity and effective functioning of the party as the main opposition in a democracy; a compromised leadership lacking focus, morally and legally questionable and, due to vested interest, have a stranglehold on the ability of the party to position itself as a government in waiting. The internecine social media warfare is deepening the acrimony and widening the divide. Equally problematic and repulsive, perhaps even more than the court cases, is the high level of sycophancy and hypocrisy being exhibited by the elites of the party.
As a party, we should be responsive to the urgent need for a united and focused APC if we are to effectively hold this government accountable and win the 2023 elections. Or else, we are failing our people.
Comrade chairman and leader should provide leadership in uniting the party more than ever before. Unity in the APC is the craving desire, not just, of the rank and file but of a nation and people desperate to vote the SLPP out in 2023. We must come to terms with the fact that there can be no unity in the APC without a genuine reconciliation that seeks to put the party interest above all other consideration.
One of the recommendations of the Nine-Man committee was to reconcile the party. A committee led by Comrade Alimamy Petito Koroma was established by the secretariat but it seems this committee has not been given preference and as a matter of fact many more have been hurt and the acrimony is nauseating. It is my view we reconcile the party before convening a national delegates conference to elect new officers and flagbearer. It should be reconciliation before convention and not the other way round. In conclusion, reconciling the APC is the most important task at hand. It is a sure precursor to ending court cases and the repositioning of the party. And while we may be entangled in the complexity of setbacks, let me urge our APC MPs to demand a parliamentary probe into the veracity of allegations from the Africanist press regarding the misuse of the Treasury Single Account (the consolidated revenue fund) by the SLPP government
