PMDC Leader Charles Margai Confirms Joining APC for the June 24 Polls Leaving SLPP in Jitters
By Abu Shaw in London (10/05/2023)
The biggest fish in Sierra Leone’s political landscape has been captured by the APC after lending his herculean support to the main opposition party.
Sierra Leone’s veteran politician Charles Margai Esq has joined the campaign train of the main opposition APC, temporarily though, to make sure Dr Samura Kamara is duly elected President of the Republic of Sierra Leone come June 24, 2023, crucial general and presidential elections. The capture of Charles Margai is huge news for the APC members and supporters and by extension Sierra Leone, but it is dastardly news for the failed SLPP government of President Julius Maada Bio. (Photo: PMDC leader Charles Margai Esq for supporting the APC).
Political observers say the addition of the leader of the Peoples Movement for Democratic Change PMDC lawyer Charles Margai is a strategic alliance that will not only see the APC through to victory but has also sent endless shock waves across the political spectrum of the ruling SLPP regime. This fantastic news for the APC and Sierra Leone, in general, was first confirmed by the APC leader and presidential candidate Dr Samura Kamara on Sunday, May 7, 2023. The APC leader was addressing the APC supporters and Sierra Leoneans at the JK Banguets Hall in London where Charles Margai’s bombshell was dropped. Charles Margai was the first Attorney General and Minister of Justice under President Bio but was sacked shortly after he disagrees with President Bio’s injustice agenda.
Dr Samura Kamara told the APC meeting organised by the APC UK/I last Sunday: “We have always had support from other political parties. In 2007 for example, Charles Margai joined us and we won the elections. This June 24, 2023 election, I can confirm that Mr Charles Margai has joined us again,” amid thunderous applause from the APC crowd. The PMDC leader’s declaration to campaign for Dr Samura Kamara went very badly in the corridors of power and no sooner had the news broken out, than certain disgruntled and nefarious SLPP/Paopa supporters wrote a fake statement to distort the real facts. (Photo: Charles Margai took the oath of office as SLPP government’s shortlived Justice Minister).
The fake SLPP post reads thus – From The Desk of Charles Francis Margai Esquire. I have seen a very misleading video making the rounds on social media in which the All People’s Congress Party former Secretary General Mr. Osman Foday Yansaneh is claiming that I have again joined forces with the APC for the forthcoming June 24, 2023 elections, as I did in 2007. The general public is hereby informed by this notice, that the purported claim is not only misleading but intended to decimate my political character. Indeed some members of the APC approached me to team up with them in the June 24 general elections, but I told them in very explicit terms that I’ll consult with my PMDC hierarchy and will make public our collective decision.
“After consultations with my Party, and getting an invite from the leadership of the Coalition for Change, and in consideration that our two parties are yearning for change, we decided to form a Coalition. As an individual, I have never agreed with the APC to join them in the June 24 elections. Whosoever is peddling such news is spreading misinformation. The contents of the video are not the factual representation of Mr. Charles Francis Margai. The general public is therefore advised to dismiss the video and its contents in its entirety. Signed Charles Francis Margai 7/5/23.”
The distortion and misleading information propagated above from the SLPP/Paopa supporters and members after Charles Margai announced his alliance with the APC party was publicly countered by the Office of Charles Margai. It read thus – A certain criminal purporting to act in my name has published an article captioned “From the Desk of Charles Francis Margai Esquire” which I entirely disclaim as having no knowledge of. I hereby confirm Ambassador Foday Yansanneh’s version of the event, signed by CF Margai. End.
As APC supporters and members celebrate the new recruit Charles Margai, the PMDC leader’s declaration to lend his blessings to the APC party has come a few days after 410 executive members from the National Grand Coalition Party NGC pledged their loyalty and support to the APC party. The NGC declaration was led by its outspoken politician Mr Arthur E Pearce and Pa Dauda etc. The PMDC support for the APC has also come on the same day that 500 SLPP women and men in Pujehun District decided to embrace the APC party.
