All the big talk and swagger by the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party ( SLPP ) that they overran the All People’s Congress ( APC ) stronghold in the Western Area were just idle banter. The big crowd that took part in the rally in Freetown yesterday was imported from the provinces and now the throng is stranded in the capital. We learnt about this from our reporters who had suspected all along that most of the people who marched for the SLPP yesterday were not residents of the Western Area, though the SLPP had tried hard to create that impression to make Sierra Leoneans believe that they too have a large following in and around the capital.
Realizing that the public had become wise to their ruse and with the embarrassment of stranded supporters hitting them , SLPP immediately plunged into that which they are very good at–framing lies and concocting stories. They started spreading word that transport drivers were discriminating against their supporters who wanted to travel to the provinces to vote. They lied that only people dressed in the APC colours of red and heading for Makeni were being allowed into vehicles.
Responding to the SLPP lies in the social media, the Publisher of Awareness Times, Ms. Sylvia Blyden explained : “This is NOT true. I have been monitoring Waterlooo and Shell since last night. What happened is the huge influx of persons from Bo and Kenema overwhelmed the transport system even though SLPP provided special buses (yellow in colour) to take some of their supporters back to their provincial areas. Thus, drivers initially loaded lots of passengers but on arrival in Bo and Kenema, realised there was not a concommitant number of passengers to make it profitable to come down again so they lost out. The word quickly spread and the drivers at SHELL are now refusing to load the huge galaxy of SLPP supporters wishing to return back to Bo and Kenema and some from Moyamba…The sad part is women and kids stranded at SHELL because the youths are jumping on the available buses… Three brand new long yellow bus has done two trips each now since this early morning but still not making much headway. Folks are now using open lorries to load back to go upline…”
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