Last Friday was another bitter day for the All People’s Congress ( APC ) and another sad day for democracy in Sierra Leone as the three-day Youth Retreat of the party was halted by the Political Parties Registration Concil ( PPRC ) just as opening ceremonies were being conducted .
Thousands of supporters, officials and stalwarts of the party, including the Chairman and Leader, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, who had jammed the Bai Bureh Memorial Hall in Port Loko for the retreat were shocked when Police suddenly appeared and said the event was cancelled.
According to Police , the much -advertised and expected occasion was cancelled by a court order . The APC, the Police went on, were still prohibited from engaging in political activities.
it must be recalled that in February 26, 2021 , the Freetown High Court, presided over by Judge Adrian Fisher , imposed an injunction on the AOC, restraining the defendants, former President Ernest Bai Koroma, in his capacity as Chairman and Leader of the party, and Ambassador Dr Alhaji Osman Foday Yansanneh, Secretary General, “whether by themselves, servants, agents, privies, workmen, officials, or howsoever called, from holding any conference, convention, meeting, rally, or from taking part or organizing any such conference, convention, meeting or rally geared towards nominating, proposing, selecting or electing any delegates and/or candidates into the party executives for the day to day running of the party, pending the hearing and determination of this application or further order of this court”.
The injunction was the result of litigation against the above-named defendants by Mr. Alfred Peter Conteh, a member of the party, who contended that the defendants had outstayed their mandate.
It must also be recalled that on Monday April 19, 2021, Judge Fisher ordered the APC to hold an emergency national delegates convention for the purpose of adopting its draft constitution. The PRRC is contending that the Judge did rule on that day that the injunction slammed on all political activities within the party was still in force.
But many members of the APC considered Friday’s action to cancel their Youth Retreat was actually a politically-motivated decision and the order must have come from above, just to continue to hinder the party. There has not been any official statement from the APC headquarters in Freetown. However, supporters of the party have been complaining bitterly in the social media.
what was surprising was why the PPRC did not warn the APC that the injunction against political activities by the party was still in force, while they were planning the occasion and advertising it in media outlets and the social media. According to APC operatives, the PPRC should not have waited until the party had spent thousands of dollars on retreat expenses and thousands of members had left their normal activities and congregated in Port Loko for the program before stopping the retreat .
The PPRC did not also warn the APC that they were still under an injunction against political activities when the Secretary General of the APC, Ambassador Foday Yansaneh went to their office to present to the PPRC boss the adopted constitution.
According to reports filed on social media by citizen journalists ,many APC supporters., especially female members , wept when the event was cancelled while they were in hall, taking part in preliminary activities.
An SLPP supporter at WhatsApp thought that the APC did not really try to understand the court order to which an APC supporter , Pa Yambs Deen Sesay responded : “Our justice system has been tampered with by your uncouth political party. The judges are remote controlled by the other from above pattern . Political witch hunting is in the rise. Our democracy is in tatters. Worrisome bro. “.
