They have in a press conference called on their All People’s Congress (APC) party hierarchy to embrace reforms within the party in order to present a formidable force to participate in the 2023 polls. Speaking to the press last Saturday which was celebrated worldwide as International Day of Democracy, Osman B. Kamara recalled that after the APC party lost the 2018 presidential elections to President Julius Maada Bio of the now ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), he and members of his youth group conducted a survey across the country to ascertain why the APC party lost the presidential election and that they subsequently came up with a detail report, adding that the report has been handed over to the APC elders for scrutiny. The press conference which was held at the Harry Yansaneh Hall of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) headquarters in Freetown attracted a galaxy of journalists and APC members.
Speaking further, the chairman of the occasion Osman B. Kamara informed journalists that as APC youths they have been championing the cause of the APC since their student days while in college and that they strived and are still striving to correct anomalies which have the tendency to undermine the progress of the APC party.
“Over the years, the participation of our people has been limited to political rallies and voting. We have to challenge the status quo. The APC party is not owned by an individual and should not be held to ransom by a single individual,” he said. He went on to say: “Selection is no longer applicable in modern day democracy; and therefore the selection clause in the APC party’s constitution should be removed. The people’s voice should be supreme and not an individual’s voice,” he told journalists. He went on to speak on the term limit of certain executive positions in the APC party, adding that the party’s constitution doesn’t make provision for such, and that therefore there is urgent need to separate the position of standard bearer and Chairman and Leader of the party. “The situation where we have the flag-bearer serving as Chairman and Leader of the party should be looked into. That is wrong and we should review it because we need a Chairman and Leader that would purely focus on the affairs of the party,” he said. He noted that the group demands other reforms in the National Youth League, which according to him has over the years reduced its potency to “bootlicking and praise singing” of a few individuals within the APC party. Another NRM member Alfred Minkailu Koroma, aka Political Harash, stated among other things that, “the sacking of Vice President Samuel Sam Sumana, the removal of Emmerson Sahr Lamina as Mayor of Koidu City, and mistreatment of many party stalwarts are some of the reasons the APC is now in opposition.” “It is an open secret that the sacking of the former VP and the illegal removal of the former Mayor of Koidu City in Kono District gave birth to the Coalition of Change (C4C).The treatment received by Ibrahim Bundu of Port Loko, Peter Bayuku Conteh of Koinadugu, Alimamy Petito Koroma of Kambia, Dr. Richard Konteh of Gbendembu can all account for our defeat in the presidential race in the 2018 multitier election,” he stressed.
