TEAM JOB DENOUNCES DECISION BY SLPP NEC TO RE-RUN LOWER LEVEL ELECTIONS.
Team JOB Headquarters, Friday, 23rd, June 2017. The attention of Team JOB, a support group for the former Chairman and Leader of the Sierra Leone People’s Party and a leading aspirant for the flagbearership of the SLPP, has been drawn to a NEC meeting purported to have been held on June 21st 2017 at the Party Secretariat. Media reports have it that this was in response to the Court of Appeal Order to re-run the election of 39 Constituency and District Executives previously conducted on November 26th and December 3rd respectively. We find this decision of the NEC bizarre as the Court of Appeal judgement states unambiguously that only the Constituency and District elections (which are also known as lower level elections) conducted on the specific dates indicated were nullified and therefore ordered to be re-run. For the abundance of clarity, the ruling further stated that all other lower level executive elections “shall remain valid and undisturbed”: zonal, sectional and chiefdom inclusive.
It will be recalled that the conduct of zonal, chiefdom and sectional elections with PPRC oversight in all 112 constituencies across the country were concluded by September 2016. PPRC validated these concluded lower level elections and issued a report accordingly.
To all intents and purposes lower level executives at zonal, chiefdom and sectional levels were considered settled. It is pertinent to recall that 31 of these lower level executive elections were conducted by the PPRC.
Clearly the NEC Decision is not in conformity with the Court Ruling and we make bold to state it is designed to unseat legally seated lower level executives and replace them with people who are known members of the Paopa Brigade in pursuance of the coronation scheme that Paopa has consistently endeavoured to impose on SLPP members and supporters who believe in constitutionality and democratic conduct. This is just the latest in a series of actions by this expired and illegally seated executive to impose unconstitutionality on our noble party.
Against the above backdrop, Team JOB expresses total condemnation of the decision at this purported NEC meeting. In this respect, it is significant to recall that the Supreme Court had ordered that since the tenure of this executive had expired (since 2015) prior to the Supreme Court Ruling, NEC should constitute an independent electoral body that will publish rules and regulations and a Delegate List for 21 days prior to conducting the election of National Officers that will replace the current executive. Team JOB now calls on all true SLPP members and supporters to enforce this decision of the Supreme Court and ensure that it is complied with in its entirety immediately. Furthermore everyone should resolve that we only carryout the order of the appeal court in doing the Constituency and District executive elections as ordered in respect of those nullified on the 26th November 2016 and 3rd December 2016 respectively. We refuse to be drawn into illegality that a handful of members are determined to promote in total disregard for the SLPP Constitution and the tenets of the rule of law.
Finally, we call on SLPP stakeholders and NEC members to henceforth boycott any meetings called by the Somanoh Kapen led executive as their tenure expired nearly two years ago, and therefore have no mandate to convene a NEC meeting. Even though our constitution requires that a Party Conference be held at least once every year for the executive to report on status of programs approved by the last Party Conference as well as present decisions taken by NEC during the year for ratification, this executive has not organized one Party Conference in the last four years.
We should stop giving honour to an Executive that has consistently shown disrespect for our Constitution.
One Country! One People!
By Team JOB Media and Publicity Arm.
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Newspaper in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
