A crowd of legal and eligible members of the Sierra Leone People’s Party in the East Rural District, earlier today stormed their party’s headquarters, at Wallace Johnson Street in Freetown, to protest a directive from the party’s national secretariat that results of fraud zonal elections in ERD be upheld despite a recent ruling from the Political Parties’ Registration Commission (PPRC) instructing a rerun of the said elections.
The PPRC, in a press release dated 14 March, 2025, ruled that zonal elections conducted on 8 February, 2025; in both constituencies 106 and 108 in the ERD were cloaked in irregularities and therefore instructed a rerun in the said constituencies.
This is after the Commission’s findings relative to complaints made to them by aggrieved gazetted zonal executives in the ERD of being refused the right to participate in the elections.
Straying from this ruling, the SLPP national secretariat on 20 March, 2025, stated in a directive to its party members in the ERD that “the PPRC recommends a re-run of zonal elections in these two constituencies (106 and 105). The party takes due note of this recommendation. Therefore, the national secretariat upholds the zonal executive lists submitted by the district chairman.”
The national secretariat also omitted the two constituencies in its recent rerun elections timetable.
This action has provoked outrage from affected members, indicating a sad precedent, and an affront to the very constitution that established the mandate of PPRC.
Section 34 (5) of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone notes that “the Commission shall not be subject to the direction or control of any person or authority except in the circumstance where political parties are aggrieved with a decision of the Commission. In such a case, the party concerned may appeal to the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone and the decision of the Court shall be final.”
During an interview with one of the protesters, Cecila Kargbo stated that the decision of the national secretariat has only affected them, and not other districts and constituencies the PPRC had instructed a rerun for nationally.
Protesters accused the SLPP Western Regional Chairman Hon. Manso Dumbuya, SLPP National Secretary General, Umaru Napoleon Koroma, National Chairman; Dr. Prince Harding of being part of a conclave geared toward disenfranchising them.
Cecilia Kargbo appealed for the immediate intervention of the leader of the party, His Excellency Rtd. Brig. President Julius Maada Bio.
Addressing the aggrieved protesters, the Chairman of the SLPP Elders’ Council and one of the party’s oldest members who was present during the protest, Rev. Hindolo SBK Butcher averred the party will comply with the PPRC directive and if anyone says they will not comply it means they do not want the SLPP.
“Nobody will tell me you are APC. What you did here today is out of true love for the party. It is in the interest of the SLPP,” he asserted.
He assured them their cries will reach the leadership of the party.
“I will convey your messages. Waterloo is the entrance of politics in this country. If we sit now and allow wrong decisions be made there, it will affect our gains in 2028 elections.”
SLPP lower level elections in the ERD have been marred with electoral malpractices and fraud.
Zonal elections had been hijacked and conducted in hideous places including private residencies.
Protests have been staged. Complaints have been lodged by over 400 gazetted zonal executives who have been denied the right to participate in the elections.
The SLPP ERD Chairman, Dr. Eldred Taylor has been accused of tampering with the electioneering process in an effort to disenfranchise those considered threats to his reelection.
Constitutionality has been banded with, laws violated. No publication of voters’ list. Everything has been surreptitiously shrouded in secrecy.
And while the ERD remains an embattled ground for the governing SLPP, key members and supporters are now threatening that if the right steps are not taken to install sanity and protect their democratic rights, the party risks their participation in anything SLPP moving forward.
