Commentary

Violence reportedly broke out inside the governing Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) office in Kenema at the weekend during the welcoming ceremony of the newly approved Commissioner-General of National Revenue Authority (NRA), Ibrahim Brima Swarray, a native of the city, amidst pomp and pageantry.

According to unconfirmed reports, the SLPP Chairman, Moriba Koroma aka Agbao and his able lieutenants arrived at the party office when the place was overcrowded and consequently, they would not allow them to go into the hall because of limited accommodation. It was their refusal to entire the hall that culminated in the eruption of violence in the party office as the SLPP Chairman’s bodyguards allegedly attacked and pelted stones at the crowd and the roof of the party office. Many people reportedly sustained injuries as a result of the incident, including a popular Blogger, Fofana-Fofana.

By and large, the reported violence in the SLPP office in Kenema is unacceptable and totally incomprehensible as it is against the principles of the SLPP and any democratic society. That the SLPP has a District Chairman who would stoop so low to replicate the uncouth thuggery days of the All People’s Congress (APC) party in the late 60s, 70s and 80s is very disgraceful and embarrassing, especially for a party whose foundation was solidly built on elitism, morality, integrity and civilization in order to challenge the Creole dominance in politics in the then Colony.

If Agbao was a truly responsible party district chairman, he would have arrived at the party office in time to welcome their brother who had just been approved by Parliament as the new NRA Commissioner-General. But the fact that he arrived late at the party office with his thugs and there was absolute mayhem where everyone tried to get out of the party office at once gives a gloomy picture of the party’s character which is unacceptable. \But if at all the district chairman was not officially invited to the occasion but he probably decided to attend for the sake of the party, then the organizers would be held responsible for the ugly incident at the party office and also being very disrespectful to him..

We believe partisan responsibilities should not be entrusted to indecent, lawless people who do not respect the rights of others. We therefore hope the appropriate authorities will take stringent action against those who perpetrated the mayhem to ensure justice is done as such violence can send the wrong signal about the true character of this elitist party called SLPP.