PRESS STATEMENT
28 March, 2023
The LEAGUE OF DEMOCRACY ADVOCATES (LODA) is a registered organization incorporated under the national laws of Sierra Leone for legitimate operations. This organization is comprised of Human Rights Lawyers, Democracy Defenders, Human /Civil Rights Advocates and Professionals from all facets of life. One of its many mandates is to advocate for the Rule of Law, Human Rights and its due process.
A video has reached the desk of our organisation showing one of the Mayoral aspirants (Mohamed Gento Kamara) of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) for the 24th June, 2023 elections in which he made, in a Mosque, utterances of tribal and religious character to win him votes, contrary to the democratic beliefs and credentials of Sierra Leone’s democracy. LoDA unconditionally condemning such religious and tribalistic statements exhibited by Mohamed Gento Kamara, as they have the proclivity to incite tribalism and religious intolerance.
In another video, the First Lady of the Republic of Sierra Leone is showed making utterances deemed to be a political incitement to the people of Pujehun, calling out indigenes to strongly prevent the APC from establishing an office in their home town (Pujuhun). This is considered to be an outright fundamental violation of the National Constitution and other international treaties that Sierra Leone is signatory to, and such utterances have the potency to ignite political violence, as well as regional and tribal intolerance. In respect of this, LoDA condemns the actions of the First Lady and is calling on her to make public a withdrawal statement in respect of that statement.
LoDA also received and examined another video showing President Bio in Kailahun making statements that the security personnel cannot protect the votes of the electorates, and therefore, called on the people to protect their votes collectively or individually. This is considered to be a demoralization of our Security forces, and an appeal for a standby for violence from the people. With this, LoDA also unconditionally condemns the statement from the Presidency, as they equally have the potency to ignite violence on elections day, and to resist lawful order from security forces and designated officials, who will be assigned to carry out legitimate functions on elections day.
All of the above three videos, received and examined by LoDA, are against the principles of good governance and liberal democracy. Sierra Leone is a religious tolerant and none discriminatory country that has enjoyed the benefits of this tolerance for far too long, with intermarriages between people from both religious faiths being a regular occurrence. Both Muslims and Christians are frequent the places of worship of each other, and celebrate religious holidays together. The existence of an Inter-Religious Council speaks volume of this tolerance.
LoDA is of the view that tribal and religious sentiments should not be exploited by politicians to win votes, as it will be an attempt to put a knife to the things that have held us together. LoDA wishes to implore leaders of political parties to admonish their members to desist from such actions that have the potential to further divide the nation as well as sow the seed of hatred among citizens, and could lead to greater catastrophe never experienced before in this nation. Political leaders are advised to refrain from using inflammatory statements that could result in incitement.
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IBRAHIM SORIE DUMBUYA
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
