Vetting Of Appointees Will Not Be Credible

• I.B Kargbo Avers

By Hassan Y Koroma

The All People’s Congress (APC) strongman, Hon. Ibrahim Ben Kargbo, has raised concerns over how the appointees of the President will be approved by Parliament, when taking into consideration that the House is solely constituted by SLPP MPs. This, he furthered, brings into question the credibility of the vetting system in Parliament.

 

Hon. I.B Kargbo maintained that those appointees will have to face Parliament for approval and that if the APC does not participate, it would only be SLPP MPs who will vet them, as a result, the process will not be credible. He furthered that the implication is that the appointees are appointed by an SLPP Executive and vetted by a solely SLPP constituted Parliament with no other party in the House, adding that International Parliaments would not accept a one sided Parliament.

 

The APC former Member of Parliament explained to newsmen in a press briefing at his Pultney Street office in Freetown that the country was in crisis, principally because a number of people including the APC refused to accept the outcome of the elections.

Hon. IB continued that as senior citizens, this is worrisome, adding that many of the countries that are crisis in Africa currently are as a result of electoral problems that had exploded into crisis and now they have civil wars, stressing that they do not want Sierra Leone to go down that path.

 

He also lamented that their pleas for a free and transparent electoral process was not heeded, and today the country is in this state, and accused state actors of complicity in the entire process, and furthered that a new set of people should now surface to settle the current standoff, as anybody who had taken sides will not be a credible broker.

He noted that the Peace Commission would not perform because it was not the creation of the citizenry, adding that journalists have a role to play to return the country to normalcy by disseminating credible and non-partisan information.

“I’m worried what’s going to happen the moment that Parliament convenes, and there is no other party except the SLPP. The country would revert to one party system, which is unacceptable in the new international arrangements”, Hon. I.B. Kargbo said.

 

He stressed that the international community would not accept a one Party system, as it was against the new architecture of modern day governance, and that the people were now knowledgeable now than before, citing the new media as an example of global development.

According to him, if the current situation is not addressed the country will be facing a crisis, where the involvement of the people in politics is jeopardised, adding that despite the acceptance by the Chiefs, the people may still not accept the leaders.

He concluded that the APC is a big political party and has refused to accept the results of the elections, adding that the implications are many, including with our international partners.