By Ibrahim Kabba Turay
Interim Chairman of the Coalition for Change (C4C) party, Dr. Alieu Mohamed Iscandar, has told Concord Times that their party is currently in preparation for their upcoming delegates’ conference.
He said although the C4C party is currently faced with some challenges with court action against the former national executive of the party, but that they were putting things together for the upcoming conference.
Dr. Iscandar boasted that despite their challenges they are the third largest political party in Sierra Leone with eight members of parliament.
He said they understand their underdog status in the political realm of Sierra Leone, but that they need to speak to the people of the country to understand their vision, adding that last year few people tried to high-jack the party and claimed that the C4C is a Kono party.
He added that in the 2018 general elections, the party garnered three and a half percent (3.5%) of the total votes cast, thereby winning a grand total of eight (8) parliamentary seats.
He said that percentage and parliamentary seats were achieved within a period of three months to election, noting that now that they have six months to the 2023 general they will have more seats and a better percentage.
He reiterated that they were still catapulting to the lofty position of being the third largest political party in the country by parliamentary representation, a significant achievement which denies the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) and the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) from gaining a solid majority in the Well of Parliament.
He said when they formed C4C in the diaspora their vision was not to limit its membership to only one area in the country, but to bring it closer to the people of Sierra Leone and for the party to be known in every part of Sierra Leone.
He said most of them that are founding members of C4C are completely out of the country, noting that with the correct status of the party, those founding members have come together again to put in structures for the upcoming 2023 general elections.
He also added that they were taking steps and putting structures together to bringing C4C as a national party than a localised district level political party, adding that when they contested the last election they came together within three month to election.
“The Coalition for Change Party, since its establishment, stood for peace and unity and therefore the party’s activities are in full operation in oneness as the party yearns to capitalize on the democratic gains the nation had scored since the end of the civil war in 2002,” he said.
Dr. Iscandar said they would contest the 2023 general elections, but that they were still looking for a leader that will lead the party to the upcoming elections.
He noted he didn’t know who their leader would be but assured that they will fully participate in the June 2023 elections.
He said the erstwhile leader of the C4C, Alhaji Chief Sam Sumana, was a sympathy candidate after he was embarrassed by former President Koroma, and that the founding members decided to choose him as their leader in the 2018 election.
He said Sam Sumana had communicated with the general membership in 2019 of his resignation from the C4C.
He further said that C4C is facing a serious division at the moment but that they will try and settle whatever problem they have for the upcoming election.
He added that Sam Sumana on his way out of the C4C party, made the APC believes that the C4C is a Kono party and when he moved out he was going to come along with every member of the C4C party back to the APC.
“Sam Sumana fails to realize that the brains behind the C4C party are much bigger and smarter than him,” he said.
He said they have requested an order from the court to conduct their lower level elections, and that as soon as they grant their request they will commence their lower level elections.
