By Hassan Gbassay Koroma
Executive Secretary, Peace and National Cohesion Commission, Hawa Sally Samai, has disclosed that the international community, including the Commonwealth, Africa Union and ECOWAS have agreed to mediate between the government and the county’s main opposition All People’s Congress,APC.
She made the disclosure at the Ministry of Information and Civic Education weekly press briefing in Freetown.
The executive secretary said the APC has told the Commission that, they don’t have issues with the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP), but their problem is with the Government of Sierra Leone.
She said the responsibility of the Commission is to ensure that every Sierra Leonean enjoys peace and cohesion, stating that even before the elections they engaged all political parties to ensure that the elections were conducted peacefully.
She recalled that after the elections, the APC party was not satisfied with the outcome and as a commission, they engaged both political parties and in their engagement, they encouraged the winning side to engage in a dialogue and start sending out peace messages.
She further stated that when they engaged the APC Party, the executive expressed willingness to sit and dialogue with the Government, but that International Community should be part of the dialogue.
She informed the press that, the commission had communicated APC’s demand with President Julius Maada Bio, who has agreed to sit with the APC to address the political tension in the country and has also agreed for the International Community to be part of mediation.
She also stated that the Commission had contacted the Commonwealth, the Africa Union and ECOWAS and that the trio institutions had expressed willingness to be part of the mediation process any time they are called upon.
She called on every Sierra Leoneans to keep the peace and reframe from sharing hate massages on social media and maintain the country’s position as the third most peaceful country on the Global Peace Index.
After the country’s June 24 general elections in which the incumbent of the SLPP Party President Julius Maada Bio was declared winner with 56%, the main opposition APC expressed dissatisfaction over the process and decided to boycott all governance activities.
