Opposition parties in Sierra Leone accuse PPRC of creating division among political parties

 

The Consortium of Progressive Political Parties (COPPP) , which comprises of 13 political parties in Sierra Leone including the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC), has accused the Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC) of creating division among political parties in the country.

Wadi Williams, who is the Chairman and Leader of the National Progressive Democrats Party (NPD), said the mandate of PPRC is not only to register political parties, but to also oversee inter and intra political party issues, and ensures that all political parties cooperate and interact in a constructive manner.

“But one thing that the PPRC did not do is to help the 17 political parties to function within a multi-party democracy. And this is the problem, we have a constitutionally mandated institution which is supposed to be neutral to all the political parties, but PPRC went ahead to select and fund three political parties with the aim to attack the 13 political parties that made up of the consortium,” he said.

He said the PPRC seems to have excluded them from effective participation in the governance system of the country, stating that the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) has been able to insert their paid-up members into key positions at the PPRC and the National Electoral Commission (NEC), as part of their policy to take control of the system of governance.

He said the PPRC and NEC are key institutions that will determine the outcome of the next election, hence the SLPP has succeeded in placing their people to head those institutions.