When issues of racism, nepotism or tribalism are unveiled in a public forum, it is a serious and grave cause for concern. The requirements of peaceful co-existence mandate that we should find strength in our diversity and that our communities must benefit from the variety of inputs and the myriad of backgrounds and socializations that imbues that diversity. However, a diverse and culturally self-assured organization does not happen by chance. It is the result of a willful effort by its membership to create a conducive environment so that their engagements at all levels combine to build that atmosphere of equality, openness and transparency. Such an open and fluid interaction amongst people of different backgrounds augurs well for the process of change and dynamism which makes for organically growing organizations.

His Ex cellency, Dr Ernest Bai Koroma has described the All People’s     Congress (APC) as the party of the ordinary man and woman. He made this declaration in his capacity as Leader and Chairman of the APC on the occasion of the home-coming of Alhaji Usman Boie Kamara and Alhaji Yayah Deen Kamara as well as hundreds of others at the APC Headquarters on Saturday 9th June.

One of the newest members of the All Peoples Congress (APC), the former flagbearer aspirant of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP), Alhaji Usman Boie Kamara (UBK) has said in APC headquarters in Freetown that President Ernest Koroma’s APC is Noah’s Ark. UBK made this analogy while delivering an address of his official declaration as member of the APC.

President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma today kick started the epoch making conference on Transformation and Development at the Miatta Conference centre in Freetown. The conference is attended by a wide representation of the Sierra Leone community and despite opposition castigation it is a political party affair the conference is has attracted many Sierra Leoneans.

Adressing the conference, President Koroma reiterates his belief in peoples participation and fundmental to the progress of the country. Read the President's speech below:

As investigation continues into the incidence of alleged assault and kidnapping with the intention to commit ritual murder by operatives of the SLPP including the recently elected local councilor of Ward 369 Mohamed Kanu Mansaray, the victim, the ‘okada’ rider Mohamed Koroma, has turned out to be the third son of the APC Moyamba district chairlady opening further loopholes whether the incident is not a calculated ploy by the opposition SLPP to further perpetuate political violence against members of the APC and their family members.

Sierra Leoneans would recall the electoral malpractice that was perpetrated by then ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) in Kailahun Court ‘Barray’ during the 2007 Presidential run-off election which warranted the National Electoral Commission (NEC) to cancel the results in addition to other places where vote rigging was proved beyond all reasonable doubt.

With this in mind, when I was called upon by the organizers of a recent programme facilitated by the President Koroma APC-led government through Paramount Chief Al-Amin Kanneh of Baoma Koya chiefdom and Ahmed Sesay –Secretary General of ECOPOD to provide levels of assistance to surviving families of late victims killed in a gruesome road accident along the Kenema-Kailahun road, I was eager to accompany them so as to gauge the changing political dynamics.