By Mustapha Sesay
Delegates of the governing All People Congress (APC) party are meeting today in an emergency conference to examine the expulsion of some of its members, the party’s deputy national publicity secretary I, Cornelius Deveaux said on Wednesday.
According the publicity secretary, the conference will also look into the expulsion of Samuel Sam-Sumana which came a few weeks before his sacking as vice president by President Ernest Bai Koroma in March.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that Sam-Sumana has appealed to return to the party, something the APC Constitution provides for.
The conference will take place at the Bintumani hotel in the capital Freetown and it has been rumoured that the President who is the national chairman and leader of the party will use the emergency gathering to address the sacking of his vice president that has sparked enormous controversy since it happened last month.
It is believed that Sam-Sumana’s sacking has brought division in the leadership of the party.
However, Deveaux, who spoke to Politico in a telephone interview late Wednesday, dismissed the rumour, remarking that there was no division within their party and that the conference would mainly focus on appeals by some members the party’s highest decision making body National Advisory Council had expelled together with Sam-Sumana.
Deveaux also said that the conference would discuss strategies for post-Ebola era, but there would be “no vote for executive positions or discussion of the party’s leadership succession.”
The APC publicity secretary explained that they were expecting one third of their delegates across the country at the conference and that President Koroma would be there as National Chairman and Leader of the party.
“There will be no drumming, dancing and procession,”
When asked whether the party would reinstate the sacked vice president if they found out that his expulsion was wrong, Deveaux answered “When we get to that bridge we will cross it.”
© Politico 30/04/15
