By Septimus Senessie
The governing All People's Congress candidate for chairman of the Kono District Council eastern Sierra Leone has been disqualified. Dr. Komba Mbawa, who won the party primaries by beating off two challengers was said to have been disqualified by the party just a few days before his nomination to NEC.
According to the APC district Secretary General, Tamba Richard Fellie, Dr. Mbawa was disqualified by the party because he did not register to vote in the district, a precondition of the National Electoral Commission.
He said that the party detected this “after going through his records” and chose to disqualify him before NEC did. He said that Richard Koniga who served the outgoing council as Councillor and came second in the primaries was instead presented to NEC for nomination, and claimed that the disqualified Dr. Mbawa endorsed him.
However, Politico made several attempts to get the side of Dr. Mbawa through phone calls and SMS text messages but he declined to comment saying only that he was under “the secret oath” of his party. Over 2.6 million Sierra Leoneans go to the polls in November to elect a president, parliament and municipal and local council heads.
(c) Politico 04/10/12
