By Abubakarr Bah
The expelled member of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Mohamed Pateh Bah has told reporters in Freetown that the involvement of seven registered political parties into the NDA impasse was “unjustifiable and an attempt to undermine the democratic credentials of Sierra Leone.” He described the support of the Concerned Political Parties to NDA’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Wurie Musidal Jalloh as “politically motivated and lacks basis in law.”
The onetime contender for the leadership of the NDA, who dragged the party to court in which it is still embroiled, said that he was amazed by the level of involvement of especially the legal luminary and leader of the People's Movement for Democratic Change, Charles Francis Margai, whom he descrbed as a front runner in a coalition that was aimed at robbing him of his rights.
According to him, what happened to Margai at the Sierra Leone People's Party convention in 2005 was similar to what had occurred in the NDA, noting that if Margai was not cheated in that convention he would have been the President of Sierra Leone.
He pointed out that it was sad that Margai would be a forerunner for “illegality and unconstitutionality in the NDA”.
Bah said that he would have welcomed the involvement of the seven political parties into their internal impasse if it was about ensuring a fair and speedy proceeding, adding that he would not succumb to any group or coalition which erroneously favours one side against the other. He said that he was “extremely bemused over the concerned political parties that flexed their muscles about their commitment to Human Rights and Civil liberties now seem to be the charging horses on such a matter”.
He vowed that he would press on with the matter until his rights were recognized by the party. He argued that his expulsion was not only illegal but politically motivated to prevent him from contesting as the leader and subsequently bcoming the President of Sierra Leone. He said the current NDA executive was illegal as its mandate had expired in 2009, and the manner in which Musidal Jalloh was elected was also unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, Dr. Kandeh Baba Conteh, leader of the People's Liberation Party, who doubles as chairman of the coalition against Pateh Bah, told Politico last night that they were not bias but were only concerned about morality. He said that before the NDA convention, the party executive had accused Pateh Bah of being a surrogate of the ruling APC and “he was also reported of disrupting the Party’s activities.”
Dr. Conteh said the concerned political parties had nothing against Pateh, but were concerned about “traditionalism and morality.” He said since the NDA was formed in the 90s, it had survived as a party contesting all elections in Sierra Leone. He pointed out that “it is unfair for a new member that had joined the party in less than two months to file a High Court injunction that would prevent the NDA from contesting the Presidential elections in 2012.”
He called on Pateh Bah to see reasons and withdraw the matter from court while an amicable solution was employed.
