December 11, 2017 By Joseph S. Margai
CDP’s Youth Leader Ibrahim S. Sesay (left) and Organising Secretary Julius Donnie (right)
As the country prepares for the March 7, 2018 multitier elections, national executives of the Citizens Democratic Party (CDP) have denounced the inclusion of the party into a coalition by their chairman and leader.
Four national executive members of CDP have threatened to take court action against their chairman and leader, Gibril Thullah, for including the party in a coalition with four political parties.
Premier News published on its front page on Monday, 4th December that, “Four Political Parties to Form Coalition”, quoting Gibril Thullah, Chairman and Leader of CDP, who also doubles as the Public Relations Officer of the Citizens Democratic Coalition. Mr. Thullah was also quoted to have said that his party had merged with three others to form the Citizens Democratic Coalition.
But CDP’s National Organising Secretary, Julius Donnie, has denounced the decision of their chairman and leader and secretary-general to join forces with three other political parties as illegal, adding that they were against the decision. Donnie also threatened to stop both men from entering the party’s offices on Black Hall Road, Kissy, in Freetown, if they insist on joining the said coalition.
“We have already written a letter to the Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC) in order to register our concern. We have informed the Commission that the chairman and secretary-general did not follow due democratic process as agreed on the 26th October, 2017 Executive Council Meeting in Bo District, Southern Sierra Leone,” said Donnie.
Also, CDP’s National Youth Leader, Ibrahim S. Sesay, said they should be busy canvassing support in preparation for the general elections in 2018 instead of fighting to form a coalition.
“We would have accepted the decision of the two national executives if they would have followed due process. But they wanted to show that they are the only people in the party, which is very wrong. We have always been in the party’s office in Freetown while all of them were busy doing something else. We will never allow them to mislead us because we have a vision and a mission, which is to win the 2018 election,” he said.