August 27, 2015 By Victoria Saffa
Chairman of a peace committee created to foster peace and unity within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) says the party needs sanity and stability to move forward.
Alhaji Ahmed Jalloh was speaking to journalists at the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) head office in Freetown yesterday, 26 August.
The NDA party, which was plunged into internal wrangling after the sum of thirty- eight thousand United States dollars was given to the party by former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, is now finding ways to restore peace and harmony among its members.
Jalloh said the party is a state institution that had participated in the political struggle of Sierra Leone since 1995, albeit confronted by lots of internal and external challenges.
He said with individual and collective honest efforts the impossibilities of the NDA party would be made possible by achieving their objectives of national development.
“I have come as a leader of the Peacebuilding Committee within the NDA party, to sanitise, restructure and free the NDA party from political instability and isolation,” he told journalists.
Jalloh called on rival factions within the party to amicably resolve their grievances with forgiving spirit, adding “The struggles within the party must come to an end for the good of the party.”
According to Secretary-General Ms. Saa Mackaimekoe Famanda, the party believes in peace, and that they could only achieve their goals if they discontinued their infighting.
“This is why we are here and calling on our members to embrace peace for the furtherance of the party,” adding that the party was unable to present a candidate for the presidential election in 2012 due to infighting.
“As a party we know the other political parties that have ruled this country do not have the interest of moving this country forward, and that is why we are now calling on our members to end this internal fighting and embrace peace,” she said. “The leader of the Peacebuilding Committee is very much interested in bringing sanity to the party, but we know it is not an easy task. But despite this struggle we know the party has a future in the politics of Sierra Leone.”
She added that: “We know the party has not been gaining successes because there are people in the party who normally work against the interest of the party, but this is going to change this time round. Our internal problem will never be solved if the root cause is not addressed and dealt with. As a party we will not be able to contest the upcoming elections or do internal election if this situation continues and that is why we moving this process forward. We want our members to come back so that we will be able to forge ahead.”