The Political Parties Regulation Commission (PPRC) has imposed a NLe120,000 fine on the All Peoples Congress (APC) for inflammatory statements the commission said constituted a violation of Section 39(1)(d) of the Political Parties Act of 2022.
According to a statement released on Monday, the sanction follows remarks made over the weekend by Hon. Lahai Marrah, the APC Falaba district chairman, during a civic engagement organized by the Tripartite Steering Committee Secretariat at the district council hall in Falaba.
The PPRC described Hon. Marrah’s comments as “incendiary and inciting,” noting that they contravened strict legal prohibitions on the use of violence or threats against the peace and stability of the country.
Hon. Marrah is reported to have said that the APC would ‘resist both the military and the police in the next general elections.’
A portion of Marrah’s remarks that have been widely shared on social media reads: “The next election will not be conducted like the 2023 elections. We are ready to fight it; we are ready to resist it; and we are very determined…we [APC] have the capacity to resist the military; we have the capacity to resist the police; and we are ready to do it.”
The move by PPRC came just weeks after a coalition of civil society groups issued a warning to both the APC and the ruling SLPP, cautioning them against the dangers of ‘wanting to politicise the military’ and ‘reigniting national divisions’ in a nation still recovering from the civil war.
Their warning follows inflammatory statements earlier made by the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) chairman, Jimmy Batilo Songa, who suggested potential military action against the APC, to which the opposition whip, Abdul Karim Kamara, reacted with remarks that were interpreted as invoking post-election conflict.
The APC has been given 14 days to pay the fine.
