News Story

FREETOWN: NEW PEOPLE CORRESPONDENT: A war of words is racheting up among PMDC leadership ranks again as the National publicity secretary of the Peoples Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC), Mr. Mohamed Bangura, has threatened to resign if the party’s leader, Charles Francis Margai, refuses to withdraw claims of tribalism he recently made against the All Peoples Congress (APC) in Kenema.
Mohamed Bangura’s threat to resign was apparently prompted by Margai’s statement that the PMDC fought against the Sierra Leone Peoples Party government because of the suppression meted out to Sierra Leoneans but regretted to say APC was tribalistic.

“And we supported the APC in the run-off election so that they can put an end to tribalism. I regret to inform you that we have not achieved that goal yet. It seems tribalism has now raised its ugly head in our society. If you are not from the north you have no credentials for appointments,” Margai is reported to have told party supporters in the eastern province.

Sources close to Mohamed Bangura suggest that his leader’s statement could put a knife to that which has held executive members of the party together for the past years. Bangura is reported to have demanded the leader to justify his statement as the PMDC is made up of members from different tribes in the country drawn from across the country.

Without this justification, the mouthpiece of the party, Bangura, has threatened to resign his position.

A senior official within the party who prefers anonymity told this paper that the party was aware of the tribalism being practiced by the ruling government. “we are not pleased with the way the APC is running the country. We didn’t agree to make it public but rather sit with the government and sort it out quietly,” he said.

He noted that SLPP should be shouting about it and not the PMDC. He also revealed that the APC’s tribalism phenomenon has spilled bad blood between the APC and the PMDC.

He revealed that members of the party in the diasporas are not pleased with Margai for making such statements after his praise singing for President Ernest Bai Koroma at the presidential debate ahead of the presidential and parliamentary election in 2007.

Meanwhile, efforts to reach both Bangura and Margai proved futile as they are out of the country. However, this reporter visited the party’s headquarters on Hannah Benker-Coker Street but could not get party executives to comment. What is certain is the fact that a meeting has been slated for the second week of May to settle the matter amicably.