STANDARD VOICE An Appeal To Sierra Leoneans.....Violence is Not The Answer Lets Stop Now! Posted by on Sep 2, 2007, 07:07

Sierra Leoneans need to be persistently reminded that following the 11th August 2007 elections, the people of this nation as well as the National Electoral Commission were praised for conducting peaceful, free and fair elections.

The general assessment of the electoral process was generally graded as credible.  There were praises that came from virtually every member of the elections monitoring groups, including the local observers and the International Community.

In the views of the editorial team of the Standard Times, Sierra Leoneans must now do every thing possible to maintain the praises heaped on the people of this nation for a peaceful election.

As a media house we are not only appealing to our compatriots to behave themselves like they did in the August 11th polls but to even endeavour to further win the hearts of the world over by conducting ourselves better.

We will not relent in this task of admonishing countrymen and women as we must prove to the world that our dark days are over and ready to forge ahead as a nation in a very united and determined manner, at least this notion which is now permeating the international community must be maintained and not thrown to dogs for them to drag it to the dust bin. 

While we are  working in this direction, we were shocked to have got several calls from peace loving Sierra Leoneans  informing  us that violence has erupted between the supporters of the All Peoples Congress Party and those of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party in the Southeastern part of the country.

Inspite of the fact that the causes of violence must be investigated and the truth established immediately, we at standard times condemn violence in totality.  Again, leaders of the different political parties must be able to contain their supporters so that the peace we are nurturing would be allowed to gain firmer root and grow.

We wish to reiterate that violence in any form and from any quarters must be crushed at its embryonic stage.  We must all be interested in seeming a peaceful conclusion of the electioneering process. Our position on the electoral process is that it should not be seen as an opportunity to perpetrate violence. 

Our attention has however been drawn to the presence and direct involvement of former National Provisional Ruling Council members and ex-combatants in the political parties.

For all that has been observed, is that they have not shelved off their Kailondo attitude up to this day.

The attention of the Sierra Leone Police Force and all international observers are particularly drawn to keep watchful eyes on those failed NPRC boys.  The police must henceforth know that this nation will hold them accountable if they allow those former Khaki boys to turn our peace topsy-turvy.

One would naturally wonder what they hope to achieve by the seeming madness and thirst they are exhibiting for political power.  After all, this whole nation is aware of the fact that those NPRC folks were given the opportunity to rule. Rather than doing so, they resorted to fighting one another until the civil populace found it necessary to throw them away.

The police and office of the National Security must ensure that the ex-fighters of the then NPRC are not allowed to draw this nation into another catastrophe.  This must be the concern of all Sierra Leoneans.