FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
COMMITTEE TO ELECT HINGA NORMAN
RE: ENDORSEMENT OF MR. BEREWA BY CHIEF HINGA NORMAN
The Committee to Elect Sam Hinga Norman wishes to inform the public at home and abroad that recent statements in the local and international press attributed to Vice President Solomon Berewa regarding the endorsement by Chief Hinga Norman of Mr. Berewa for President of Sierra Leone in the forthcoming General Elections are absolutely and categorically false and without any merit whatsoever. There have been no direct or indirect discussions between the Committee to Elect Hinga Norman and Mr. Berewa or any one representing the Vice President and Chief Norman for the purpose of endorsing Mr. Berewa.
While Chief Norman has made it very clear to his supporters - in particular, members of the Kamajor Movement - that he has no intention of leaving the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and that his supporters should not join any other political party, there are no plans now or in the future for Mr, Norman to support, collaborate with or in any way endorse the candidacy of Mr. Berewa in the forthcoming 2007 elections. Chief Norman, however, wishes it to be known that he is still a Chief Grand Patron in good standing of the SLPP and as such has no intention of doing anything that will damage the party.
Notwithstanding, Chief Norman is still fully convinced that the election, selection, appointment or by whatever means of Mr. Berewa as Party Leader while at the self-same time holding the office of Vice President of Sierra Leone is in violation of Sections 35(4) and 76(1)(h) of the Sierra Leone Constitution as well as Section 14(1) of the Political Parties Act. The Committee to Elect Norman firmly believes that the Supreme Court will rule on this matter in the next few weeks on the basis of law and without fear or favour. As such all supporters are kindly advised to give the rule of law their full support to take effect.
The full text of Mr. Norman’s statement entitled: EXHORTATION TO KAMAJORS issued to Members of the Kamajor Movement as well as a cross section of the party and general community is appended to this release for public information purposes. The public is advised not to make any inferences or conclusions of a contrary nature from signed statement below with respect to endorsement of any candidates in the forthcoming general Elections. Questions regarding the attached statement should be addressed to Dr. Bubuakei Jabbi, Legal Counsel and Political Adviser, Committee to Elect Hinga Norman.
Kind Regards,
Alfred M. SamForay,
Committee to Elect Hinga Norman
EXHORTATION TO KAMAJORS
BY CHIEF SAMUEL HINGA NORMAN
1. I have been a MEMBER of the SIERRA LEONE PEOPLES PARTY (SLPP) since 1972, and up until today I still am. And a fully paid-up Grand Chief Patron at that for several years now.
2. I have suffered immensely in my time, in one way or another, for the SLPP. I was charged with treason and sentenced to death in the early years of APC power for allegedly participating in activities in support of the SLPP during the crisis years of 1966 to 1972. I spent a total of four (4) years in prison before my release on winning my appeal; and nearly another two (2) years’ detention in solitary confinement (1974 to 1975).
3. And when the SLPP government was overthrown in May 1997 after only fourteen (14) months in office, President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah fled into exile and made a passionate plea to the people of Sierra Leone to do everything in their power to restore his government back to power. You and many others, including my humble self even as his Deputy Minister of Defence, eagerly took to the bush for several months and finally succeeded in bringing back the President and his government in March 1998, a job we selflessly did without any prior conditions of remuneration or other reward.
4. The government subsequently made an agreement with the United Nations to establish a Special Court for Sierra Leone. And today, three of us who were among the most instrumental in securing that restoration are standing trial before that Court right in the heart of Freetown, where we have been detained for over three (3) years now, all in proxy for your own alleged activities during the war.
5. Neither the Party (SLPP - Palm Tree) nor you as its members are responsible for what is happening to me and my two colleagues. The Party, as a party, has not done anything to hurt me. And so I will never take any action against the Party or anyone who has not hurt me. Our reward lies in the bosom and contemplation of the Lord Allah, and will surely come one day.
6. You may be aware that I have taken two judicial actions in recent months in respect of the Party, one of which is still pending in the Supreme Court. Time will tell that both actions were taken for the protection of the Party itself, so that other political parties do not invoke the national Constitution against it at an inauspicious moment to the detriment of the Party, especially considering its twenty-nine (29) years in the political wilderness from 1967 to 1996. After the Supreme Court decision, hopefully in the next few weeks, you will hear again from me as a matter of URGENCY.
7. Until then, PLEASE, in the name of God and the dear lives that were lost in the defence of our country and our Party, I repeat PLEASE, DO NOT JOIN ANY OTHER POLITICAL PARTY (new or old) for the purposes of the next general elections.
8. WAIT ! BE PATIENT AND STEADFAST !!
DATE: 26th August 2006.
Photo: Chief Samuel Hinga Norman.
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