By Sahr Musa Yamba and Lans Omar.
Winnipeg (Canada) police officers had to intervene Sunday March 18th to quell heated confrontations among some members of the Sierra Leone National Association of Manitoba (SALNAM) at the Acomi office at 471 Kennedy Street in Winnipeg.
Many have described the incident as unfortunate and just a replica of the disunity of Sierra Leoneans back home.
What was scheduled to be a nomination for the ushering into office of a new executive, turned into a fiasco.
The newly appointed Electoral Commissioner, Anthony Kamara, chaired the meeting after the resignation of the former Commissioner, Muckson Sesay, for reasons that are still mysterious.
Anthony spearheads the current five-man electoral commission including, Abbas Kamara, G. Koroma, Abdul Kanu and Randolph Gorvie.
The trouble that day snowballed from nothing to everything including gender equality in the electoral commission, payment of dues and registration deadline.
It also has to do with the president of SALNAM, Alex Bockarie, hinting on a very sensitive issue in the Sierra Leonean community, namely, the alleged misappropriation of 4000 dollars by Bockarie.
In the midst of all this confusion, almost everyone in the tiny office was quiet and listened to Bockarie. He reacted in a very calm voice: “SALNAM doesn’t have that kind of money so how can I steal funds that were never there?, he asked.
As he was finishing his statement, another war of words erupted between some other people who were confronting one another.
The trouble started when the Electoral Commissioner began his opening speech.
Sally Wai, a member, questioned the selection of the people in charge of things. She queried the absence of females in the electoral commission.
In a very calm tone, SALNAM’s Secretary General Sylvanus Otterbein addressed the issue by saying, “we’ve contacted her (Sally) about two times in the past but to no avail.”
“You guys only got in touch with me during Folkorama because you wanted some favours from me,” Wai replied.
Zainab Fergusson, another member, then became furious. She retorted: “Most of you folks came to the country because of SALNAM and we’re the people that have laid the foundation.” Another young lady quickly fired back at Fergusson with angry remarks.
Former Electoral Commissioner Muckson Sesay and SALNAM’S co-founder member Foday Kamara then halted the fierce exchange of words. In a short speech, Sesay asked the people to come together and become a united front. He said: “ Please,this is nominations time, let’s proceed if need be.”
The meeting however ended with no nomination for any position as the ruckus continued. The process was postponed indefinitely to another date to be announced by the Electoral Commissioner.
Meanwhile, a statement on the SALNAM website on the unfortunate turn of events reads thus:
“Following the pandemonium and chaos during SALNAM’s election nomination meeting last Sunday March 18,2007,at the Acomi Resource Centre, 421 Kennedy Street, the executive of Salnam would like to inform all Sierra Leoneans that SALNAM’s advisory body and the Electoral Commissioner would hang heads this weekend and chart the way forward for our community.Please check this site for further information. Thanks."
Photo: Drummers at the ACOMI centre in Winnipeg, Canada.
Photo credit: African Communities of Manitoba Inc.
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