COALITION FOR CHANGE [C4C] PARTY SL

RELIEF FOR C4C
11th August 2022

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Today, the Coalition for Change (C4C) party and particularly its National Executives, can breathe again, because on the 9th July, 2022, it secured an Order of Court for the discontinuance of a Court Action that had stifled party operations. The Coalition for Change (C4C) which was registered as a Political Party in November 2017 became a history making political party in the March 2018 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in the Country.

The party delivered eight men and women to the Parliament of Sierra Leone, including a woman, and all of whom were first timers. After these elections, the party operated smoothly for a period, but eventually became engulfed by infighting and an environment of chaos.

For a fledgling party, this disruption was to prove counterproductive, and stalled the progress that the party had made in its short existence. Many members after the 2018 elections became distracted with issues ranging from statutory compliance, anti-party activities and self-motivated political interests.

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C4C EXECS GAIN RELIEF
In August 2020, operatives operating under the umbrella of disgruntled members and/or sympathizers of the party sought an injunction to forestall the work of the National Executive and its agents, which was duly granted on the 7th of August, 2020.

In particular, the injunction was formally granted against the National Executives and its agents, which hindered the operations and smooth running of the party’s day-to-day activities and operations for a multitude of reasons.

Firstly, the grey areas in the Court Order made it quite challenging to fully understand the intent, and follow through accordingly, as the Judge had failed to define who exactly were the agents of the National Executive.

Why ban was challenging?
After the 2018 general elections in Sierra Leone, the Coalition for Change Party garnered three and a half percent (3.5%) of the total votes cast, thereby winning a grand total of eight (8) parliamentary seats.

Constituencies 023, 024, 025, 026, 027, 028, 029 and 030, all in the Kono District, fell to the C4C party, catapulting it to the lofty position of being the third largest political party in the country, by Parliamentary representation, a significant achievement indeed, which in the process denied the ruling SLPP and main opposition from gaining a solid majority in the Well of Parliament.

A total of 87,720 votes were cast for the party across the country and the party became a bonafide player in the body politick of Sierra Leone, with agents that included not just the 8 Members of Parliament (MPs), but additionally, it had a Mayor, councillors and other Chairpersons in key positions in the Kono District.

 

For all intents and purposes, the C4C party had full governance control over the Kono district, post the 2018 elections, which brought about a lot of attention from those who knew the power of control in the district.

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The agents injuncted was not clearly determined by the Judge in his Court Order, so it could have been interpreted that agents included, the Members of Parliament, the Mayor, the Councillors, and the various Chairpersons; all of whom it could be argued are indeed ‘agents’ of the National Executive, who had been pertinent in awarding and administering their party symbols that qualified them to enter into the various elections, and win under the C4C banner.

Without this clarification from the Judge, it was only left to the National Executives, and third-party stakeholders, such as the National Elections Commission (NEC), the Political Parties Regulatory Commission (PPRC), and other bodies who would normally interact with the National Executives and its agents, to decipher the answers, through dialogue with our lawyers, observation of the actions of said third-party actors, and indeed, the fourth estate.

In many instances, there was confusion as to who was being contacted for official
operations, and/or invited to official events, with further exasperations with administering electioneering processes, a parallel National Headquarters was established at a different location, and it was allowed to function without seeming hindrance from the regulators, which all added to the confusion, as the Judge’s Court Order had not prescribed or authorized the formation of any committee to administer the party affairs, akin to the Interim Transition Governing Committee (ITGC) that is currently administering the APC.

Maybe, the failure to establish an ITGC type body during the C4C injuncted period was an oversight, but it created and exacerbated the environment of confusion that prevailed during the two years the injunction was in place, and in one particular instance, it was clear that the MPs were not injuncted, because many state and political operators, such as NEC, administered official C4C business with a C4C MP, namely, Honourable Emmerson Lamina, who was authorized to field a candidate in a Bye-election, where the National Executive was denied the same opportunity because they were deemed injuncted.

C4C BREATHES AGAIN
The last seating on the case was in …. 2021, and this Order of Court for the discontinuance of the Court Action, giving the C4C National Executives relief, was duly granted on the 9th of July 2022.

This was made possible because the lack of clarity meant that leading up to this point, the Executives have been in constant dialogue with, the other party in this matter, the lawyers, the Judge, regulators such as the PPRC and organisations like NEC, to work towards an amicable resolution of the matter, which made the eventual outcome possible.

Financial audits have been completed, leases are in order, including a brand new
headquarter in Freetown, the National Executive is preparing for National Conventions to address a key overdue requirement, which had been made impossible by the injunction on the Executives, and the absence of any legal interim committee to handle such matters of the party. All water under the bridge now!

This goal has been achieved, which is to position the C4C party to fully contribute to national safety, daily governance, through its MPs, Mayor, Councilors and Chairpersons, and now through its legal National Executive. We aspire to positively impact on the economic development of the nation, whilst internally, the party now wants to put this incident behind them and move on to achieve the ambitions the Founding Fathers & Mothers of the party had; to meaningfully challenge for the Presidency of Sierra Leone during elections, and to
help shape the political landscape of the country, for the good of the people.

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The Coalition for Change (C4C) Party since its establishment stood for peace and unity and therefore states that the party activities are in full operations in oneness as the party yearns to capitalize on the democratic gains the nation had scored since the end of the Civil War in 2002.

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When we spoke to the National Chairman of the C4C Party, Tamba Sandi, he was keen to pass on his thanks and appreciation to all those who in their diverse ways have helped the party to reach this amicable outcome. “I am very pleased and humbled to see that people can still put their own personal agendas aside and work towards the common good in Sierra Leone.

 

This bodes well for our immediate future, he concluded. U C4 Me! R C 4 U!!