The Secretary General of the 21-Man Interim Transitional Governance Committee(ITGC) of the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) has called on members of the party not to have any financial dealing with what he considered as illegally appointed interim District Chairman of the party, following reports of some fraud and mismanagement of funds received by them on behalf of the party.

This is not the first time the ITGC is making such claims of fraud and mismanagement of funds as a similar concern was raised during the first week of the IGTC administration in May, this year.

According to a recent press release signed by the Secretary-General of the IGTC, Hon. Abdul K. Kargbo, the latest warning from the interim management team is a follow-up to the last correspondence issued by the committee to the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone ECSL discountenancing all illegal mate interim district chairmen of APC that were selected by the chairman, Alfred Peter Conteh.

In the latest press release, the Secretary-General advanced members that the illegally appointed interim district chairmen of the party are not recognized by the committee and are not working or carrying out any activities on behalf of the party, especially the ongoing voter registration exercise. He furthered that one reason why the people should not deal with them is that 14 out of 21 members already voted against the illegal appointment of these interim party officials, noting that the court ordered that voting on the decision should be by a simple majority of members of the ITGC.

Hon. Abdul Kargbo also revealed that some of these illegally appointed district chairmen have been receiving funds from some well-wishers and members of the public on behalf of the party for monitoring activities during the ongoing voter registration exercise, but noted that such finances have been remitted or communicated to the party hierarchy.

The interim APC scribe also noted that it is against the political parties’ laws of the country for people to receive funds on behalf of a political party and not declare it to the entire membership, adding that all the monies sent to the illegal personalities should be withdrawn and sent back to the ITGC for proper recording and management.

Hon. Abdul Kargbo furthered that the committee has launched a full-fledged investigation into the funds received by the said individuals, stressing that anyone who fails to return his own share to the said fund will face the law. He also noted that they will look into all other activities undertaken by these illegal chairmen cherry-picked by Alfred Peter Conteh.

Hon. Abdul Kargbo also disclosed that they are now waiting for the full financial report and statement of the audited account of the APC which is being carried out by Peter Kamaralay and Co Auditing Film, assuming that the new report will show the current financial status and strength of the party ahead of the 24 June 2023 elections.