“To free yourself from the chains and handcuffs of political parties is not to become a full-fledged card carrier but rather be a sympathizer”, Independent Movement, USA.

In this article, I am not encouraging you to resign from your various political parties but rather to try as much as possible to give you insights into the intricacies between being a full-fledged card carrier of a political party, or just a sympathizer.

I have done some research into the constitution of some political parties in the country and to be honest with you they are in complete violation of the basic human rights of their membership.

In many contemporary democratic political parties in the world, those who are full-fledged card carriers of political parties have the freedom to express themselves openly about anything they disagree with and the party without fear of being expelled from the party. Going further, a member can even vote against his own political party if he doesn’t have trust and confidence in the flag-bearer aspirants at that point.

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However, in Sierra Leone, becoming a full-fledged card carrier of a political party is automatically sentencing you to jail because you no longer have the freedom to openly express your disagreement about anything wrong within your party. You are under obligation to “toe the party line” in whatever action that the party takes and If you fail, you are considered a betrayer or a spy from another party or might be expelled completely from the party for what is called, Anti-Party Activity.
These rights violations have been used unlawfully as a tool to victimize innocent and outspoken members.
Political parties wield so much influence over their members. Their members become more loyal to their parties than the State.

Therefore, most people have begun to understand that being a full-fledged card carrier of a political party doesn’t mean much nowadays. They believe it is better to be a sympathizer than a hard-stone card career party member.

As a sympathizer, you are free to point out all the ills of your party without fear of being expelled.
Ironically, we have seen where thousands of sympathizers of political parties have been appointed to top positions while the Die-hard party card carriers are left to wallow in abject poverty.

Do you actually need to be a full-fledged card carrier to benefit from your political parties?
A big no!