The opposition party, All Peoples Congress(APC) elected member of parliament for Constituency 130 in Freetown, Osman Abdal Timbo, has endorsed his party’s decision to stay away from participating in governance, after allegedly received the greenlight from supporters and constituents who voted for him.

Timbo took to Social Media, disclosing that he had received barrage of calls, messages, voice notes and visits from the same people, since after the announcement of results, urging him to not participate in parliament.

He said the voice of the people is the voice of God and that it is them they seek to represent. He responded to the US Embassy’s post urging them not to boycott Parliament for the sake of democracy, stating that the people that voted for them, have asked them not to participate.

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“Since I officially joined politics in 2013, I have always maintained that I want to represent people, hence my choice to be a parliamentarian, and nothing else.

In the June 24th General Election, I again asked the people to repose their confidence in me and allow me serve them as their parliamentarian. With a score of over 65%, the people in the locality of the district where I ran, gave me their votes.

I take those votes very seriously. People’s votes are not just numbers or figures that can be played with anyhow. They represent their sweat, blood, voice and desire, and that must be respected. Our national constitution (1991) in section 5 (2) (a) provides that  ‘sovereignty belongs to the people of SL from whom Government through this Constitution derives all its powers, authority and legitimacy’. It is all about the people we seek to represent.

I take their votes as their signature in a social contract entered into with me. Since after the announcement of the results, I have received barage of calls, messages, voice notes and visits from the same people, all saying the same thing – don’t go to Parliament, just yet. Infact, as I type I continue to receive persistent calls and messages.

Today, as the 6th Parliament commences and the Oath of Office administered, I WILL NOT be attending in line with the voice of the people. ‘Vox Populi, Voi Dei’ – the voice of the people, is the voice of God.

I wholeheartedly, without any form of compulsion, endorse my party’s (APC) decision, informed by its supporters and members, to stay away from participating in governance until certain demands are met, primary amongst them (in my view) is the publication of the disaggregated polling station results to corroborate the flamboyant results read out by the ECSL – remember, this ECSL and other state institutions and CSOs have many a time reminded us that it is the ECSL that has the sole mandate to publish results.

Final results MUST accurately represent the total tally of those votes validly cast at every polling station. It should not take more than a day after the announcement of the final results for that to be published (for the sake of transparent and ‘saful’ elections)  as even an uneducated man would expect that it is a simple addition of the 1 + 1 votes from the polling stations that should equal to the total final figures announced.

I also note #USEmbassyFreetown post urging the opposition not to boycott Parliament for the sake of democracy, stating that ‘those who voted for the opposition need to have their voices heard’. Well, those who voted for us have asked us not to participate. Isn’t our silence loud enough? Remember how much we spoke and did in the last 5 years? Well, now we’ve chosen to keep quiet and mind our business. In this case, our silence does not mean consent. Silence here, is golden.

Regards,

Osman Timbo”