Osman Bikal Kamara, Secretary General of the, NRM, said the National Reformation Movement has met with the APC leadership over the past one month to resolve the constitutional issues which form the basis of the conflict.
“On July 1, 2020, the leadership of the NRM met with that of their party, the All People’s Congress, at the party’s headquarters, where both parties made commitment to the search for a negotiated settlement”. He continued that in the meeting, which was summoned by the Facilitator, Dr. Ibrahim Bangura, both parties made commitment to the observance of a rule that forbids the reporting to the public of information disclosed in the course of the negotiation.
He furthered that in July of 2020, a few days after their meeting they submitted three copies of their negotiating document to the Facilitator for onward submission to the party’s Chairman, Deputy Leader and Secretary General. Since that submission, the process seems to have resulted in an absolute stalemate, he reported.
He complained that it was as a result of such complacency to comply with their plights that led to the brouhaha that torn the party apart.
He pointed out that on the very day they submitted their negotiating document, the rule that forbids the disclosure of information to the public was breached by the leadership of our party, as their document was leaked to Adebayor, a gutter commentator and an establishment misinformation propagandist, who discussed some of its contents at length and went on to proclaim, in a ridiculous manner and louder than ever before, that the party’s leadership will not negotiate with the NRM.
“On that same day, the NRM was on the receiving end of a barrage of invectives and imbecility from the gutter commentator” he continued.
He maintained that it is becoming increasingly clear that the party’s leadership does not have the political will to resolve this matter on the table saying that it was quite clear, the party’s leadership came to the negotiating table with a double agenda: while appearing to be interested in a negotiated settlement, prominent party functionaries who said to be acting under the instructions of the party’s leadership are secretly engaging the plaintiffs and another actors to get them to stand prepared to withdraw the case from court before the settlement of the issues, just like they have done with the one plaintiff.
“The leadership of the NRM, therefore, wishes to inform the manipulators, to whom negotiation means manipulation that their unconventional negotiating tactics will serve them no useful purpose. The NRM is a disciplined and structured movement, and the decision to withdraw the case from court does not lie in the exclusive hands of any plaintiff. To say it is impossible to reach any other agreement in the absence of a response to the negotiating document we submitted in the early July of 2020 is to understate our resolve” he cited.
He continued to say that the throwing up of one obstacle after another, the stonewalling towards their negotiating document, the persistent harassing of the plaintiffs and other NRM actors and the evident desire to manipulate them, the double agenda and the ongoing attempt by the our party’s leadership to renew their mandate in the guise of a convention, in violation of the court order and in utter disregard to the negotiations, make the call to negotiate looks like an Orwellian doublespeak and the search for a negotiated settlement all the more complex.
In conclusion, “while we are committed to a negotiated settlement, we wish to assure all comrade reformers, at home and abroad, that our commitment to the creation of conditions that guarantee equal participation and legal platforms for all comrades in the APC is unshakable” he averred. He reminded the party’s leadership of the court order and their collective resolve to deliver the knockout jab on the dictatorial construction of our party’s internal politics.
