Sierra Leone

Abstract

The political storm which broke out in November 1968 resulting in massive arrests and detentions following alleged acts of violence preceding by-electionsl in certain parts of the Provinces continued to rage in full blast at the dawn of 1969. Events of the past year had shown that though there had been a return to civilian rule, with the formation of a coalition government consisting of members of the All People's Congress and the Sierra Leone People's Party, with Mr. Siaka Stevens as Prime Minister, all was not well with the fusion. Extremist A.P.C. supporters, on the one hand, maintained that as their party had won the General Elections of March 1967, justice would be meted out to them only if their party was in power devoid of all S.L.P.P. elements. Strong S.L.P.P. supporters, on the other hand, while raising a hue and cry over the detention of their party members since November 1968, complained of victimisation from all quarters: Added to this, the treason trial of ex-Brigadier David Lansana and sixteen others,2 most, if not all, of the accused having been staunch supporters of the S.L.P.P. while that party was in power, left no room in their minds for doubt that the Government was one-sided and that the marriage between the two parties should be dissolved. As a result, on 9th June 1969, the leader of the S.L.P.P., Mr. Salia Jusu-Sheriff, announced in Parliament that his party was henceforth officially in opposition. This announcement had been preceded by the resignation of those S.L.P.P. members who had held Ministerial positions in the coalition government.