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<\/a>Mr. James Koroma giving APC victory speech<\/p><\/div>\n
In introducing Mr. James Ibrahim Koroma as the chairman for the occasion and president of the APC in Australia, Mr.Edison Yongai said that Mr. James Koroma has been a respectable and learned elder of the Sierra Leone community in Sydney and one of the most zealous party adherents that would rather not compromise the ideals of his beloved APC party. \u201cTurn this marvelous chairman inside-out and you will see nothing but the magnificent symbol of the APC\u201d, MC Edison Yongai said and this was re-echoed with a loud applause from the mammoth crowd of party supporters and well-wishers. \u00a0The MC also spoke about the various international and local awards that have been given to President Ernest Bai Koroma\u2019s government for peace, good governance, progress and stability of the country.<\/p>\n
In his presidential speech, Mr. James Koroma spoke briefly about the struggles the APC party has gone through over the years in the face of adversity but through which the party has always been triumphant. \u201cOur resilience, our zeal to serve the people of Sierra Leone, our determination for positive changes in our society and our ardent desire to be a party of the people, by the people and for the people have always made the APC the desired party of the people of Sierra Leone\u2026,\u201d and the chairman\u2019s speech was drowned by deafening cheers from the crowd of revelers.<\/p>\n
Mr. James Koroma emphasized that the APC is the only party that does not know Temne, Krio, Mende, Limba, Loko, Kono, Sherbro, Fullah, Madingo, etc. and the only party that cuts across all the various boundaries that divide the country. He spoke about the various developmental strides that President Ernest Bai Koroma\u2019s\u00a0 government has made just within five years of being in political power \u2013 the construction and reconstruction of roads, bridges, schools and other infrastructure, the transformation of Sierra Leone\u2019s healthcare system, education, mining, gender equality, the status of the youth, etc.<\/p>\n
Chairman James Koroma said President Ernest Bai\u00a0 Koroma\u2019s APC has been a party of progress, a party of dynamism in every positive aspect of the word, a party of love and peace, the only party capable of holding all the tribes together in a cohesive harmony, the only party and government in the history of Sierra Leone that has given prominence to Sierra Leonean women and youths, the only party in the history of Sierra Leone that has a firm stance against corruption, against human rights abuse, against violence, etc., and the only government in Sierra Leone, if not in the whole of West Africa, that has never detained a political opponent or journalist. “Other governments in the past horrible years in Sierra Leone have repeatedly harassed and locked up journalists and political opponents, including our MC for this evening, and they did it with all delight, which is one reason why some Sierra Leoneans are found in other countries today where they have no desire to be,\u201d Chairman Koroma added.<\/p>\n
Speaking to this writer, Mr. Benjamin Sidique (commonly known as Benji), an executive and determined member of the APC Youth Wing (Australia), said the victory of President Koroma and the APC in the last election was the victory for all peace-loving and progressive Sierra Leoneans and urged all progressive Sierra Leoneans to continue to support the party. He called for the youth to take prominent positions for positive changes in the structure of the APC in Australia.<\/p>\n
Mr. Mustapha Bangura, who had introduced the MC at the start of the evening\u2019s programme, said the APC in Australia is growing and becoming stronger, which could be judged from the mass \u00a0turn-out and unbridled jubilation of people at the victory dance. He said every member of the party is ready to work hard to create a good image of the APC party.<\/p>\n
Mr. Edmondson Sonny Cole, who is the chairman of the Sierra Leone Community Council (SLCC) in Sydney and also vice-chairman of the Association of Sierra Leone Journalists in Exile (ASALJIE) in Sydney, said the victory dance was a befitting commemoration of the positive changes President Ernest Bai Koroma and his government are making for Sierra Leone. He added that the APC party in Australia, like any other political grouping, has its ups-and-downs but its successes always outweigh the challenges it faces. Mr. Sonny Cole is also an executive member and one of the founding members of the APC (Australia).<\/p>\n