Sierra Leone Telegraph: 29 May 2025:
Sierra Leone’s Minister of Local Government and Community Affairs – Tamba Lamina, dropped a clanger last week at the government’s Civic Day Engagement Event in Moyamba, when he announced that ministers of the Bio government have collectively approved the establishment of new districts and cities, ahead of the 2028 general and presidential elections.
His announcement has sent shockwaves across the country, especially among the main opposition APC and critics of the SLPP government, who are now accusing President Bio of gerrymandering and pre-elections fraud.
According to a statement by the ministry of information in Freetown, “Minister of Local Government and Community Affairs, Tamba Lamina, announced that Cabinet has approved the creation of two new districts: Bandajuma, which will affect areas in Bo and Pujehun Districts, and Panguma, which will impact communities in Kenema and Kailahun Districts. He also revealed that Freetown will be divided into two districts and the Western Area Rural into three. Additionally, Lungi will be declared a new city due to its strategic location and proximity to the international airport.”
Responding to this announcement which will no doubt create another wave of political tension in Sierra Leone, this is what the main opposition said:
As usual, I believe that the APC is back in their self destructive mode.
Is President Bio creating his own Falaba and Karen’s districts? If was true then, it must be true now and vice versa.
Give an election thief a yard, they will surely take a mile. Bio brazenly stole the last general and presidential elections, has gone scot-free, and is now luxuriating in his ill-gotten gains. Unsurprisingly, he and his party are keen to keep the gravy train rolling; if gerrymandering is what it takes to do so, so be it. Who is there to stop them? Democracy in its true sense is for the birds. The retention of power for years to come is the only game in town, overriding all principles. The proposed, cynical redrawing of district and city boundaries is a logical consequence of this political calculus.