Mohamed Bangura denies State House funding

By Abdul Hassan Fackie

The Leader and Presidential Candidate of the United Democratic Movement (UDM), Mr. Mohamed Bangura, has denied allegations that his party received money from State House, the Anti Corruption Commission and other prominent personalities for the hosting of their party’s recently concluded National Delegates convention in the Southern city of Bo. Referring to the publications of the said allegations in the Independent Observer and Global Times Newspapers of May 30 this year as baseless, malicious and without merit, Mr. Bangura opined that he was aware of a grand conspiracy designs of the preposterous media allegations whose intensions were to discredit the ACC rather than trying to determine the source of their party’s funding. He stressed that that even though their party believe in the freedom of the press Journalists should always endaevour to cross check their facts before going to press. Below is a press release from the UDM which throws more light on the issue; United Democratic Movement (U.D.M.) Yes! We Can Address: 112 Pademba Road, Freetown Email: udnsl@yahoo.com Website: www.udnsl.org FREETOWN- MAY 30, 2012 PRESS RELEASE ON ALLEGATIONS OF FUNDING UDM CONVENTION The attention of the leadership of the United Democratic Movement Party (UDM) has been drawn to media publications, especially those of the weekly Independent Observer and Global Times Newspapers of Wednesday, May 30, 2012 (pages 11 and 9 respectively) in which both newspapers produced minutes purporting to be those of our post-convention meeting alleging that State House, the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) and other eminent state functionaries provided funds for the hosting of our just concluded first National Delegates’ Convention held in Bo. The UDM, a party founded on democratic principles, and one that believes in transparency and accountability would like to note the following: 1. That we vehemently and unreservedly deny receiving any financial support from State House, the Anti Corruption Commission and the eminent personalities the publications stated; 2. That as a party with one of the largest following in the country, we were able to raise funds from individual contributions and other party stalwarts both in the country and in the Diaspora for a successful convention; 3. That the fact that the leadership of the some opposition parties singularly contacted donor partners of the Anti Corruption Commission drawing their attention to have contributed to funding our convention left us with no doubt of the grand conspiracy designs of the preposterous media allegations that their intention was more to discredit the ACC rather than trying to determine the source of funding of our party’s convention; 4. That we unequivocally condemn any media insinuations that the UDM cannot finance itself but to depend on contributions from the Government on the one hand, and the ACC on the other specifically; 5. That in as much as the UDM as a party believes in press freedom, we will continue to call on the leadership of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), and the Independent Media Commission (IMC) to continue to provide quality training to media practitioners for professional reporting and upholding the values and ethics of Journalism. END SIGNED: MOHAMED BANGURA (Leader and Presidential Flagbearer)