Claim: A viral video on YouTube and WhatsApp claims that an APC Member of Parliament elect has disagreed with his party’s position to boycott Parliament.
Verdict: Misleading. Ibrahim Bundu is a former APC Member of parliament. He does not hold the position anymore.
Full Text
Following the conclusion of the general elections, there have been major disagreements with the outcome. The main opposition party, the All Peoples Congress (APC), has led the charge on the electoral commission, demanding another election and announcing a boycott of Parliament if their demands are unmet. All this is among a raft of other demands.
There have been different opinions on whether it is the right or wrong decision to boycott the House of Parliament.
On Monday evening, a YouTube channel known as Sierra Fox Media uploaded a video and shared the link widely on WhatsApp. The video caption is: “APC MP-elect denied his party (APC) decision to boycott parliament.” The video now has 1,500 views on the channel.
Already, 53 of the 54 APC MPs have signed a statement reaffirming their party’s position that they will boycott the Parliament. The only MP who refused to sign is Mohamed Bangura from Karene district.
Apart from Mohamed Bangura, is there another MP-elect from the APC who disagrees with the decision by the party to boycott Parliament?
Sierra Fox Media’s latest video indicates that more people within the Parliamentary ranks of the APC disagree with the party on boycotting the house.
Given the controversy regarding the boycott, DUBAWA decided to investigate the claim.
Verification
To verify this, DUBAWA searched for the original copy of the interview that Sierra Fox Media uploaded. The interview was done initially on the Epic Morning Show on July 4, 2023, and was streamed live (1:48:50 in the video) on the radio’s Facebook page.
The interview was given online by a former majority leader for the APC in Parliament, Ibrahim Rasin Bundu. He expressed his thoughts on his party’s latest standpoint to boycott Parliament.
The interview also responded to what the Publicity Secretary, Sidi Yaya Tunis of the party, said during the same show in an online discussion (watch 1:35:57).
While it is true that Ibrahim Rasin Bundu disagreed with the decision by the party’s executives to declare a boycott of Parliament (mainly because the decision was not consultative enough), it is false to create the impression that he is an MP-elect who disagrees with his colleagues.
Ibrahim Bundu is a former APC MP who served three terms in Parliament. Towards the end of his career in Parliament in 2017, he was sacked as the majority leader in the house on the orders of the then Chairman of the APC and President of Sierra Leone, Ernest Koroma.
Bundu had Presidential ambitions at the time, to lead the party in the 2018 elections to succeed Koroma, who was on his way out after completing two terms as President. Bundu failed with his bid. However, last year, he also launched a bid to become chairman of the APC. He lost in the delegate elections.
Conclusion
Sierra Fox Media’s caption of the video is misleading because Ibrahim Bundu is a former APC MP and not a current one who was just elected in 2023.
