By Dr Doma
The APC has taken a bold and historic step with the new guidelines for selecting its 2028 presidential flagbearer.
For once, the focus is not on personalities or connections but on competence, credibility and loyalty.
This process gives delegates a chance to put the party’s future above individual interests and to choose a leader who can unite the APC and inspire the nation.
The guidelines are clear. They demand loyalty, experience, education, integrity, vision and financial transparency.
They set a high standard that requires every aspirant to prove themselves through records and actions, not just words.
For APC, this is a chance to rebuild trust, to show Sierra Leoneans that they stand for merit, discipline and leadership that delivers.
Beyond these standards, Sierra Loaded reports that the APC is also embedding inclusivity into its methodology bringing women, youth and disabled persons’ representatives into the process.
This is more than symbolism; it signals an intentional effort to broaden participation and cultivate a culture of shared ownership within the party. Such steps, if genuinely applied, could make APC’s model a benchmark in inclusive politics.
This should also be seen in contrast with the SLPP’s so-called “radical inclusion,” which has too often been more rhetoric than reality. APC’s approach can therefore be a game-changer, but only if it avoids lip service and instead proves that inclusion, like merit, is at the heart of its renewal.
But here is the challenge: the APC must be willing to live by the rules it has created.
If the party ignores its own standards, then it risks confirming public doubts that nothing has truly changed.
And if Sierra Leoneans believe that, the APC will go into 2028 with an electorate that is indifferent, weary or worse unmoved to turn out in numbers.
This is why the party must educate not only its delegates, but its entire membership, on these new rules.
Objective standards should guide decision-making at every level of the party structure.
That way, informed delegates will emerge delegates who understand the criteria and who make their choices with clarity, fairness and accountability.
The APC has a unique opportunity to break free from the old ways of politics and set a new trajectory for Sierra Leone. Whether that opportunity is seized or squandered depends on discipline and integrity.
Will the party rise to meet the challenge it has set for itself or will it fall back into the shadows of cloak-and-dagger politics?
The answer will shape not just the APC’s future but that of the nation.
