Over two weeks after APC (All People’s Congress) parliamentarians walk out of parliament owing to the appointment of Edmond Alpha Chief Electoral Commissioner, (CEC) there are several questions about what their real intention is.
Is it to protect the All People’s Congress (APC) party interest or the interest of country, or is it a circus show depicting hypocrisy?
Many APC grassroots supporters believe that the party’s action is genuine and it is one that will ensure that the right things are done including the implementation of the 80 Tripartite Committee recommendations for electoral reforms-to ensure a free, fair and acceptable elections outcomes.
The 80 recommendations were a direct outcome of the agreement for national unity brokered by the international community in October, 2023, and it was believed that the implementation of those recommendations would sanitize Sierra Leone’s politics in years to come.
But, others do not believe that APC’s action is a genuine but a show of hypocrisy to their grassroots members, supporters and sympathizers to curry favour or sympathy from them.
For a long time, the APC politicians have been accused of selling out to the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) owing to their unusual silence in the face of insult and provocation.
For a long time after the June, 2023 elections, APC politicians have failed to respond to the utterances of erstwhile SLPP Chairman, Prince Harding who referred to them as “mad men” who should not be entrusted with state power.
When APC politicians were taunted by Chief Minister that one cannot eat his cake and have it, they also remained silent, a situation that lends credence to the allegations that they have sold their birthrights for ‘Coco Yebeh’-literally referring to an assumption that some key APC leaders may have been corrupted through bribery or other illicit considerations.
From the outset, APC has never called a press conference to debunk claims of a sellout against made by a great many Sierra Leoneans.
APC executive has recently gained notoriety for abandoning and misinforming the peace brokers for the Agreement for National Unity at any time they come to Sierra Leone to assess the state of the implementation of the recommendations. Sometimes, the APC leadership will call in the police to deploy at the party office to arrest their supporters who may want to tell them the truth.
During one of their meetings at the party headquarters in Freetown, the beleaguered APC Chairman, Minkailu Mansaray minced no word stating that his work and the work of the Tripartite Committee was quite different.
He said the Tripartite Committee was in their own work while they were doing something different, a statement that sent many into shock and awe.
Every APC grassroots member expected the party leadership to cooperate with members of the Tripartite Committee so that it can ascertain whether the election was free or fair or not. The APC leaders rebuffed all calls to ensure that the votes of the people were fought for a reason which they only knew. Now, they take an action at the nick of time which, many say, would yield no fruit as the ruling party is into its third term preparing to hold election.
However, the latest move to snub parliament would instill an impression in their minds of somewhat myopic APC supporters and sympathizers to follow them again in their political gimmicks.
The APC executive officials have tried several tactics to garner the usual support they used to enjoy from their strongholds but their effort has ended in futility.
The move by the grassroots to do away with their party leaders was manifested when the party’s scribe, Lansana Dumbuya was handcuffed, carted in a prison vehicle and paraded in the streets.
Even when their called their so-called mammoth meeting was called at the Brima Attouga Stadium in Freetown, their supporters were not moved since the suspicion of a sellout to the ruling party is getting strong every passing day. Everyone knew that the “mammoth meeting” was actually far short of the mammoth crowd usually associated with the APC callout for a political crowd; for the party is known for its ability to pull out huge crowds since its formation.
The recent walkout of parliament by APC parliamentarians has shown that APC politicians are bereft of all tactics, and the only way to restore confidence in their supporters is to pretend that they no longer have ties with the ruling party although they are yet to convince the vast majority of Sierra Leoneans.
While putting APC’s action into perspective, some political commentators and analysts also support the view that APC’s action is hypocritical as they ought to have left parliament before the New Chief Electoral Commissioner was approved by parliament.
Such action would have left government without an election chief to conduct and supervise the 2028 election. Such action, if it had been taken earlier, would have forced SLPP to do the right thing.
On the reverse, APC and SLPP law makers unanimously approved the election boss, and later walked out so that it would appear that they were not part of the scheme. What a deception of the masses?
For now, either they walk out or remain in parliament, Edmond Alpha would conduct the 2028 election, and it is now up to APC to either take part or not.
Legally Speaking, taking part in an election is not compulsory according to the laws of Sierra Leone, and it is up to APC to either take part or stay out and wait till 20233 which again they are not sure of winning since the party is in complete disarray.
Failure to take part in the 2028 election will see SLPP goes back to State House unopposed since APC is the only opposition party in parliament.
Before the 2023 elections, the brag about SLPP going unopposed was rife among SLPP supporters and the time seems to have come.
In 2023, SLPP went into election with only APC after other political parties went out of parliament, and might go alone in 2028 as APC might not participate owing to hypocrisy.
Former opposition parties such as the National Grand Coalition and Coalition for Change have been tactically booted out of parliament owing to the 11% threshold which was provided for under the Proportional Representation (PR) or District Block system of elections.
Under the PR system, a party can have a seat in parliament only if gets 11% of the valid votes cast in a particular district. The effect of the rule result into a two-party parliament, and the APC also have a fair share of the ploy as they were in parliament when most of these regulations were made by Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone, but they never walked out but participated fully to the process.
Now, they attempt to leave the wall of parliament.
It was clear in the argument of one of Sierra Leone’s legal luminary, Dr. Abdulai Osman Conteh that changing the mode of elections is a matter of primary legislation for parliament and not ECSL to make rules and regulations, APC politicians still went ahead in participating in the elections and even when they lost, they are comfortable except few who call for a re-count of the votes.
But, such hypocrisy will be at their detriment as they have to stay in the political wilderness for years if not decades.