By Kekura Yosay Kaifala
Indications are rife that a free, fair and transparent elections conducted by the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) on June 24 will usher in the main opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) Party to power. That is the fear that is inherently making the incumbent President Julius Maada Bio and his inept Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) rattled and shattered and have therefore resorted to compromising the credibility and integrity of the elections’ outcome by adopting their “Paopa” antics to secure a second term for President Bio at all cost.
The “Paopa” philosophy is a deliberate ploy to ensure that the SLPP does whatever it wishes to do even if it against the interest of the generality of the population. It is this draconian and dictatorial move that has angered the masses and made them disgruntled to the extent that they want President Bio and the SLPP out of the governance authority of the state.
That is why most Sierra Leoneans are stating now that if the APC party allows the shenanigan tactics deployed by the SLPP and allows the elections to go ahead as scheduled and planned by this current ECSL Board of Commissioners, they will come out to protest against the APC for failing them. Particularly in the Western Area (Urban & Rural) the people are saying that they would be extremely disappointed at the APC party if it backtracks from its 72-hours ultimatum for the entire Board of Commissioners of the ECSL including the Chief Electoral and National Returning Officer, Mohamed Konneh to resign and for an independent panel of election experts to conduct the elections at a postponed date.
The rigging agenda set out by the ECSL in favour of the human rights-abusing ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) government is glaring to an extent that they have become nauseatingly unpopular giving their unpopular policies and programmes that have sent the economy in shambles and put the security and safety of Sierra Leoneans on a knife’s edge. ‘We no longer feel safe and secured under this bullish SLPP government,’ a youth at Kanikay, Ismail Amadi stated.
‘We will be very disappointed at the APC if they allow the June 24 election to go on as scheduled and planned by the ECSL under the current Board of Commissioners,’ Priscilla George, a resident of Hamilton commented to this reporter.
According to Miss Priscilla, everything that can show insincerity, dishonesty and fraud have been exhibited by Mr. Mohamed Konneh and his band of biased Commissioners just to ensure the forceful retention of power by the incumbent President Julius Maada Bio.
‘A second term winning is not by force. As a matter of fact, it is not inscribed in our National Constitution or in any nationally binding document that states that it is a force for an incumbent President and political party to win a second term,’ Miss Priscilla stated, adding that for such to happen, the incumbent President must have sufficiently undertaking programmes that has to do with the social contract with the people of Sierra Leone, on which satisfaction they can express their will for him through the ballot box to continue.
Commenting on the same seemingly lackadaisical approach of the opposition APC on the matter of Mohamed Konneh and his cohorts, Joseph Wilson, from Aberdeen said he had since noticed the desperate intention of the SLPP to do ten years or more in governance with the adoption of their ambitious “Paopa” principle, which literally means –anything they want to achieve they will achieve by force, whether or not it is popularly accepted or not.
Miss Priscilla maintained that it this undemocratic principle that has led the open show of tribal, regional and divisive state of the country because for the “Paopaist” principle, one needs to belong to a specific tribe by birth or otherwise, and to a certain region for one to be considered for a job or anything one should enjoy as a citizen.
‘This is disgusting. We know there are fourteen tribes in this country. We know there are two bigger one; the Mende and Themne; we have been living harmoniously as a people. But with the advent of this “Paopa-SLPP” since 2018, one has to belong to the SLPP to be considered a true Sierra Leonean, according to the First Lady, Fatima Jabbie-Bio,’ Priscilla lamented.
Meanwhile, it is not known what the conclusive decision of the APC party is, but with these indications coming from the public calling on the party to stand for the people to protect democracy and the rule of law, with the APC being a grassroots party, the likelihood is that it will heed to the call of the people and stand by the people in defence of democracy and the rule of law.