For President Bio, his Electoral Commissioner and the SLPP to know that either they give in to the demands of the people, the APC, the elections observers, the AU, ECOWAS and the international community and release the real results or there will definitely be a rerun of the presidential election, the APC and Dr Samura Kamara should not take part in government.
Supporters and well wishers of the main opposition of the Fifth Parliament (circa 2018-2023), the All People’s Congress (APC) have called on the party to stand their ground and not give into the overtures from the executive and his partisans calling for the 53 APC MPs and 215 councillors from across Sierra Leone to accept the 24 June elections result and for the sake of peace and democracy take part in the governance of the state.
They wanted to know why wasn’t it necessary for the president and the SLPP to consider peace and democracy before trying to force the people of Sierra Leone to accept what many in their right minds are calling a stolen presidential election.
If the APC give in to President Bio’s olive branch diplomacy and get involved in government they would lose face, credibility and worst of all, give the legitimacy to his second term that the careworn president desperately craves.
‘What we have going on at Fort Thornton is shameful. We have a president that knows that the election was stolen; he knows that we know; his supporters and party and electoral commissioner know that the election was stolen. Yet still they are going on as if nothing has happened. This shameless way of winning elections has to stop. We are saying starting with the 24 June election we want elections to be won freely, fairly and without recourse to the courts or violence. Are we supposed to just move along as if nothing has happened? If we go back to government then this is the way we should always expect people to win elections, that they should steal instead of win the elections,’ they said.
Although they are calling on the APC to stand their ground, however their supporters say they know that the people they are calling on to maintain the boycott of the Paopa government also have financial and other obligations to consider. Depending on how long President Bio and his friends in Parliament plan on keeping up this farce of a government, it will be a tough ride for the APC MPs and councillors. Five years is not five days.
‘Before, during and even after the elections these men and women spent a lot of money and other resources to promote their elections campaigns. Since the APC was not liquid enough to sponsor their campaign bids, most of them self-sponsored their own campaigns while others had strong financial backers. After winning their elections such people would be expecting to recoup what they had spent. Those that got financial assistance owe some kind of obligation to their sponsors. There is a lot to consider, including if President Bio keeps on insisting on staying in power and the international community don’t take action,’ they warned.
If the APC politicians are to maintain the boycott, even for five years, they will need the support of all their supporters, members and friends here at home and abroad. It must be here stated that we are expecting a lot from these true democrat sons and daughters of the land. To give up a Le30 million a month salary plus other perks is a lot of sacrifice to ask someone to make in a poor country like Sierra Leone.
So far despite repeated calls from all corners of the globe for our President and his electoral commissioner to do the honourable thing, President Bio has named his cabinet with 30% women representation and meeting other benchmarks, all in the hope of diverting our attention or focus from our demands.
The president should know that no one will deal with an illegal regime. His regime is premised on an illegal or illegitimate elections victory hence they cannot be expected to make moral laws and make credible appointments. An illegal regime cannot be expected to pass moral laws; they will lack the credibility.
So far, in their desperation for legitimacy, the ruling party’s paid media lackeys have been transmitting all kinds of fake news, including but not limited to the fake news that Ecowas, the Commonwealth, Nigeria, South Africa, the UN and the AU have all called to endorse Bio’s win. If they have done so then they have presented themselves to being our Judas Iscariots.
The desperate regime have also tried using religious elders and even tried eliciting the help of former president Ernest Bai Koroma to broker peace. All is being done to make us forget that the elections results are fraught with mindboggling irregularities that would question our ability to perform simple addition as a country.
In their act of final desperation the ruling party is now trying to use the sole APC MP in Parliament, Hon Mohamed Bangura of Karene District as a bait to lure others taking part in the APC boycott of government back to Tower Hill and the city or town councils across the country.
We expect the APC to keep their word and not participate in the running of the government. If they do so they will deny President Bio the approval he craves for his stolen elections victory. If the APC returns to government then they are saying that they accept the way President Bio won the elections as the only way to win elections in Salone going forward.
Because of President Bio’s insistence to keep up the charade, internationally Sierra Leone has lost face or respect; our democracy has reversed instead of advancing. Our government cannot be accepted as a credible government because it is being run by the executive and judiciary, with the most important, the House that approves appointments and enacts laws and check on the excesses of the executive only comprising one party. This way, they will always get quorum but a 2/3rds majority will never happen.
Presently the 14 PCMPs cannot provide adequate opposition in parliament – they were not elected for that.
The APC now more than ever need all their supporters on deck. Even the international community is expected to help the APC politicians financially for them to stay out of government so that we can reverse the way elections have been stolen in Sierra Leone going as far back as our first elections as a country.
Meanwhile some members of the international community have hinted that President Bio in his present posture might be courting a look at events that led to the execution of key Sierra Leoneans after their 1992 overthrow of the then government under Joseph Saidu Momoh.
‘Bio is the only one of note from that era that charges can be brought up against,’ they suggested.