At last, a key tripartite recommendation for victory of Dr Samura Kamara have been unanimously endorsed and submitted to the international community according to reliable Sources within the main opposition, All People’s Congress (APC).
The recommendations will be submitted to the Office of the President for onward delivery to parliament for approval.
Law makers of the two political parties in parliament will debate and vote on them before passed into law in the near future. The Minority Leader in parliament, Honourable Abdul Kargbo will lead the debate on the APC side to see that the party’s victory is upheld by the law-making body.
But, the question of what will be APC’s next steps in the near future remains one of the most popular questions with close attention paid to the opposition leader, Dr Samura Kamara.
Will the opposition leader play it safe by using legal or diplomatic channels or embark on a wild wolf chase to bring back stolen votes is another big question.
The answers are left in the hands of the 21- member Tripartite Committee which many see as the last hope for Sierra Leone. The Minority leader also, few days ago, was warned by the grassroot not to allow personal gains sway him from the right objective of protecting his party’s victory.
The Tripartite Committee is a body set up to look into alleged irregularities of the June 24, 2023 election through which the incumbent, Julius Maada Bio became President for another term.
The committee is a product of a peace deal brokered by the international community between the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and the opposition, APC.
For months, the election probe has been ongoing and an end is at hand as recommendations have been tendered for appropriate action.
The main recommendation shows that “the opposition leader, Dr Samura Kamara is winner of the June 24, 2023 elections after getting 57.15 percent of the votes” as reportedly shown by results reconciliation forms submitted to the election investigation body.
Such evidence means that Samura Kamara should be declared winner of the elections and ultimately President of Sierra Leone.
According to the laws of Sierra Leone particularly the highest law, the 1991 Constitution and the Public Elections Act, 2022, any presidential candidate who gets 55% of the total votes is duly elected and should be declared President.
APC’s recommendations came after protracted controversies and conflicts among APC’s top executive officials including the 7-man team that represented the party at the Tripartite Committee.
The winning recommendation is also one of the hottest topics for discussions among the party’s rank and file.
One side opted for a re-count of the votes as an alternative to victory while the other doggedly goes in for the party’s victory and nothing else.
A re-counting, according to political analysts and commentators, might last for several months, a move that will take the election probe to square-zero.
A popular argument also holds that SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party)’s request for another counting is a way of wasting time as they do in the demand for more time to produce the election results after six months of the probe.
SLPP, after a long delay, asked for 10 days to submit the June 24, 2023 election results and the time has again elapsed without any certainty that the results will be tendered.
SLPP’s move is to ensure that President Julius Maada Bio still continues in office although many doubt his victory in the June elections. Facts unfolding from the election probe particularly from the APC side, show that the opposition leader is the winner of the election.
As it stands, it is clear that the election investigation will be in SLPP’s disfavour if they fail to produce, defend or clarify several issues on the results.
Despite challenges at the moment, APC is heading for victory in few days as only time keep the party waiting.
However, APC grassroot members would not like to see their party officials especially Samura Kamara embark on a waiting game but to take the bull by the horns although ECOMOG boots are on the ground.
The grassroot have shown their power on several occasions to tell the international community that they are no more in mood to accept the PAOPA leadership as it is clear that they are not rightful winners of the election.
They took to the streets in August, 2022 demanding the resignation of President Bio owing to what they called a “cost-of-living” crisis that badly affected their lives. Placards and banners with the inscription that ‘BIO MUST GO’ sends direct and compelling message to the Bio regime that the people were tired of his rule.
Violent protest also erupted in the country’s capital city, Freetown in September, 2023 further exposing the country’s fragile security.
The protest which came three months after Bio was controversially declared winner of the elections led to the death of two people including a disabled top-up seller, Alfred Kallon.
As usual, unofficial sources however put the casualty figure at six.
Shutdowns or sit-at-home protests also have been notable hallmarks of the apparently oppressed Sierra Leoneans with an aim to render the Bio regime unpopular.
Just weeks, Sierra Leone was also shut down when an AU/ECOWAS assessment team jetted in to gauge the extent to which the communiqué resolutions have been complied with.
Majority of Sierra Leoneans have also threatened to stage more protest if recommendations of the Tripartite Committee fail to favour them.
They are calling for either a rerun or fresh election or the opposition leader, Dr Samura Kamara is declared winner of the elections.
It however remains unclear if the opposition leader would use violence to end the one-year old post-election stalemate.
In several of his public addresses to Sierra Leoneans, the opposition leader often says, he has been constantly drawn to the use of violence to retrieve his stolen victory, but ignored such calls.
Samura Kamara kept his peace even when President Bio announced a bullet-for-bullet strategy to tighten his hold on power.
Bio also declared that election was over and another polls would take place only in 2028 and threatened to come hard on those who peddle rerun rumour.
Samura Kamara was also mute when senior SLPP members urged him to tell his people the truth, a statement seen as insinuating a secret and shady deal between Kamara and his political opponent, Bio.
Despite several assurances of protecting voters’ votes, opposition leader put up snail-pace moves even before the election causing many to doubt his fitness for the presidency.
When the people initiated the ‘NO DATA NO ELECTION’ campaign which had spread far and wide on the election eve, it was Samura Kamara who urged the people to go to the polls assuring them that their votes would be counted.
With such strong assurance, the people had hoped that Samura Kamara would occupy State House after the polls as signs were bright that SLPP would not make it to the polls.
The number of sit-at-home and street protests was enough evidence to show that the ruling party would lose the battle.
The ‘NO DATA NO ELECTION’ campaign was a move to compel the elections boss, Mohamed Konneh to release the voter register ahead of the polls to ensure fairness, honesty and transparency throughout.
Although the movement gained momentum in its short time of existence, it was however abandoned owing to the call of the opposition leader for the people to exercise their franchise.
Hopes were however dashed when President Bio was declared winner of the elections at first round amid heavy security presence in the capital city and some key towns in opposition strongholds.
Few pockets of resistance and skirmishes show that the people were ready to take back their victory, but Kamara chose to tread on the path of peace and compromise to cool down troubled waters.
However, the opposition leader’s persistent use of peace and diplomacy to resolve a long-running election stand off is becoming a source of annoyance for grassroot members and supporters who have issued a red notice:
They have threaten to go after him if he fails them this time.