What would have been a good name for Sierra Leone’s Chief Minister, David Moinina Sengeh is turning out to be the worst moment for him as the Tripartite Committee sets to release the final recommendations on results examination and electoral justice.
The Tripartite Committee is an election investigation body tasked to look into alleged irregularities of the June 24, 2023 elections and submits findings and recommendations to President Julius Maada Bio for appropriate action.
According to a communiqué signed in October, last year, any recommendation that emanates from the election probe is “actionable” and “implementable” implying that they must be enforced without let and delay. It is only a timely implementation of the Tripartite Recommendations that will attract foreign aid and cooperation between the international community and Sierra Leone government.
Instead of admiration and praise for a good work done, fingers of blame are constantly pointed at Mr Sengeh as the man responsible for SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party)’s current political quagmire for inking a document that provides for an election probe which may see the ruling party out of power.
While the 80 recommendations on electoral reforms may seem soothing and comfortable for the ruling party, the remaining five on results examination and electoral justice are however a thorn in the flesh of SLPP politicians.
The results examination seeks to establish the real winner of the June polls while electoral justice is to ensure that the long arm of the law reaches those who rig the elections.
As it stands, there is no way the Chief Electoral Commissioner and other five commissioners, key government functionaries and even senior opposition politicians will evade accountability.
Apart from being a signatory to international instruments that uphold democracy and good governance, Sierra Leone has strict electoral laws particularly the Public Elections Act, 2022 which punishes the crime of election rigging.
SLPP’s situation is worsened by the failure of the election boss, Mohamed Kenewui Konneh to show evidence, throughout the investigation, of SLPP’s election victory, a situation that is considerably weakening government’s authority within the state.
Without credible election results, the people of Sierra Leone and the international community find it difficult to fully cooperate and work with a government trapped in “legitimacy crisis.”
However, the main opposition, All People’s Congress (APC) presented evidence to the election investigators by way of authentic results reconciliation forms which showed that the opposition leader, Samura Kamara won the election by a wide margin earning 57.15% of the votes leaving 39% for the incumbent, Maada Bio.
Convinced by an overwhelming election victory, the opposition leader demands that either Bio gives up power or a rerun of the election is conducted by foreign commissioners.
Exhibits tendered to the Tripartite Committee remains unchallenged to date, making it tough for the Australian judge, Kate Sullivan to say otherwise.
Reliable sources have also intimated this press that the main recommendations will be out in a week’s time thus creating sleepless nights for SLPP politicians pondering their fate when their party goes out of State House.
In a state of panic and paranoia, SLPP members and supporters as well as stalwarts wonder what prompted the Chief Minister to take part in such a dialogue.
A senior SLPP politician, name withheld for fear of reprisal, said it was a terrible mistake for the Chief Minister to sign such document without giving much thought to it.
“I did not expect the Chief Minister to sign such document especially when he really knows that government has no results to submit to the Tripartite Committee,” he told this press in a mood of disappointment.
Mr Sengeh, he says, ought to have thoroughly read the peace communiqué and deeply thought about it before signing for heads to be kept above waters.
Speaking via mobile phone, a grassroot SLPP politician in Pujehun sees the Chief Minister’s action as a big “political blunder” and a “risky leap in the dark.”
Chief Minister also comes under fire for accepting clause four of the peace communiqué which touches on the release of political prisoners from prison facilities and other detention camps, discontinuation of “politically motivated” court cases and resettlement of victims of political violence.
Holding ‘political prisoners’ in detention is almost the same as detaining people who are innocent of crimes but merely express their political opinions and assert their civil rights.
Such detention is illegal according to international human rights instruments to which Sierra Leone is a signatory. Locally, government’s arbitrary and illegal detention is at variance with the country’s laws particularly with the Constitution of Sierra Leone. Section 17 of the Constitution says “No person shall be deprived of his personal liberty except as may be authorised by law…”
Closely related to the illegal detention syndrome is the “politically motivated trials” for which SLPP is well known throughout their six-year stay in power.
In what appears a late and moribund defence strategy, Chief Minister recently said in an interview that they held no political prisoner and they conducted no political trial as all matters pending in court were criminal.
However, confused but not convinced, Mr Sengeh recently reduced senior APC politicians to mere lockups when he blamed them for a break at the country’s main correctional facility in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital city. He appealed to APC politicians to bring back the runaway prisoners.
However, a tough feedback from the APC camp suddenly halted the appeal which many considered to be incriminating.
Perhaps, the worst move was to accept the onus to resettle members and supporters of opposition political parties especially those from APC who were driven out of their communities and safe zones as a result of political violence alleged to have been perpetrated by thugs linked to the ruling party.
Villages, towns and cities in the South-East regions, strongholds of the ruling party, especially Bo and Pujehun saw the worst forms of political violence ever recorded in post-war Sierra Leone.
In Bo city, the house of Cecilia Ngobeh and her vehicles were allegedly set ablaze by SLPP supporters and dozens of women ambushed and attacked in Pujehun district for switching support to the opposition, APC.
Many sought medical treatment at the main hospital in Pujehun and health posts in nearby villages.
A staunch APC member in Kailahun, Satta Lamin was allegedly brutally gang-raped by SLPP supporters and had a field day.
Despite the atrocious crimes, nobody was made to pay for it, a move that connoted complicity between the perpetrators and government with many seeing it as a new wave of state-sponsored violence.
By signing the communiqué, Chief Minister took direct responsibility for everything in clause-four, a move, many say, will not augur well for the ruling party in the near future and the long run.
Apart from legal ramifications, resettlement of victims also has resource implication since money is needed to take back the people to their villages especially those who are amputated and their houses burned and other property vandalised.
It is quite a huge burden for government as the people expect to see a reparations commission in the future for adequate compensation of the victims.
If endorsed, a reparations commission will be the first in Sierra Leone mirroring a situation in The Gambia, a small country in West Africa where tyranny and oppressive rule reigned for 20 years.
Countless number of Gambians including journalists were killed and tortured and many more hurt in different ways under the rule of who many referred to as a brutal dictator, President Yayah Jammeh.
It became clear after Jammeh’s rule that the only way to ensure lasting peace was to get the victims adequately compensated. Sierra Leonean victims also cry for compensation for peace and normalcy to prevail.
As if trying to lessen the burden, the ruling party, in a press release, called on government to compensate their own victims although many believed that no SLPP politician suffered any form of violence before, during and after election.
However, other SLPP members and supporters hold a different view, as they blame the election boss, Mohamed Konneh for the mess into which their party is trapped.
He failed to perform his functions by declaring the incumbent, Julius Maada Bio winner of the elections without evidence to back up such claim.