SLPP government is worried and jittery for days after getting news that an assessment mission from the international community will visit Sierra Leone as they fear tough questions.
Today, the delegation is here as joint UN, AU and ECOWAS team has jetted to assess compliance with the communiqué, a peace document signed by the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and the main opposition, All People’s Congress (APC) for peace and national cohesion.
Entered by the two main political parties in 2018, the 8-resolution communiqué places obligations on the two sides to be honoured to ensure stability in the country.
The communiqué was a product of a three-day peace deal between the two parties brokered by the international community.
SLPP, the party in power, was obliged by Clause-4 of the communiqué to release political prisoners, discontinue political trials, resettle victims of political violence and pay backlog to APC’s elected officials (parliamentarians and councillors).
APC, on the other, should end their non-participation in state governance by taking their seats in parliament and local councils across the country.
The clause states that “The parties to the dialogue agree to release any person arrested, detained and/or imprisoned for alleged elections and civil protest… the discontinuation of politically motivated cases against APC, other parties and their supporters, support the resettlement of any political party supporters internally and externally displaced due to political intimidation, attacks and harassment…and all elected APC officials (Members of Parliament, Mayors, Chairpersons and Councillors) will have the issue regarding their entitlements addressed accordingly by the appropriate institutions.”
The two parties also agree to form a Tripartite Committee that should look into alleged irregularities of the June 24, 2023 election. “His Excellency, the President, in consultation with the APC party, will constitute a cross-party Committee on Electoral Systems and Management Bodies Review with a three-way leadership nominated by the Government of Sierra Leone; the APC party and Development Partners…to examine the electoral systems, structures and processes of the June 2023 multi-tier electoral cycle,” the communiqué also reads.
According to the communiqué, the committee will also be informed by previous elections with a view to highlighting and addressing the contentious issues of elections and results management including the collation, verification, authentication and publishing of electoral data consistent with international best practice to enhance the credibility of all future elections in Sierra Leone.
The delegation is therefore here to know firsthand how far the parties have fared on with the agreement.
A press release seen by this press indicates that the delegation’s visit is sanctioned by the three international bodies.
“The President of the ECOWAS Commission, H.E. Omar Allieu Touray, in consultations with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel, Leonardo Santos Simao, has deployed a joint ECOWAS –AU-UNOWAS Assessment Mission to the Republic of Sierra Leone as a follow up to the Agreement for National Unity signed between the government of Sierra Leone and the All People’s Congress party on 18th October, 2023,” a portion of the press release reads.
The mission according to the press release is co-led by Mr Simao and Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang, former Gambian Vice President who was key facilitator of the dialogue.
While in Sierra Leone, the mission will meet with senior government officials and the APC leadership, other political parties and relevant actors and stakeholders in Sierra Leone including police and military high command in the course of the assessment of progress made in the implementation of the Agreement for National Unity.
President Julius Maada Bio will also receive the delegation in respect of the agreement.
As the team prepares to assess work done so far, it is being reported that some government officials are putting documents in place to show that they have fully complied with all resolutions of the communiqué.
However, such information does not appear to portray the truth as the main election management body, Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) has reportedly refused to clarify issues surrounding the 60% results announced on June 27, 2023 in which President Julius Maada Bio was declared winner of the elections.
The stubbornness by ECSL’s boss, Mohamed Konneh to respond to the call of the Tripartite Committee prompted a suspension of participation in the committee by APC members.
The party’s departure from the party took many Sierra Leoneans aback as such decision comes at a time the committee is about to end its work.
However, such action has been seen as part of a plan to force Konneh to comply with the request and to expose him further to the public and the international community.
However, it has been reported that APC has returned to the committee for the usual work owing to a call by the United Nations, African Union, Economic Community Of West African States, United States, Britain, Ireland and others.
Konneh’s contempt of the Tripartite Committee is just the latest in a series of attempt to undermine the election probe which is part of the peace agreement.
The Tripartite Committee was initially derailed by government officials by withholding funds and failing to cooperate with the committee at the right time.
According to a six-month mandate, the investigation ought to have commenced in April 27, last year, days after it was launched by President Bio at State House in Freetown.
Government’s failure to attend on the day the committee was about to start was linked to the November 26, 2023 attacks on police and military armouries here in Freetown initially known as “security breach.” The security breach later metamorphosed into a “coup attempt” according to President Bio and his government officials, but there was a general feeling among Sierra Leoneans that the attacks were a ploy to undermine the work of the Tripartite Committee.
Government also failed to release the much-needed $500, 000 (five hundred thousand United States dollars) to the committee so that it could start work at the appropriate time.
The financial constraint was however solved when the United States donated $1.5m to the committee, a move that moved the launching of the Terms of Reference at the New Brookfields hotel few months ago.
At the launching, Governance Advisor, Dr Emmanuel Gaima said the ECSL boss would not be coerced into appearing before the Tripartite Committee as it lacks authority to force him. This statement was propagated far and wide by grassroot SLPP supporters, members and sympathisers.
Recently, President Bio, in a glaring attempt to undermine the Tripartite Committee, recently questioned usefulness of the Tripartite Committee adding that the body does not have election results.
As if that was not enough, Bio also threatened to use bullet for bullet if the need arises as there would be no more election until 2028.
Undermining the election probe does not stop at the Tripartite Committee but also extended to Clause-4 of the communiqué as no political prisoner has been released and no political case discontinued.
Government signatory to the communiqué, Chief Minister, Moinina Sengeh recently made it clear that they had no political prisoner and that all matters pending in court were criminal, a situation that showed that government was in no mood to comply with the agreement.
Similarly, no victim of political violence has been resettled and no backlog paid to APC’s parliamentarians and councillors, leaving big doubt in the people’s minds.
In 2018, there were reports of APC supporters in the South-East regions attacked and property vandalised by thugs linked to the SLPP while no SLPP supporter was attacked in the North-West regions, APC strongholds.
APC Chairperson in Bo city, Cecilia Ngobeh whose house and four vehicles were allegedly torched and Satta Lamin of Kailahun who was gang-raped in the eastern district of Kaiulahun are key victims of political violence in the South-East regions, but no one was brought to book. The impunity culture raised questions about a new syndrome of state-sponsored violence in Sierra Leone, but the answers are sure to come out as the assessment mission investigates.
See Press Statement below
