Sierra Leoneans again have been hit by another big shock after APC (All People’s Congress)’s presidential candidate have endorsed Bio winner of the June-24 election.
After a tedious journey of horror for the regime change, Samura Kamara eventually bows down to President Julius Maada Bio owing to promises that no one knows whether they could be fulfilled.
What led Kamara to accept Bio to do away with the stolen votes remains one of the mind boggling questions. It is now clear that the dust has been settled once the party leader has accepted; every APC member has to follow suit without reservation although few pockets of resistance could not be completely ruled out.
Despite blatant rigging and vote stealing, any attempt to remove Bio by use of any means other than the ballot box amounts to treason crime known to the criminal as the highest. All hopes have been lost especially those who have lost their loved ones in the struggle to restore democracy in Sierra Leone.
If the figures are put together, those killed between 2018 and 2023 under Bio’s watch could have amounted to over 500, and their souls continue weeping in vain as no compensation scheme is developed for them.
The APC presidential candidate however put forward several demands which must be respected by President Julius Maada Bio if they are to end their non-participation in governance.
Release of all persons arrested or detained for alleged election and civil protest, discontinuation of politically motivated cases against APC and other parties and their supporters, support the resettlement of any political party supporter internally or externally displaced due to political intimidation, attacks and harassment, payment of backlogues (salaries and allowances) to all APC parliamentarians, mayors, chairmen and councillors among others.
President Julius Maada Bio, according to APC’s demands, must make a national address on dialogue, unity, cohesion and peace, must also set a cross-party committee on electoral systems in consultation with APC among others.
This body, according to the communique, will examine the electoral systems, structures and processes of the 2023 multi-tier electoral cycle. 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 publication of electoral data consistent with international best practice to enhance the credibility of all future elections in Sierra Leone.
It also clear in the communique that the terms of reference will be developed under the joint leadership of the committee within 30 days and the duration of the committee shall be six months commencing from the date of establishment.
It is also pre-condition that the committee should be gender-balanced and recommendations “actionable” and “implementable.”
At the end of the communique, government and APC jointly condemn “all citizens at home and abroad who incite violence, spread hate speech and disrupt national cohesion.
It is also part of the agreement to bring to justice anyone that incites violence via social media (facebook, whatsapp and Tiktok). The demands appear attractive to several APC members, but one hinging on a compensation scheme for those killed, maimed and falsely imprisoned remained one of the greatest questions.
Relocation and resettlement of those displaced by way of state-sponsored violence should not be the end but a comprehensive reparation packages for the family of those who fell under the barrel of the gun.
Of all presidential aspirants in Sierra Leone’s post-war politics, dozens have died for Samura Kamara than any other candidate, but has failed to remember them in his negotiation with officials he called “colleagues of an illegal regime.”
In his negotiation, the APC presidential candidate failed to remember those who were brutally murdered in Moyeba community in the September 11, 2023 protest just two months after the election.
Moyeba woke up to a shoot-out by trigger-happy police officers killing six according to government sources.
Unofficial account suggested a higher figure with no one held to account thus building a society where impunity flourishes to full blossom. By such weak terms of negotiation, Kamara also ignored the agony of those who were attacked and killed in Rosengbe village in the early days of 2018 when Bio took over state command.
The police and military attacks were camouflaged in a joint police and military raid for cannabis which turned out to be a horror for peaceful civilians in a quiet and peaceful village. The then Local Unit Commander who attempted to say the truth about the raid was suspended and later dismissed.
Samura Kamara also treated with a pinch of salt repeated in the July, 2022 killings in Makeni city where youth’s resistance to the relocation of 1.6KVA electricity generator claimed the lives of 20 people although government put the figure at six.
Key stakeholders in Makeni city including the Mayor, Sunkarie Kabba were threatened with arrest and imprisonment just to keep them silent. A subsequent government press release consoled no one but threatened a further crackdown for any other violence fomented in the Northern city.
Mass killings also take place in Lunsar town in PortLoko district where youth protested against an economic hardship owing to illegal closure of mines. The number of those killed could not be quantified owing to the secrecy that shrouded the police and military operations in the forested town.
According to sources, the bodies of those killed were dumped in a river at the outskirts of Lunsar town making it difficult to be given traditional courtesies due to the dead. Tombo in the Western Rural district is no difference as protesters were also killed when they resisted a ban on fishing imposed by government.
According to government sources, the ban was to cut off the chain of Covid-19 infections on the high sea. It was the funniest move ever to have been embarked on by government as they failed to regulate congestions in pubs and night clubs and focused on the ocean where no crowding takes place.
The souls of those massacred by the police and military in the August 10, 2022 demonstrations also have been betrayed. 31 Sierra Leoneans including six police officers perished under the barrel of the gun when they protested against high cost of living that was spiraling out of control.
The Pa Demba Road massacre in April, 2019 has also been trampled in the dust of history.
The inmates, on the said date, were struck with horror when 31 of them including a prison officer were shot dead with accusing fingers pointed at the presidential guards.
By Samura’s action, Bio and his officials will get away with the crimes except God comes down one day to hold the perpetrators accountable.