Uneasy calm hangs on Bo city, south of Sierra Leone where the youth have threatened to burn ECSL (Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone) facilities owing to non-payment of stipends. The disgruntled youth were employed as polling station and presiding officers in June-24 elections, but had not received their money after work, a situation they kick against threatening to take the law into their own hand.
“We are going to burn down ECSL offices if they do not pay us our money. We have worked for them, and they must pay us,” one of the youth anonymously told this press.
At the moment, a good number of ECSL staff have gone into hiding as funds are yet to be disbursed. In such economic hard time, it is difficult for the youth to put up with the ECSL officials who they suspect of colluding with government.
The unpaid workers, few days ago, became rowdy at ECSL office in Bo city pelting stones and other missiles at senior officials. Video footages laid hands on by this press showed how ECSL officials ran for shelter as the youth went after them with no security personnel seen at the scene to protect the vulnerable officials.
Although the riot has stopped, the dust is yet to settle as the irate youth still wait for their money for which no real sign of payment exists. It is clear, at the moment, that the youth are ready to go again on the rampage until they get what due them.
Payment for ad hoc employees is usually delayed after elections but not at this scale. This is the first time for the temporal workers to go close to two months without getting their stipends after they had finished their job.
In 1996, 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2018 elections, election personnel would be paid days after the elections, but 2023 remains a different case. Credible sources have intimated this press that the youth suffered “double Jeopardy” as they were employed not only to conduct the elections but also to rig in favour of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) with promise of compensation which is now not forthcoming. The riggers were not compensated for the ‘dirty job’ and also not paid for genuine work. The non-payment of temporal staff for over a month after election is a sign that government has gone berserk as donors hold back their funds over what they called “stolen elections.”The EU, UN, UK, US and other inter-government agencies have stopped funding all government activities until genuine election results are produced.Bio’s government faces travel ban, sanctions and asset freeze if he fails to relinquish power since he is not seen as winner of June-24 elections.
The UN, EU, US, UK, Ireland, Germany condemned the electoral process which, they believed, was massively tampered with.
The President is however not comfortable with such condemnation as he expected the Western countries and organisations to back him. Bio has not taken it lightly with Western countries’ owing to alleged meddling with the country’s politics, and went at great lengths of inciting protests against the international community.
For him, the international observers who represented different countries and organisations should not dictate the outcome of an election. Such function, he said, should be left to the law adding that the 1991 Constitution was quite clear about the electoral process in the country.
He cited the disputed elections in the United States in which law makers were held under siege at the Capitol as example of election rigging in a country said to be a bastion of democracy. He stressed that it was through such controversial elections that Joe Biden became President but nobody questioned him. “We did not say they attained their democracy with guns,” Bio told Sierra Leoneans.
The President also questioned the role of the international community in the development of Sierra Leone asking “where they were during our war in Sierra Leone?”
However, Bio’s rhetoric has been debunked as the international community has always been by several Sierra Leoneans who argue that the diplomatic corps have always been here even in tough times. The military strike on Okra Hill, West Side Boys by the British Army contributed significantly to the end of the country’s decade-long war.
The military strike code-named ‘Operation Barass’ has been praised by security analysts as the greatest military operation in modern times. UK’s reform project of the police and the army was also another key intervention area towards building peace and order in Sierra Leone. UK through DFID (Department For International Development) takes care of the Anti-Corruption Commission in terms of technical and financial support.
What about the millions of dollars which EU and other organisations pump into Sierra Leone just for the elections? Western nations and organisations have since warned ECSL (Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone) Chief, Mohamed Kenewui Konneh to produce the correct result or puts the country at risk of isolation and sanctions, and President Bio too has been similarly warned .
Bio who, many see as one that cherishes power, turns him away from the West particularly Britain. At the moment, President Bio is now ever ready to go close towards Russia and China for mutual relationship and cooperation.
The President hopes that in the face of Western isolation or any other punitive measures, be it military action, Russia and China would protect him.
The President appears to have lent a leaf from the Syrian situation where President Basha AL-Hasad was protected by the Russian army when he was going to be overthrown by armed protesters.
But, a big question mark hangs on President Bio’s hope and trust in the two countries as both are UN members holding key seats in the Security Council, a body charged with the responsibility of securing world peace and security.
A common argument holds that even if Russia and China disagree with the West on several issues, they will unite when it comes to action against President Bio and his government.
It is also reported that Bio recently voted at the UN in support of actions to be taken against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, a move that made it difficult for Russia to come to his side in terms of foreign aid.