A broad-based government of national unity is often the remedy for post-election stalemates in several African countries where democracy is still an evolving concept.
The same method is also adopted in post-war countries for peace and national cohesion. It was a sure-bet solution for Kenya following post-election disagreements in 2008 in which hundreds of thousands were driven from their homes.
The International Criminal Court at the Hague also played a critical role in the stabilisation of Kenya after the elections as the key political actors were invited by the court.
The Coalition government remedy worked as Kenya remained in peace for years not until another election was held.
Coalition government was also used to stabilise Sierra Leone after the 11-year civil war that claimed the lives of over 100, 000 Sierra Leoneans. President Ahmad Tejan Kabba of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) appointed several Northerners in his government to bridge the North-South divide.
It was during his tenure that Northerners held top Government posts: Alfred Carew was Attorney-General of Justice, Tom Carew was Head of the army, Brima Acha Kamara led the police force, Alpha Tejan Wurie was Minister of Education, Okere Adams, Minister of Agriculture, Bobson Sesay, Lands Minister and the list continues.
Even the rebel leader, Foday Saybana Sankoh was made Chairman, Commission for Strategic Mineral Resources and National Development, a post that was almost equal to a Vice President. With such office, he was answerable to only the President of Sierra Leone at that time, Tejan Kabba.
Peace also reigned in Sierra Leone throughout the post-election period with power changing hands in 2007 after presidential and parliamentary elections.
A Political situation similar to those in other countries has also taken place in Sierra Leone after the June 24, 2023 election in which the incumbent, Julius Maada Bio was declared winner sparking waves of protests and disagreements in Sierra Leone.
The people of Sierra Leone as well as the international community did not accept the results saying the electoral process “lacked transparency” at every stage of the polls.
Initially, President Julius Maada Bio tried several methods to unite and stabilise the country by offering more government posts to Northerners. Currently, the Trade Minister is a Northerner replacing Dr Hinga Sandy, a Southerner.
Mohamed Orman Bangura is also retained as Youth Affairs Minister and Kadiatu Gogra, Deputy Education Minister, a Northerner from PortLoko district also serves the current government.
Ahmed Fantamahdi Bangura, a Northerner also leads the Finance Ministry, one of the most important ministries in any government.
Recently, one of the most popular APC (All People’s Congress) parliamentarians, Abdul Karim Kargbo took the seat of the Speaker of ECOWAS parliament replacing Mohamed Tunis of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP).
Many Sierra Leoneans were taken aback for a critical opposition member to hold such post under the PAOPA regime.
During PAOPA’s first term between 2018 and 2023, the minority leader, Chernor Maju Bah was not allowed to hold the noble seat even though it was widely reported that it was his turn. Honourable Mohamed Bangura of the APC was also a member of ECOWAS parliament after he was appointed by the PAOAPA regime.
Currently, Northerners also continued to occupy key agencies with Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella heading the Environment Protection Agency under Office of the President.
Alpha Kanu of PortLoko district is the Presidential Spokesman while Amadu Bond Wurie is Resident Minister, North-West region. Appointments for North-westerners will still continue until a coalition government is achieved, but others see it as a distant dream.
For many Sierra Leoneans, it is extremely difficult and almost impossible for PAOPA government to achieve a broad-based government of national unity as they missed the right step initially.
The outcome of the 2018 elections should have gone a long way to establish a coalition government if PAOPA regime wanted it happens.
The election results show that APC had 69 parliamentary seats while SLPP got 49 making it clear that APC was supposed to have the parliamentary Speaker while SLPP holds the presidency.
It happens in other countries where the opposition holds the seat of Speaker of parliament and the ruling party having the President.
The United States widely seen as a beacon of democracy have also accepted such political arrangement between 2016 and 2020 when Donald Trump was President.
The ruling party at that time, the Republicans held the presidency while the democrats had the Speaker of the law-making body. However, SLPP did not accept such political situation and most times would use the security forces and the courts to cut down on the number of APC parliamentarians to deprive the opposition party of the speakership.
Sierra Leoneans witnessed how armed policemen forcefully entered the well of parliament, beat up APC parliamentarians and threw most of them out of the legislative house to achieve their aim, and that aim is to deny APC the speakership.
It was on the day of such untold brutality against law makers that election for the speaker was held thus putting APC at a disadvantage position.
Dr Abass Bundu who had resigned from his position was imposed on the parliamentarians and the people of Sierra Leone making it difficult for parliament to function well throughout Bio’s five-year term.
The courts were also manipulated to remove 10 APC parliamentarians creating a leverage for the Clerk of parliament, Umar Paran Tarawally to swear in SLPP runners-up, a situation that put the number of the ruling party parliamentarians at par with those of the APC.
Oppression, indiscriminate arrest and terror tactics became effective tools in the hands of SLPP government.
The removal of the 10 APC parliamentarians followed a petition filed by the ruling party against 16 APC members of parliament citing electoral irregularities and violence during the polls. Similarly, APC also petitioned several SLPP law makers challenging the manner in which they were elected.
As if the judges feared government’s reprisals, the judges rejected APC’s petitions just to confer a political advantage on the ruling party.
It was not uncommon to see APC law makers arrested and detained for alleged legal breaches just to intimidate them so that they could challenge bad laws and policies tabled by ministers and heads of agencies.
The passage of bad laws started off with the commissions of inquiry which many said was a Kangaroo-styled tribunal meant to discomfort APC politicians especially former ministers and heads of parastatals.
It was in the same parliament that the bad four electoral laws were enacted using the carrot- and-stick approach so that SLPP government can have its way.
Without any doubt, those laws constituted a precursor to the eventual election rigging which has been hunting the country to this day.
The move to retain power at all cost robbed the courts of their sanctity for which they were known as the people lost confidence in the justice system. However, the appointment of a new Chief Justice, Brown Marke seems to have created a fundamental turnaround in the country’s justice system.
It could however be argued that PAOPA’s toil to coalesce with the APC would be fruitless without first of all influencing the international community (the United States, the United Kingdom, United Nations, Commonwealth, Africa Union, ECOWAS and others) to accept their cause.