Recent alarms and notes of caution, that were earlier this week sounded by the president of Guinea, Professor Alpha Conde, have brought to mind series of suspicious questions, as to who exactly the vice president of Sierra Leone, Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, was representing in a meeting allegedly held on the border town between the two countries.
The move is being described as a bold interference of Sierra Leone into the domestic politics of a sister nation, which is not in the best interest of peace and security between Guinea and Sierra Leone, despite the fact they have hardly engaged each other in any form of conflict over such an issue. But the fact is it is a condemnable act. And the government of Sierra Leone must therefore come out clean on this, by way of completely saving its name from poking its nose into the local affairs of another country.
The issue has received wide condemnations from the public, urging the government to take serious actions against vice president Dr Jalloh’s alleged unethical meddling into the internal affairs of a neighboring country. Guinea, a complete sovereign country, does not in any way deserve what the Sierra Leone deputy president and his government are being accused of.
The concern emerged from President Conde, after a closure of the border on the Guinean side of the two countries, as well as their immediate neighbors, with fears and accusation that his opponent politician, Sellu Dallen, is training mercenaries in Sierra Leone to cause unrest in Guinea.
The run up to the elections has generated mountain tensions in Guinea, to an extent that all entry points into the country have been closed by the government, which is why the timing by the two politicians might have prompted President Conde’s concerns about the recruitment of rebels in Sierra Leone to invade Guinea. Such is expected only due to the alleged unprofessional interferences of vice president Dr Jalloh.
As a Fullah politician, Dr Jalloh is solidly supportive of Dalleh and, as a matter of fact, has been busy mobilizing support for him since he became vice president of Sierra Leone.
One basic thing, Dr Jalleh, as an international civil servant whose wealth of experience in serving with the United Nations in so many capacities, is that Guineans have decided already to re-elect Prof. Alpha Conde for a third term. And certainly, for him, he is going to win the elections no matter the situation. So the best for you, Dr Jalloh, and your candidate, Dalleh, is to pipe down and give peace a chance rather than causing unrest in Guinea for there is no way you people can democratically unseat Prof. Conde.
For he has already done his assignments, so don’t mess yourself up, nor waste your precious time on electing Dalleh to power, which is absolutely impossible on that particular face of planet earth.
Another angle of suspicion is that Dr Jalloh’s mission, on the border, was all about him facilitating the campaigning of Fullah voters, whom he had mobilized in readiness to vote in Dalleh as the next president of Guinea, so that come 2023 similar efforts can be reciprocated to solicit Guinean Fullah votes for the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party to secure a smooth second term victory. That has already failed as the ploy has been exposed and vice president Dr Jalloh must therefore refrain from such cheap politics and concentrate on steady and fruitful state governance trajectory if there is any this government is following.
To the issue of interference in Guinea’s approaching election, the concerns have even ignited fears in citizens of both countries, considering the level of commonalities between both countries in the areas of socio-cultural, economic, trade and commerce, education, peace and security, the list of ties is long. And in that vein people from these countries hardly come along without these values, which is why many international relations and foreign policy experts hold the candid views that Guinea and Sierra Leone hardly go pathways, no matter the circumstance. Rather they would always resolve their indifference for the prosperity and stability of their people and the entire Mano River Union sub-region, as it is always said that democratic peace never goes to war.
Nonetheless, the concern therein in Conakry, by angry President Conde, is about the critical moment of the country’s presidential and general elections with the undiplomatic and unethical meddling of Sierra Leone through the activities of vice president Dr Jalloh, who is being accused of holding several ‘secret’ meetings with the main opposition politician, Dalleh.
And one wonders as to who exactly the vice president of Sierra Leone was representing at the meeting he held with the Guinean opposition politician. Was it done for and on behalf of the government and president Julius Maada Bio? These are the million United States Dollars questions the world is yet to hear and know from either of the two governments.
But more is expected from the government of Sierra Leone, for, as far as Guinea President Conde has spoken on the global media, so it is left with the suspecting government of Sierra Leone to reply if at all there is nothing of special political interest to the vice president and the presidency as a whole.
For all we know, and have learnt over the years in African political governance, is that deputy presidents are always yes public servants who always receive directives and instructions from their bosses; the presidents. And, in this particular issue, under review, there is no way Dr Jalloh should have gone to such a meeting without the sanctions and approval of his boss, President Julius Maada Bio.
Except if President Bio wants to tell the world that his vice president Dr Jalloh is now a man on his own and operates the way he likes. Besides we are left to believe that the vice president of Sierra Leone, Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, went to war in Guinea on the orders of his commander in chief, president Bio without whose green light, the veteran UN diplomat wouldn’t have taken the risk at all.