President Julius Maada Bio’s hire of a law firm to challenge his immigration status in the United States is one of the hottest topics for public debates with others seeing it as a form of negotiation.
The debate became a heated one as Bio’s legal battle comes at a time the Super World Power has turned his back against him owing to election rigging. Sierra Leone’s President had an immigration challenge over 15 years after breaching a US order not to come to Sierra Leone during the war. Currently, Bio has also trampled on the US’s key foreign policy objectives: democracy, human rights and development.
Had he meant business, the legal challenge ought to have commenced long time ago and not now. But, many say the challenge is no to go to court with the US, but a way to renew ties with a country which no other country can do away with so easily especially in trying times.
The US position is strategic in international relations and politics and no nation has survived without the greatest power. The US has the heaviest voice in most of the important global organisations particularly the UN the biggest organisation in the world.
Formed in 1945 after the second World War, the US has kept the UN alive with the cooperation of other countries in the world it has succeeded in maintaining International peace and security with countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America benefitting from the biggest organisation in the world.
Sierra Leone was one of the beneficiaries of peace from the UN during her civil war which went on between 1991 and 2002. The country saw one of the largest deployment of UN troops ever seen anywhere in the world to consolidate peace and democracy.
It was in Sierra Leone that a large number of UN troops paid the highest sacrifices by losing their lives to ensure that peace returned to a war-torn country. The UN did not stop at the restoration of peace but contributed to Sierra Leone’s development in the immediate post-war period and beyond.
The judiciary has been quite appreciative of the role played by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in ensuring that justice is brought to the door steps of the people. Not until the election conflict, UNDP has been supporting magistrates and judges and same time sponsoring the circuit court initiative which saw judicial officers holding courts all over the country to ensure speedy justice.
The US also hosts the World Trade Centre in the financial district of Manhattan in New York where the world’s most important global transactions took place. With such a position, the US is rated the World’s biggest trade partner for big economies such as China, Britain and several countries in Europe as well as Africa.
The Divergent Visa scheme which has benefitted millions of people in several countries in the world is a US initiative with millions living on remittances from the greatest country.
It is also the biggest contributor to World Bank and International Monetary Fund that provide grants and loans to developing countries including Sierra Leone which recently missed $250 grant owing to Sierra Leone’s rigged election.
To strengthen good governance in emerging democracies, the United States identifies several benchmarks under the MCC (Millenium Challenge Corporation) compact from which countries have benefited hundreds of millions of dollars.
Sierra Leone also missed $444m under the MCC owing to a strained relationship with the US over “stolen elections.”
It is the current situation Julius Maada Bio faces as Sierra Leone isolated by several countries after the US action. Without any doubt, Bio needs the US more than ever before, and the only way to start the negotiation might be to go through a US-based law firm to review President Julius Maada Bio’s immigration status with US the authorities.
The law firm, according to reports, has declared to the US Department of Justice that they will obtain President Bio’s Alien file as well as any litigation from the Immigration Court.
It was also reported that government, in August, last year, hired a US Army Special Forces veteran to advise and assist President Bio and his government to strengthen its political relations with the US.
Bio, for several years, had stayed in the US after he handed over power to President Ahmed Tejan Kabba in 1996. Bio was Chairman of the defunct National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) and Head of State before he left for the United States where he stayed for a while.
He however had problem with the US Immigration Department during Sierra Leone’s civil war when he was cautioned not to come to Sierra Leone.
Sources however said Bio breached the warning by coming to Sierra Leone at a time the country’s security situation was deteriorating as a result of the armed struggle. Bio’s breach resulted into his deportation from the United States, but stayed in England for several years from where he returned to Sierra Leone, and began his struggle for the presidency.
He contested 2012 elections with then incumbent, former President Ernest Bai Koroma, but lost. His deportation debate was however not as loud as it was in 2018 after it became clear that Bio had won the regalia of a crown prince. It was highly visible, at that time, that Bio would be Sierra Leone’s next President in 2018 come what may.
The allegation heavily weighed down on President Julius Maada Bio during the 2018 elections as many say he could not travel to the US. The issue became another main talking point during the elections with Sierra Leoneans asking: how can we have a President that could not travel to the United States?
Amid ongoing debates and discussions about the ban from entering the United States, Bio was quite hopeful that it would be lifted once he became President. It came to pass as the President resumed his travels to the United States when he became Head of State in 2018 attending UN meetings and conferences as well as visiting his SLPP groups.
However, the ban appeared to have been renewed following a row between him and the United States over alleged election rigging that saw him become President for a second term.
Although President Julius Maada Bio is not head of the elections, he is however accused of playing significant role in the election rigging since the Chief Electoral Commissioner was under the President’s supervision.
Konneh is in charge of ECSL (Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone), a body mandated by law to conduct and supervise all public elections and referenda. However, ECSL is not completely independent from Office of the President who oversees its work.
Although the names of those who should not enter America have not been made public, it is clear that Bio would form part of the names of those barred. If everything works well, he US would be his place of abode and rest after he shall have left power, and it is high time he renewed relations with his proposed host.
His purported legal challenge comes at a time the United States has announced travel restrictions for those who played a key role in undermining the democratic process in Sierra Leone in June last year.
Several international reports on the electoral process particularly the Carter Center stated in its recommendation that those who rigged the elections should be held accountable.
Relations between Sierra Leone’s President and the US worsened after he accused the latter of inciting him to rig the elections by stopping Mohamed Konneh from announcing the June 24, 2023 election results.
Bio made the claim during his visit to a university in Washington in the US after a UN summit. He also used the platform to clear his name that he was not responsible for what happened in Sierra Leone since he was not the Chief Electoral Commissioner.
“Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone is an independent entity according to the laws of Sierra Leone, and I am not responsible for the election results,” Bio told students of his almametre who were curious about knowing what happened in Sierra Leone.
Bio’s allegation was also similarly countered by US authorities who took exception to it, and for Bio the swords must be dropped with the negotiation table being the only way out.