In a speech he delivered on Friday, 27 June, the flagbearer for the All People’s Congress (APC) in the 2018 and 2023 presidential polls, Dr Samura Kamara said the fight for electoral justice is big, bigger than anyone.
In the speech, entitled “Update on Electoral Justice and Restoration of Democracy in Sierra Leone,” Dr Samura said: “Our fight for Electoral Justice is not about any one individual. It is not about any one political party or tribe or region. It is about restoring the soul of our democracy, as a peaceful, united and an enduring free society. It is about laying the foundations for a Sierra Leone where your voice counts, your vote matters, and your future is protected.”
The fight is to ensure that never again in our electoral narrative would anyone organise an election and announce any result they feel like while at the same time jeopardising the peace and security of the state, not to mention the reputational risk to the man or woman that ends up “winning” the election, referred to as our “Fountain of Honour.”
While many people have politicised the fight for electoral justice, it is actually nonpartisan and will definitely restore dignity and sanity to the electoral processes of Sierra Leone. To such detractors, Dr Samura reminded that “nothing, not power, not propaganda, not delay, can stand in the way of what is rightfully and peacefully being pursued.”
The fight for electoral justice has to continue as it is also “about restoring the soul of our democracy, as a peaceful, united and an enduring free society” and “laying the foundations for a Sierra Leone where your voices count; your vote matters, and your future is protected.”
One issue that stands out throughout the protracted struggle for electoral justice is that many people who voted from all sides of the political divide are not sure if and how their votes were counted that gave president Bio the upper hand.
The fight for electoral justice will also ensure that we recognise rigging tactics or attempts log before they are ushered. It goes without saying that the start of the rigging process starts with the hiring or firing of key members of the electoral management bodies in the police, army, Electoral Commission, Statistics Sierra Leone, PPRC and others.
The pain and memory of June 24, over two years ago, are still fresh. Despite the time that has elapsed, the fight for electoral justice has not been abandoned by those who have boldly stated that the incumbent couldn’t have won the election.
Speaking further on Friday while updating the media and people of Sierra Leone on the fight for electoral justice, Dr Samura Kamara reminded that, “We all remember June 24, 2023, not with bitterness, but with clarity. That day was not just an election day. It was a moment when Sierra Leoneans chose hope over fear, democracy over manipulation. And though the results were marred by deep irregularities and betrayal, our response has been disciplined, dignified, and democratic…I want you to know that our international partners across Africa, the United States of America, Europe, and beyond, are not blind to the truth. The facts are very well known to them just as they are known to every true Sierra Leonean. They have listened, they have engaged, and they continue to press quietly, but firmly, for accountability and democratic legitimacy.”
For those that were convinced that our international partners or moral guarantors had abandoned the fight for electoral justice, this assumption is far from the truth. Our international partners are very much in the picture making silent decisions in the background with significant impact on how our government operates thereby limiting what president Bio can or cannot do. Even by withholding expected support to our government, the pinch is being felt for the lack of implementation of the 85 recommendations of the tripartite committee. Also failure to implement the recommendations will be an embarrassment for our international partners who would have allowed for something that they would not allow happening in their countries to happen to our democracy. For over ten months now many people in our government have not received their take home salaries, a fact that has been blamed on the actions of our ‘quiet and silent’ international partners.
The fight for electoral justice should be owned by every Sierra Leonean. No one in their right mind would consider the 2023 elections as free, fair, and credible. With the publishing of the voting results still not forthcoming, who can really say that the 2023 presidential election is done and dusted?
If we are to say never to rigging, never to the disenfranchisement of voters, if we are to say never to the deaths and destructions that happen during and after our electoral processes, if we are to say no to the shameful embarrassment of people stealing ballot boxes in the presence of security officers, if we are to say no to the electoral commissioners refusing to publish the disaggregated voting data from all polling stations, and if we are to stop avoiding taking our electoral disputes to the court of law for fair arbitration, then the fight for electoral justice must be embraced by all, as it is indeed bigger than any person, tribe, party, and or region. Lonta!