By Emmanuel Sahr Tengbeh
Sierra Leoneans are surely getting positive answers from the international community in the restoration of democracy in Sierra Leone. Waves of Protests which began few days ago have ended at the EU parliament in the Belgian capital, Brussels.
The protesters were well received in parliament and given time to vent out their grievances.
A letter detailing the current political situation in Sierra Leone was tendered to EU parliamentarians who assured Sierra Leoneans that action would be taken against President Julius Maada Bio and his government to put back democracy on track. Surely, sanctions, travel ban and asset freeze will be imposed on Bio’s government by the international community if he does not return the country to normalcy.
Monday’s protests in Belgium drew crowds from several European countries. Those in England, US, France, Germany, Italy and others converged in Belgium to send a loud and clear message to the international community that Bio’s government is illegitimate, and must not be allowed to rule.
It was just slightly above a week ago when Sierra Leoneans in the US and the UK staged protests about Sierra Leone’s current political situation. Protesters in London and Washington DC took similar actions last Monday. The protest reached Downing Street, the official residence of the British Prime Minister who also received a letter from the protesters complaining about Sierra Leone’s political crisis.
Like those at the EU parliament, Downing Street protesters were also assured by the British government that action was sure to come just in months. White House, the official residence of the US President also got a correspondence from the protesters detailing Sierra Leone’s uncertain political future if the gridlock continues, and the response was also the same.
June-24 presidential and parliamentary elections left Sierra Leone at crossroads as Bio still holds power despite strong evidence that he lost the elections.
APC (All People’s Congress)’s presidential candidate, Dr Samura Kamara who is widely believed to have won on a wide margin could not form a government as the incumbent candidate, Bio still holds the forte although he leads a government that is not recognised by the international community. Bio, few days ago, appointed ministers and senior officers who were approved by the one-party parliament, and these officers, will however, run the new government although isolated by the community of nations.
EU, AU and ECOWAS parliaments do not recognise Sierra Leone parliament until it is fixed.
External Parliamentary delegations have promised to visit Sierra Leone to end the stalemate although their approach remains unclear.
But, the only solution Sierra Leoneans will embrace is Bio stepping aside since he is not the winner, and many see his occupation of Office of the President unconstitutional.
The winner, Samura Kamara is currently being prevailed upon by high profile personalities to accept the result and work with President Bio, a move he has rejected outright.
Kamara is also being threatened by party members and supporters not to accept any plea or appeal by any Sierra Leonean regardless of their status.
Should he accept, it will be the second time, in a row, that the APC candidate will endorse and legitimise Bio’s leadership without winning elections.
A popular argument is still alive in the public domain that Bio did not win 2018 presidential elections.
He was installed President only to save the country’s peace which, many said, he had shattered through divisive rule. The people of Sierra Leone, for a long time, have wanted to see Bio out of power but the love of democracy keeps him there. They waited to vote him out, but their plan was foiled when Bio forced his way through relying on the army and the police.
At this moment, it is clear that it is only the language of protest that the people should speak within and outside Sierra Leone. The protests will not end in London, Washington, Brussels and the Hague but will be replicated in Sierra Leone. Reliable sources have intimated this press that nationwide protests will be staged soon to ensure that ECSL (Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone) produces credible results.
Bio has six months from June to conduct fresh elections without Mohamed Kenewui Konneh who many believe that he is as an SLPP hardliner. By his disposition, Konneh is more ‘PAOPA’ than Bio. Protests upon protests before June elections, the people have spoken their minds against the Bio regime for quite a long time although they differed in degree.
The protests are relatively peaceful in some p parts of the country while violent in other parts.
The situation in Bo is not the same as the one in Makeni, the Northeastern capital where situation degenerated to a near all-out conflict between security forces and the protesters.
Konneh however found it difficult to understand the people’s message, one of the main factors that created the current controversy.
The dust is yet to settle on the June-24 elections as US demands investigation into alleged rigging. The Embassy’s Spokesman, Matthew Miller says the US State Department needs a through probe of the elections.
“We call on government to institute an independent, outside investigation of the election process and integrate observer recommendations to improve the electoral modalities for future elections,” Miller said in a tweet seen by this press. The investigation, by all standards, seeks to establish the rightful winner of the elections as much attention is being focused on Dr Samura Kamara who credible entities declared as winner.
NEW (National Elections Watch), a credible, umbrella body of civil society organisations specialised in election monitoring minced no word, during a radio interview, that Bio had lost the elections to Samura Kamara who is widely seen as the most popular candidate. Members of the international community particularly EU speaks the same voice with NEW.
Election result held by the main opposition, All People’s Congress (APC) established the party as winner.
Sierra Leoneans are lost in wonders about Mohamed Kenewui Konneh could fast play magic with numbers as he announced Bio as winner.
Konneh heads ECSL (Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone), a body charged by law to conduct all public elections.
The agency is expected to be credible in conducting elections, but its dishonesty in the June-24 elections leaves much questions than answers, a situation that warrants an investigation.
It remains unclear, at the moment, whether government will honour US’s call as President Julius Maada Bio appoints full list of ministers deputies and heads of agencies.
Despite claims that the election is rigged, Bio insists on forming a government saying the election is free and fair, a move that puts Bio’s government at loggerheads with the international community. The UN, EU, UK, Commonwealth, AU, ECOWAS and other inter-governmental agencies are still stunned and shocked at the new form of rigging adopted by the Bio regime.
The Bastion of democracy of democracy, the US was the first to condemn Sierra Leone’s electoral process referring to it as ” stolen elections.”Consequently, the US, in collaboration with EU has been insisting that election result be published by polling stations and districts for transparency and fairness or Sierra Leone faces harsh measures in an event of non-compliance.
Travel ban, asset freeze sanctions are few measures said to be imposed on Sierra Leone government officials to force them to comply with the demands of the international community.
If the international community go by their stance, the big riggers will not travel to EU and other countries either in their official and private capacities.
Commonwealth, AU, ECOWAS, MRU and other inter-governmental agencies are expected to resort to similar actions.
The allies have similarly issued an ultimatum to ECSL (Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone) to go by the demands.
Apart from rigging, the officials may also fraud investigations.
“Do as you are instructed; publish the 2023 election result or the EU, UN, UK, USA will probe into accounts directly or indirectly connected to 24 SLPP politicians,” the international community further warned government.
In plain terms, the politicians will lose their assets if ECSL does not produce genuine result.
The joint ultimatum emanated from EU press release issued a day after the announcement of the elections.
“The European Union Election Observation Mission calls on the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone to promptly publish the disaggregated results at polling station level to ensure transparency for public scrutiny,” a portion of the release reads.
EU which has been in Sierra Leone since May 11, this year is of the firm view that failure to release the result at such lower levels compromises transparency.
A day prior to the announcement of the election results, the EU EOM released a preliminary statement noting that reception of sensitive materials abd each stage of the tabulation at regional tally centres lacked transparency.
The EU EOM team could not meaningfully observe verification of the result forms for the presidential election.
It further noted that the number and type of corrections and cancellation of polling station results was neither released nor shared with party agents and citizen observers. Marked inconsistency of figures was also detected during the observation process.
“The EU EOM notes that there are statistical inconsistencies between the first and second batches of presidential results published by ECSL on 26th and 27th June respectively,” the observers pointed out. These discrepancies in the number of average valid votes per polling stations range from a decrease of 75 per cent in Kenema to an average increase of 31 per cent in Kono.
The result also show low numbers of invalid ballots of 0.4 per cent nationwide as well as high turn out in at least three districts exceeding 95 per cent and in a further two districts going above 90 per cent. Local observers also share similar concerns.
Despite widespread rigging allegations, the EU EOM continues to observe the electoral processes including the on-going tabulation of results for parliamentary and local council elections whose results were announced yesterday.
West African election observers also agree with EU findings.
In a recent press release, the
West African Election Observers Network (WAEON) and West African Democracy Solidarity Network (WADSN) threw their weight behind local observer body, National Elections Watch (NEW) in their call for free and fair elections.
“WAEON and WADSN support the call made by NEW for the ECSL to release all polling station level results in the spirit of transparency and allow for independent analysis and verification of results,” the release reads in part.
In an effort to ensure fairness and honesty in the conduct of the elections, NEW issued a statement on June 27, 2003 based on estimates from its processed results and verification for transparency.
NEW made it clear that no candidate got the constitutional threshold of 55 per cent of votes cast in the first round. NEW’s stance indicated that a runoff was unavoidable.
A US-based media agency, Africanist press too condemned the electoral process which confers illegitimate authority on the new government.
The media agency sees the current regime enjoying a stolen mandate. “We must also make it known that any government that is the result of a non-transparent election is one that holds a stolen mandate. The Sierra Leonean political elites have already organised an electoral coup against the popular democratic will of the majority of Sierra Leonean votes. Similarly, main opposition, All People’s Congress (APC) does not recognise the government of the embattled President Julius Maada Bio owing to a “stolen mandate.”
APC’s Presidential candidate sees Bio’s action as a “frontal attack” to democracy.