By June 26, 2025, SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party) government shall have spent two years in power prompting debates about either Samura Kamara will get the presidency or election authorities hold another election. Samura Kamara is APC’s presidential candidate of the June 24, 2023 elections, and has always remained critical of the results announced by the Chief Electoral Commissioner, Mohamed Kenewui Konneh.
According to his address to the nation few days ago, Kamara sounds hopeful that the long journey of taking back his victory is at an end. “The time for our victory is within reach,” he assured APC supporters especially those who believe in “electoral justice” campaign. Majority of APC grassroots supporters who share this view also have hope in the presidency of Samura Kamara although several flag-bearer aspirants have shown up in the party.
Most of the flag-bearer hopefuls have been discredited from the onset as they are seen to be handworks of former President Ernest Bai Koroma who, many consider as haven lost all integrity.
Within the APC and the country at large, the former President is just a pale and faint shadow of his glorious former self.
He no longer commands the recognition and respect which he once enjoyed while in the Office of President and Chairman and Leader of the party.
Koroma recently came under the spotlight for deception and half-truth about the current political quagmire after he released a 56-minute audio indirectly accusing Samura Kamara of a sellout to President Bio. The audio was widely seen as a dangerous move that would have aroused the mob against Samura Kamara, but God was on his side as it bounced back at the producer, Ernest Koroma.
The audio makes Samura Kanara strong and determined to bring back APC’s victory, a move widely supported by APC grassroots supporters across the country, but perceived delay in the implementation of the Tripartite Committee recommendations is eroding people’s hope and confidence.
It is almost two years when the struggle to take back APC’s victory began, but the journey is still countless of miles to go. Information reaching this press indicates that the recommendations from the election probe have been submitted to government for implementation which is tied to donor support.
According to the international community, funds will be disbursed to government only after the implementation of all 84 recommendations. The 80 recommendations border on electoral reforms while the four hinges on accountability which is establishing the actual winner of the June elections and bringing to justice those who play significant role in election rigging. Despite the tight financial conditions tied to the implementation, many people are not sure about a speedy roll out of the process as no one can shoot his leg. For the government, it will be a steep climb and slippery walk to have all recommendations implemented; a move that might rob government of its power and authority.
A senior politician (name withheld for the sake of anonymity) told this press that the recommendations would, first and foremost, be taken to cabinet for discussions before laid at Parliament for debate prior to implementation.
Such actions might take several months if not a year before finishing the job.
It also means that it is an investigation that still continues as the report has not shown who actually won the elections.
What is clear from the election is the two parties could not produce the election results.
The opposition candidate, Samura Kamara seems better off as he tenders about 71 percent of RRFs (Result Reconciliation Forms) to the Tripartite Committee.
The result offers the opposition leader, a commanding lead as he reportedly scores 57.15 percent while the incumbent gets 39.40 percent.
However, the results are not enough to say Samura Kamara wins the election since his agents fail to cover all polling stations.
But, and the but part of it, he failed to bring out the much-demanded 100 percent which would have left no doubt in the election investigators and the international community about who is the actual winner of the elections.
On the other hand, the election body ECSL (Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone), according to reports, failed to present the results by polling stations and districts as demanded by the Election Investigation Committee and the international community.
The failure to produce the complete results by the two political parties cause the US Ambassador too to hold doubt as he recently said that “the two parties fail to bring out the election results,” a statement that further complicates the situation.
The situation could be further interpreted that it is not enough for power to be transferred like that especially when he maintains the stance that his victory is announced by the Chief Electoral Commissioner. To hand over power at this moment could not be easy and to hold a rerun is also difficult as the two political parties are now in deep preparation for the 2028 elections.
Next year, national delegates’ conferences will be held to choose flag-Bearers, but it remains unclear whether President Julius Maada Bio will run again for office.
The move is to prove that he is a democrat and ready to stay within the confines of the law. Section 40 of the 1991 Constitution prohibits any person running for a third term for the Office of the President as long as two terms have been exhausted either consecutive or not.
In spite of the readiness for elections by the country’s two main political parties, majority of the people of Sierra Leone are not willing to register and vote since they fear that their votes will not be counted.
They want the Tripartite Committee recommendations to be implemented first before talking about any other election.
An APC grassroots member, Ibrahim Bangura is blunt to say: “I will not take part in any future election if the real results are not counted and announced.”
His view is widely shared by many Sierra Leoneans who still wonder why ECSL is still stubborn to publish the results by polling stations and districts. The request to publish the election results by polling stations has been constantly rejected by Mohamed Konneh even ahead of elections.
The election boss has always maintained that Sierra Leone is a sovereign state but does not hesitate in collecting money from the international community to conduct elections.
In the past election, EU alone reportedly provided US$10m to conduct the election apart from other world bodies.
These inter-governmental agencies also are ready to stand with Samura Kamara in the restoration of democracy in Sierra Leone.
The move by the international community, political analysts say, holds Samura’s hope in getting back his victory, but delay seems to be a procrastination seen as a thief of time.