SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party) chairman, Dr Prince Harding has assured voters that the Chief Electoral Commissioner (CEC), Mohamed Kenewui Konneh will conduct June-24 elections. Konneh heads ECSL (Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone), a body charged, by law, to conduct and supervise all public elections.
Dr Harding made the assurance during a press conference held at SLPP headquarters in Freetown attended executive officials and senior party members. He was responding to a 72-hour ultimatum issued by the APC (All People’s Congress) presidential Candidate, Dr Samura Kamara for the resignation of Konneh and other commissioners. APC says the CEC is incompetent and improperly appointed.
Dr Harding however insists that the APC candidate lacks the authority to issue such an ultimatum. “Samura Kamara’s action is outside the law, and one does not need a BECE (Basic Education Certificate Examination) law to show that his action is wrong,” Prince Harding emphasised. He sees Samura’s demand as an outrageous attempt to use the commissioners as scapegoats for APC’s “ill-preparedness” for the June-24 elections. As if embarking on a smear campaign, Dr Harding doubted Kamara’s doctorate qualifications adding that such ultimatum ought not to have come from him.
For Prince Harding, Samura’s call is disrespectful. “The suggestion by the APC candidate to replace the Board of Electoral Commissioners with a so-called ‘independent internationally accredited team of electoral commissioners’ to conduct Sierra Leone’s national elections is disrespectful to our collective consciousness , an attack on the sovereignty of Sierra Leone and a spectre of his unfitness to be elected as President and sovereign Head of State,” the press release reads in part.
Dr Harding is of the view that Konneh’s appointment was approved after a thorough scrutiny in which opposition parliamentarians including APC participated. He minced no word in referring to Samura’s appeals and deadline as out of place. “The bogus demands and unacceptable deadline by the APC Presidential Candidate are merely characteristic shenanigans by a political party desperately seeking a postponement of the 24th June, 2023 multi-tier elections that has the tendency to create a constitutional crisis in the country,” the SLPP press release further reads.
As the 72-hour ultimatum still in force, the SLPP Chairman has made it clear that they will resist any attempt to disrupt the coming elections. It is also argued in the press release that the CEC is not obliged to release any data to political parties. “Without doubt, there is no law that requires ECSL to give a national register of voters to political parties. Any attempt by ECSL to provide political parties with the disaggregated data of voters, including voters’ identification numbers, addresses, dates and places of birth will not only be in contravention of the privacy and confidentiality of voters but also endanger the lives and security of voters,” the press release noted.
It is Dr Harding’s view that the voter ID cards contain sufficient information of all registered voters in the country.
Believing that Konneh is the right man in the right place, Dr Harding calls on Sierra Leoneans to reject Samura’s call adding that SLPP reposes confidence in ECSL, and encourages the commissioners to discharge their functions within the law. As threats and counter-threats between the two parties continue, the SLPP Chairman, refers to APC’s view of a free and fair elections as an APC victory. Such notion, he said, sent signals of a post-election violence.
He also compares the current political situation to 2018 elections, a period, he said, was riddled with widespread violence perpetrated by APC. “This unfounded assertion is akin to the narrative the APC presidential candidate created in 2018 when he realised that the APC had lost the elections to the SLPP and refused to concede defeat,” Dr Harding looked back.
He therefore condemns what he calls APC’s attempt to sow the seed of discord and violence in the country. Stunned and shocked by APC’s ultimatum, Dr Harding reminded Sierra Leoneans that President Julius Maada Bio announced the elections date over a year ago so that political parties could prepare well. Several engagements, he went on, had taken place over the past 12 months involving all political parties and election management bodies through the Political Parties Liaison and the election committees to ensure free, fair and credible elections.
He pointed out that the APC participated in the committee’s meetings where concerns about the electoral process were raised. Those concerns, Dr Harding said, had been addressed in the presence of other political parties. The act begs the question: why now is the time APC has taken such a decision?The question remains unanswered at the moment, but the ruling party sees APC’s action as one that would interrupt the peaceful conduct of the elections.
It also reverses democratic gains Sierra Leone has made since the return to multi-party democracy in 1996. He alluded to APC’s press release issued on 11th May, this year calling for a nation-wide protest. Dr Harding went on to state that the press statement was followed by “reckless threats” bordering on peace and security. He further made reference to another press release issued by former chairman of the Western Area Rural District Council, Kasho Holland Cole which, he said, were all meant to create unrest in the country. As the battle line has been drawn between the two political parties, holding the elections on June 24, this year remains a wait-and-see affair.