As the alleged fraudulent election results are being investigated, a special committee, a source says, is about to be set up to look into Resolution-4 of the October, 2023 Communique signed between the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and the main opposition, All People’s Congress (APC) in the presence of international peace mediators.
The Resolution seeks to address the problems of politically motivated court cases, political detainees and resettlement of victims of political violence to which government had turned a blind eye since the communiqué came into effect.
The peace deal was facilitated by the Commonwealth, African Union and ECOWAS to end a prolonged post-election stalemate which nobody, at that time, knew when it would end
With the setting up of the committee, the electoral and the political violence matters would be simultaneously looked into as a way of providing justice to the people of Sierra Leone.
It is an age-old notion that although the call for peace remains shriller than all the music, others believe that there can never be peace without justice.
The Commonwealth-brokered peace mediation went well as the opposition leader, Dr Samura Kamara and the Chief Minister, Dr David Moinina Sengeh signed the communiqué with handshakes, smiles and hugs that assure Sierra Leoneans.
By inking the peace document, SLPP government pledged to end political trials, release political detainees and resettle victims of political violence, but government has not shown the required political will to carry out the resolutions.
At the moment, a debate is ongoing about what actually constituted politically motivated cases with government officials arguing that the matters in their files relate to ordinary crimes and not politics.
Currently, government appears to have tightly held on to their arguments than to the communiqué which they willingly signed five months ago.
In spite of government’s commitment to the peace document, the cases of the opposition leader, Dr Samura Kamara and former President Ernest Bai Koroma are still being heard in court.
Kamara, according to government records, is still answering to a case hinging on an alleged embezzlement of funds meant for the renovation of Sierra Leone’s chancery building in the United States.
The matter is being presided over by Justice Adrian Fisher of the High Court of Sierra Leone, and it still lingers on without anyone knowing when a verdict would be handed down.
The opposition leader has however maintained his innocence about the corruption charge but still battles it out in the courtroom.
The opposition leader also faces pile of cases at the ACC (Anti-Corruption Commission) after the Appeals Court dismissed his appeal in respect of matters that emanated from the defunct commissions of inquiry.
It was alleged that the APC leader, while he was Minister of Finance, failed to declare over 30 vehicles donated to Sierra Leone Government to boost the anti-Ebola campaign.
Like Kamara, ex-President Ernest Koroma also faces similar charges of corruption and money laundering although he has never been charged to court.
Years gone by, ACC investigators accompanied by a batch of media stringers have, on two occasions, been to Makeni city to investigate the former President for graft.
When such venture became unsuccessful as a result of a pandemonium that erupted between the ACC team and the people of Makeni, the investigation was moved to a safe home where the former President was interrogated by a battery of investigators.
The probe appears to have died naturally owing to an unexplained reason.
Matters however turned for the worst for the ex-President when he was accused of sponsoring a coup against President Julius Maada Bio. He was immediately summoned, interrogated and placed under house arrest.
Koroma’s residence was barricaded by heavily armed soldiers creating a siege situation to ensure that no fly escapes. Road blocks were also mounted at his premises with few visitors allowed not until Koroma was parachuted into Nigeria where he currently resides, but the case still continues back home.
The investigation was a hasty one as the former President was ordered to report to the Criminal Investigation Department within 24 hours.
News report recently stated that the presiding magistrate has recently issued fresh orders for the extradition of the former President to Sierra Leone to continue his trial.
Going by government’s argument, it is also not clear whether Koroma’s case is political, but who will decide?
However, Kamara and Koroma are not the only ones in government’s trap but many others especially protesters who called for Bio’s exit in 2022 and 2023 owing to a well-known cost-of-living crisis.
Hundreds were arrested, detained and slammed with charges akin to subversion and other serious crimes. They have spent several years behind bars.
Law enforcement agencies have always argued that the protests were not protests, but were insurrections owing to attacks on the forces of law and order and public property. Government has also reneged on the obligation of releasing political prisoners as demanded by the communiqué and international community.
Recently, APC submitted a list of prisoners to government in compliance with a major provision of the communiqué.
Hundreds of protesters have been arrested since 2018 to date in respect of protest, election and registration cases and the main opposition wanted them out of prison cells. Government’s response was however one that indicates that they are in no mood to comply with the demand.
In what appears a betrayal of the communiqué, Chief Minister who was government’s signatory to the communiqué called on APC to bring back the runaway prisoners if government was to respect any deal. Dr Moinina Sengeh’s call was taken to be a complete shock as APC politicians are not lock-ups.
His appeal is also seen as an expression of complete resistance to the release of prisoners to which he has accepted on behalf of his government at the signing of the communiqué. To date, no prisoner has been left out amid allegations of disappearances and extra-judicial killings.
The October communiqué also requires government to resettle those driven out of their homes by political violence, but this resolution is yet to be complied with. Between 2018 and 2023, hundreds of Sierra Leoneans have run away from their homes owing to thuggery perpetrated by youth linked to the ruling party.
APC supporters and sympathisers have been targeted in Pujehun, Kailahun, Bo, Kenema, Bonthe and other parts of the country with the police turning a blind eye. They fear the PAOPA reprisals and sledge hammer.
The move, according to senior APC politicians, is to keep opposition supporters in fear thereby reducing their political participation.
The worst form of violence took place in Bo and Pujehun where widespread physical attacks APC politicians and burning down of houses were carried out. Women were the main victims.
The house of Cecilia Ngobeh, APC chairperson in Bo district, was burned down and hundreds of women were attacked in Pujehun while returning home from a political meeting with the opposition leader’s wife, Massa Rogers. APC Public Relations Officer in Bo city and others were also allegedly attacked and chased out of their homes.
Over a month ago, US Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Bryan David Hunt took a conducted tour of the South-East regions to assess the extent of political violence in the electoral period.
Allegations of Political violence against APC supporters in the South-East regions began in early 2018 when hundreds were forced out of their homes.
A large number of APC youth in Kono district, at that time, saw high levels of political violence which resulted into many fleeing their homes, but none has been resettled.