Almost three years down the line, much effort has been poured into the fight to clarify the June, 2023 election, but the task still remain herculean.
The aim, political analysts say, is to show who is the actual winner of the said and to restore democracy although many Sierra Leone have reservations for such move.
In spite of criticisms about the elections and moves to sanitise same, the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) is still on the driving seat digging accurate strategies to tighten its grip on power.
The regime has succeeded in bringing to its side most of the important stakeholders in election and democracy including the international community.
Social commentators have argued that, without doubt, SLPP seems to have scored political points when one examines the manner in which local and international election observation bodies have behaved before and after the June, 2023 election.
Before the announcement of the results, NEW, a local umbrella body of organisations specialised in election reporting, contradicted itself by taking two contrasting positions at the same time in respect of the election.
Relying on the PRVT (Process and Result Verification for Transparency) model, NEW boss first projected a defeat of the incumbent and later vouched for a run off, but the outcome was different.
The result showed that the ruling party got over 56% according to a figure released by ECSL (Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone), a body mandated by law to conduct and supervise all public elections in Sierra Leone.
The figure meant that the incumbent scored more than the legally recognised 55% needed to avoid a second-round voting, and indeed, there was no second-round.
Amid the row, NEW chief, Marcella Samba Sesay reportedly left Sierra Leone for UK apparently owing to threats by supporters linked to SLPP.
However, she later returned to Sierra Leone after a brief stay abroad, but kept mute in the face of a lingering post-election stalemate that is slowly ruining Sierra Leone.
By this time, the Sierra Leonean pubic expect NEW and its partner bodies to draw the attention of the international community to the implementation of the Tripartite recommendations for political sanity to prevail, but such effort is lacking, critics say.
Matters recently became worse when news filtered through the public that the NEW boss might replace the controversially appointed Chief Electoral Commissioner, Edmond Alpha.
As it stands, NEW has neither refuted such information nor put out a press release to debunk.
The people of Sierra Leone are also questioning the role so far played by the election observers who were on the ground when the alleged election rigging took place.
It was also pointed out that the various organisations they represent were also here, and did it mean that their role stopped only at Compiling reports and proffering recommendations.
The people expect the election observers, by virtue of their stance, to mobilise the international community to come up with long-lasting solutions for the country’s current political crisis.
The people of Sierra Leone will take them serious only if they achieve this objective.
Such public expectation, analysts say, is in place in light of the threats and contemptuous utterances directed at them by top SLPP politicians.
The international election observers particularly EU were ridiculed and humiliated by SLPP’s erstwhile chairman, Dr. Alex Prince Harding who described them as “academic dwarfs” implying that they were not fit for purpose. The EU election observers are at the centre of such ridicule and humiliation.
Sitting down with folded arms while Rome burns lends some credence to Dr. Harding’s statement that the observers are not well cut-out.
By the behaviour of the election observers, Prince Harding could be right in relation to his description about them.
One of the incidents in the immediate post-election in which international journalists were placed under siege when armed policemen opened fire at APC headquarters was also another factor that prompt the international community to solve the political problem.
Video footages that went viral on social media platforms show top APC officials including the presidential candidate, Samura Kamara lying on the ground to escape the bullets.
According to observers in the media and the public, such armed attacks were enough for a speedy settlement of all political disputes so that the country can be put back on track.
But, to many Sierra Leoneans, it appears as if things were not moving although there is a pretence that work is being done from behind the scenes.
The moral guarantors too have come under the spotlight for what critics say a seeming negligence on their part owing to the feet-dragging over the post-election wrangling.
The snail-pace move towards the politically controversial issue is one in which analysts say hypocrisy is mistaken for diplomacy. The feet-dragging is too long as the regime enters its third year.
The Tripartite Committee began its work about three years ago after the endorsement of the October, 2023 Communique containing eight resolutions which became the foundation for the Agreement for National Unity (ANU).
One of the resolutions requires the setting up of a cross-party committee comprising SLPP, APC and Development Partners to look into the June, 2023 election and make recommendations which are actionable and implementable.
Initially, the international community has been flexing its muscles to ensure the election probe financed by the United States with a donation of $1.5m (one million, five hundred thousand dollars).
With such quantum of money, work immediately started and speedily completed and documents handed over to the international community precisely the UN for implementation.
Eighty (80) recommendations for electoral reforms were proffered with the main ensuring that what happened in the June, 2023 election does not repeat in future elections.
Unofficial sources say another five recommendations known as “the divergent” has been added to the eighty for implementation, but there are questions about who will implement the five when government still grapples with numerous challenges of implementing the 80.
As the impasse takes root, nothing concrete is seen on the ground except assurances made once in a blue moon when UN bodies meet to discuss events that threaten international security. Most times, Sierra Leone would be mentioned only in passing at such summits and later forgotten and abandoned.
It appears as if the international community would wait to gauge the people’s reaction to the June election, and if there would be any suspicion of people taking to the streets, they would pop in again with new assurances to cool down troubled waters.
The public even doubt the travel/visa ban slammed on Sierra Leone by the United States as a result of the allegedly stolen election. Many Sierra Leoneans wonder about whether the ban is working especially when Sierra Leone’s First Lady reportedly honoured a special invitation extended to her by US’s First Lady, Melani Trump.
Not too long after the hobnob, the people of Sierra Leone saw how President Julius Maada Bio received sentiments of goodwill from the US President, Donald Trump during the FII priority summit held in Miami, United States.
“Maada Bio, I love you… I love that name,” these are Trump’s words during the high-profile conference.
Trump’s words threw some anxiety and respite among SLPP ranks owing to the recognition President Bio enjoyed from the world’s number one President.
This situation has been a prevalent one three years after the international community alleged that the 2023 election was rigged and did not reflect the will of the people of Sierra Leone. The election, according to the international community, must be reviewed, but allegations after allegations may derail the aim.
In fact, one of the lead guarantors, Fatoumata Jallow Tambajang has come under the spotlight for taking sides with government according to allegations trending on media platforms.
Tambajang is accused of currying favour from the ruling party to support her bid for the Gambian presidency, and the only way is to water down the implementation of the Tripartite recommendations in Sierra Leone. But, she is yet to respond.
The former Gambian Vice President led the three-day peace talks at the Bintumni hotel in Freetown, and had been leading follow-up missions to Sierra Leone on the status of the implementation which, analysts said, had yielded little dividend.
This is not the first time a diplomat and mediator in the peace talks have been accused of double standards.
Former US Ambassador to Sierra Leone, David Bryan Hunt also faces scathing allegations of accepting bribes in the forms of diamonds during his tours to the South-East regions, strongholds of the ruling party.
Ambassador Hunt was immediately re-called by his country, the United States but neither confirmed the allegation nor specified any reason for his instant removal from Sierra Leone.
However, sources at US Embassy in Freetown say it is a normal call by his home government.
Almost invariably, erstwhile British Foreign Secretary, James Cleverley was also recently accused of taking sides with the government in respect of the post-election controversy in Sierra Leone.
The allegation held that the British Diplomat did not do enough to report the political crisis beclouding Sierra Leone, an allegation that reportedly eventually led to his transfer from the foreign office to another one.
Of course, the sub-regional bloc, ECOWAS is also trapped in a similar dance of destiny.
The bloc’s snail-pace move in handling the political impasse in Sierra Leone has resulted into suspicion and allegations.
ECOWAS’s main role since its formation in 1975 is the maintenance of peace, security and stability in the sub-region by ensuring democratic order prevails in member states.
It provides military assistance by contributing troops to restore order in West African countries where order has collapsed by way of coups or military intervention in politics.
The restoration of democracy in Sierra Leone in 1998 following the overthrow of President Ahmed Tejan Kabba was a clear manifestation of their work and thus a laudable venture.
The body also helps presidential candidates who win election to take their rightful seats especially in situations where incumbents refuse to hand over power as is the case of the Gambia between former President Yayah Jammeh and the current one, Adama Barrow.
Jammeh had initially kicked against transferring power to the winner of the Gambian election at that time, but the ECOWAS force he saw forced him out of the country.
It is however a different case here in Sierra Leone despite claims by the opposition party that they win the June, 2023 election, a claim that is seemingly backed by the international community.
From the outset, the people of Sierra Leone have been looking up to the sub-regional bloc to restore the election victory and put smiles on their faces through the deployment of an ECOMOG (ECOWAS Monitoring Group) force.
News about the deployment of ECOMOG spread like wild fire in the harmattan almost two years back but later died down naturally.
In spite of the trumpeting of the deployment, no ECOMOG boot landed on the ground with former Ernest Koroma accused of being responsible for the situation.
Koroma’s recent audio which went viral on media platforms added weight to the allegations that he was the man behind the slow or non-deployment of ECOMOG personnel in Sierra Leone, and his recent voice note on media platforms that June, 2023 election was over went a long way in confirming the allegations.
The hope of an ECOMOG force to deploy in Sierra Leone was however alive and fresh initially, but it was battered following the appointment of President Julius Maada Bio Chairman of ECOWAS.
By virtue of such position, no ECOMOG force can deploy in any country without such mandate coming from President Bio, and one cannot shoot himself in the leg.
President Bio will endorse ECOMOG’s deployment in Sierra Leone only if they help him consolidate political power and neutralise security threats.
Currently, Sierra Leone police and army chiefs head ECOWAS forces implying that they have play a strategic role in the deployment of ECOMOG force in any country on behalf of the presidency. In this situation, no one bites a finger that feeds him.
SLPP’s presence and influence is heavily felt within the civil society community which is expected to be the voice of the voiceless.
‘The voice of the voiceless’ phraseology means the civil society activists must be seen taking on government on governance and policies on behalf of the people, but most importantly, the restoration of democracy, if at all, is something serious.
However, civil society activists who used to be active and voiceferous during the Kabba and Koroma regimes are now mute under President Julius Maada Bio.
Although the people have made a loud cry, the Bio regime is getting a smooth ride along the civil society terrain, a move that has raised questions about what is the real role of civil society organisations within a democracy.
The people of Sierra Leone saw firsthand the power of civil activism in late 1990s when they compelled then rebel leader, Foday Sankoh to respect the terms of the Lome Peace Agreement, 1999.
Civil power also saw the triumph of ‘Election Before Peace’ instead of ‘Peace Before Election’ when the idea was floated in 1996.
But, such power has been trampled in the dust of history according to political analysts who argue that no civil society activist has meaningfully contributed to the restoration of political sanity in Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone’s media have also got a slice of its own allegation concerning the June, 2023 election.
Speaking to this press via phone interview, a veteran journalist has lambasted the media for failing to write, comment or editorialise on the country’s current political crisis. He said the media became silent even when the international community entreated them to popularise the ‘Electoral Justice’ campaign and effort towards the restoration of democracy which in many respect is public interest journalism. Even international media or 24-hour news channel (BBC, CNN, Al-jazeera and other global news agencies) are silent about the current political situation in Sierra Leone.
Instead of telling the people about the current state of the country’s politics, the media, critics say, always stage a public relations spectacle and do window dressing for the Bio regime.
SLPP, over the years, has enjoyed good coverage in various conventional media outlets (the press, radio and television) making it difficult to be trapped or castigated by the international community through such platforms.
Even when it comes to issues pertaining to the implementation of the Tripartite recommendations, the media handle the coverage professionally to contribute to the peace and stability of the state.
Media discussion on the country’s economic hardship hallmarked by inflation and the poor exchange rate, the media use cool and soft language to pass on information to the people so that it does exploit the people’s dissatisfaction with the government.
To enjoy favourable reporting in media circles is no mean feat; it is the fruit of a long-term and well nurtured relationship following the decriminalisation of all media offences.
In the past, media practitioners would be arrested and prosecuted for offences relating to media practice, but such days are gone, thanks to President Bio.
Now, any infraction on media laws is a matter for the media regulator, the Independent Media Commission as well as the civil courts and not the police and the criminal courts.
Members of the international community, the local election monitoring body, NEW (National Election Watch), the opposition, All People’s Congress (APC), and the grassroot seem to have retired to their trenches with the ruling party, Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) deepening its root in the seat of governance.
The international community (the EU, UN, Commonwealth, AU, ECOWAS) election observers discredited the election results saying the process is riddled with “mathematical inaccuracies” and “statistical inconsistencies” and it did not reflect the will of the people.
But, and the but part of it, they have not done enough to restore sanity in Sierra Leone’s politics. Even President’s mockery of the international community as seen in the rhetorical question: does Tripartite have result still remains fresh in people’s minds.