Opposition leader, Samura Kamara has appealed to the international community that the votes of the people of Sierra Leone must be counted to ensure peace and stability in the country.
At the moment, it remains unclear whether the international community will act on the request of the opposition leader, but meetings, according to sources are ongoing at ECOWAS (Economic Community Of West African States) and the United Nations about Sierra Leone’s deteriorating political situation. The international community wanted to see the election victory restored peacefully and diplomatically so that no one could hurt and no chicken’s leg is broken.
Reliable sources have intimated this press that full ECOMOG (ECOWAS Monitoring Group) deployment would take place soon in Sierra Leone to boost security in the country as the Australian Judge, Kate Sullivan seems ready to announce the election results.
Kamara made the appeal few days during a presidential address to the nation as he saw the move as the only way out for peace and national cohesion in Sierra Leone. “Count our votes to reflect the will of the people,” he appealed to the international community and government of Sierra Leone.
The appeal is also in line with a position earlier taken by EU Ambassador, Manuel Muller that the “last vote of the 2023 elections will be counted and government will make a big mistake if they attempt to rig the elections.”
Ambassador Muller made the statement during a press briefing at the Country Lodge in Freetown about a year to the election.
His organisation, he said, was committed to financing the election but wanted to see a free, fair and credible process.
At the moment, the EU has stands out as one of the leading institutions fighting to take back stolen votes from the Bio regime since the announcement of the allegedly manipulated results.
Although yet to be proved, several allegations of complicity and double standards have been pelted against several members of the diplomatic community in Sierra Leone except Ambassador Muller who hardly shows a smiling face to the PAOPA regime. He also talks litte.
As a result, many see the appeal by the opposition leader as a way of strengthening the resolve of the international community particularly EU to restore democracy in Sierra Leone.
The opposition leader also makes the clarion call at a time an election probe has been completed and recommendations submitted to President Julius Maada Bio.
According to the international community, the availability of foreign aid and cooperation with the Bio regime will only take place after the recommendations of the Tripartite Committee shall have been implemented.
The Tripartite Committee, a body set up to look into alleged irregularities of the June 24, 2023 polls is still looking into two contentious recommendations bordering on results examination and electoral justice.
Results examination will show who wins the elections and electoral justice gears towards holding accountable those who undermined the elections by tilting the scale to ensure that Bio retains power.
The committee came into being after a three-day peace deal brokered by the international community between the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and the opposition, All People’s Congress (APC).
Although the probe has gone for months, Chief Electoral Commissioner, Mohamed Kenewui Konneh has failed to submit any evidence to show that the incumbent, Julius Maada Bio won the election.
Konneh heads the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL), an institution mandated by law to conduct and supervise public elections and referenda throughout Sierra Leone.
The election boss, according to the Public Elections Act, 2022 and the Constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991, is under obligation to conduct free, fair and credible elections, but chose to have his way in the June, 2023 polls. He declared Bio, who many said, was the wrong candidate, winner of the polls with a 56.17% of the votes leaving 43.17 percent for the opposition leader, Samura Kamara.
The ‘but’ and the but part of it, Konneh could not defend the results at the Tripartite Committee in spite of repeated calls.
As the probe was dragging to a close, he requested more time so that he could produce the election results which he reportedly never did as the committee has folded up.
Failure of the election to defend the 60% of the results he announced in June, last year also worsened an already polarised situation.
Although it came late, Kamara’s appeal for the counting of votes also dealt a severe blow to allegations of a sell-out to President Bio.
At the peak of the post-election stalemate, the opposition leader was accused of accepting a $2m bribe from government after a brief meeting with Bio at State House, and his continued reticence also strengthens allegation.
It also shows that Samura Kamara is not ready to give up the struggle to retrieve APC (All People’s Congress)’s “stolen votes” which has been Sierra Leoneans’ key desire all this while.
The address which sounds as one that comes from a President-awaiting was greatly admired by many APC members including those who once contested for the party’s flag with Samura Kamara. A senior politician and former minister, Kemo Sesay is one of the greatest admirers of Bio’s speech as the address touched on reconciliation and the need to maintain peace and security at a trying and turbulent time.
“I never expected that the opposition leader, Samura Kamara would deliver such a speech after going through a lot in the hands of the ruling party,” Kemo Sesay praised Kamara for a speech that holds the party together.
Ahead of June, 2023 elections, the opposition leader assured the people of Sierra Leone of protecting their votes, a key factor that took the voters to the polls.
As a man who stays true to his word, the opposition leader has always made it clear that the “election is not yet over until it is over” and has repeated the statement on several occasions especially in his address to the nation few days ago.
Despite the appeals, Samura Kamara however rule out any form of protest or violence to take back the party’s victory as he frowns at bloodbath in the country.
The death of a health professional and an APC supporter at the party’s main office in Freetown a day after the polls, serve as good reason for not calling out people to the streets. The painful memories of the shooting dead of 26 protesters in Freetown in August 10, 2022 and the death of six police officers during a protest for a cost-of-living crisis is still fresh in the mind of the opposition leader and the people of Sierra Leone.
In September, last year, three months after the allegedly rigged elections, six people including a disabled top-up seller, Alfred Kallon were also fatally injured in a shooting spree after they took to the streets to take back their votes.
To avoid another spate of brutal killings, Samura Kamara has placed emphasis on the use of diplomacy to bring back the party’s victory, but the people fear that no result could be achieved as long as President Bio remains on the seat.
Kamara himself has always accused Bio of knowing no limit of seeking and retaining power, and human lives matter do not matter.
However, the people of Sierra Leone wait and see the retrieval of “stolen votes” and restoration of democracy under a President who has promised to use bullets for bullets to rule without the people’s mandate.