The United States and the West have gone a long way in the consolidation of peace and democracy in Africa by ensuring peaceful political transitions after free, fair and credible elections.
The move for democratisation of the continent started decades ago and reached a high peak in the early 1980s owing to successes recorded in several African countries.
It was during such period that democratic states delivered peace, security and other social services to their people while autocratic states failed.
In recent times, however, there is a new wave of democratic backsliding on the continent particularly in West Africa where military coups and counter-coups have become common phenomena.
The West African countries of Mali, Gabon, Niger, Burkina Fasso and neighbouring Guinea have lately fallen in the hands of the Khaki boys, a signal to the deterioration of democracy in the sub-region.
In other countries, it is not the army taking over power, but incumbent candidates refusing to hand over power after losing elections.
It happened in 2016 in The Gambia where ex-President Yayah Jammeh ruled for 20 years, but refused to give up power after he was defeated by Adama Barrow, the current President.
Similar political situation is also unfolding in Sierra Leone since President Julius Maada Bio, the incumbent candidate in the June 24, 2023 elections, still holds the forte after international and local election reports stated that no candidate won the election.
EU, UN, AU, Commonwealth and ECOWAS election reports condemned the June 24, 2023 electoral process as one that “lacked transparency” while the local election observer group, NEW (National Elections Watch) made it clear that none of the two contesting parties made it in the ballot box. NEW is the umbrella body of Sierra Leone’s civil society organisations specialised in election monitoring and reporting, a role they have been playing decades ago.
NEW chief, Marcella Samba Sesay said, prior to the official announcement of the election results that no presidential candidate got the 55% constitutional threshold to avoid a run off.
According to Marcella’s facts and figures, the June elections ought to have gone to a second round since no candidate got the number, but the PAOPA regime still formed the government of the day with an open challenge to the people of Sierra Leone and the international community.
He recently expressed his stance when he told the people of Sierra Leone that the June elections were over and was the legitimate President and same time questioned the relevance of the Tripartite Committee to Sierra Leone’s democracy.
His recent threat of using bullets for bullets also went viral showing that the President is ready to use force to protect his presidency albeit illegally.
Arguments of legal experts and political scientists describe government’s action as an “electoral coup” as sovereignty belongs to the people of Sierra Leone and not government.
Section 5 of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone states that “sovereignty belongs to the people of Sierra Leone from whom government, through this constitution, derives its powers, legitimacy and authority.”
According to this provision, a government is legitimate only if it gets power from the ballot box, and any other means constitute a crime against the state known in criminal law as treason.
In March, 1998, Sierra Leoneans witnessed the execution of 24 military officers by a firing squad including Brigadier Hassan Conteh, the highest ranking officer at that time for using means not approved by the constitution to come to power.
Popular arguments hold that there is no difference between military and electoral coupists and the law should be made to equally apply so that the ends of justice could be served.
In fact, electoral coups, according to prominent West African leaders, are more dangerous than coups by the khaki boys as the former gives birth to the latter.
While addressing the sub-regional bloc, ECOWAS, ex- Liberian President, George Opong Weah argued that actions of leaders in several African countries gave rise to coups on the continent as was the case in Guinea where former President, Alpha Conde was going in for a third term despite calls by Guineans to step down.
A prominent Gambian opposition leader, Mama Kandeh also urged ECOWAS to look at conditions that cause coups and not at the coups.
Looking at the prevailing situation in Sierra Leone, former President Ernest Bai Koroma also appealed to ECOWAS to monitor not only elections but also governance activities in member states.
Sierra Leone’s political situation poses a new challenge to democratic consolidation on the continent with the United States and the West fighting back or else democracy perishes here.
From the outset, the Unites States has taken the lead in the struggle to restore democracy in Sierra Leone through funding cuts and travel restrictions.
America stopped foreign aid and banned officials of the PAOPA regime who played a lead role in rigging the June elections from entering their country until the elections are investigated.
US’s stance towards the restoration of democracy in Sierra Leone was bolstered by David Reimer, ex-US Ambassador to Sierra Leone.
He played a great role in ensuring the formation of the Tripartite Committee, a body charged with the responsibility of looking into alleged electoral irregularities of the June elections especially when he criticised moves by government to have Vice President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh lead the committee.
The ambassador argued that the Vice President was a candidate in the past election and therefore unprofessional to have him in the committee since a candidate in allegedly flawed election could not be investigator of the same election.
The US Ambassador also made frantic effort in making sure that the much-needed $500m under the MCC (Millenium Challenge Corporation) compact was withheld from the PAOPA regime.
The MCC compact is a grant from the US, but countries must meet democratic and good governance benchmarks specified by the donor.
The American Ambassador also assured Sierra Leoneans that even if his tenure ended in Sierra Leone, his successor, Ambassador David Bryan Hunt will not divert from America’s mission in restoring democracy in Sierra Leone.
Since Ambassador Hunt stepped foot in Sierra Leone, tremendous effort had been made to ensure that the alleged electoral irregularities were investigated.
It was during Hunt’s tenure that the Tripartite Committee got a big boost when $1.5m was provided by the US so that the committee could carry on its work effectively and efficiently as government failed to provide the $500, 000 (five hundred thousand dollars) which it initially promised to offer to the committee just to stall its work.
Currently, the Tripartite Committee is now on the verge of completing its work with 10 more days to announce their findings and recommendations, and it is hoped that the recommendations will favour the people of Sierra Leone.
After months of controversies, the committee has now reached its final and most dangerous stage of results examination to ascertain the true winner.
Once the United States take the lead in the struggle for democracy in Sierra Leone, other European countries and global institutions also resorted to similar actions. European Union, United Kingdom, Germany, France and other powerful countries in the world also stopped donor support to Sierra Leone until the truth about the elections is unravelled.
Almost invariably, inter-governmental institutions such as World Bank and International Monetary Fund also stopped foreign aid to Sierra Leone until democracy was restored, a situation that made it difficult for President Bio to effectively deliver social services to the people.
At the moment, the people have made their demands loud and clear that either a rerun or fresh election is announced or the opposition leader, Dr Samura Kamara who is widely seen as winner of the election declared President of Sierra Leone.
Any recommendation that falls out of those demands will be resisted by the people of Sierra Leone rendering the long struggle of the United States and the West a mere smoking gun.