Dr Samura Kamara and Sylvia Blyden’s petitions against President Julius Maada Bio have been ruled on quite recently. The two petitions were contemporaneously filed by the two politicians against the President Bio after the 2018 elections. They believed that President Bio did not genuinely win the elections.
After several years, the court handed down a verdict that upheld the validity of Bio’s presidency. However, much remains to be remembered by many Sierra Leoneans. The memories revolve around the sad history of a triumph of a candidate with 49 seats over a candidate with close to 70 seats.
The sad history, to date, remains a mystery to many Sierra Leoneans. A veteran politician has put forward arguments that Bio’s victory is first of its kind in post-independent Sierra Leone. He made reference to political events dating back to the early 60’s where candidates with most seats have always emerged victors in elections.
He said the first Prime Minister of Sierra Leone, Sir Milton Margai had more seats in parliament than its contender.
Milton Margai was founder and leader of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) on whose ticket he became Prime Minister. He could be remembered for bringing together other political parties under the umbrella of the United National Front to negotiate Sierra Leone’s independence at Lancaster House in the United Kingdom.
History taught that Prime Minister Margai achieved such objective not only for his compromising politics but because he had the majority of seats in parliament. Little can be said about Prime Minister, Albert Margai who succeeded his elder brother in 1964.
Mr Margai did not go through the polls after the sudden death of his elder brother. But in 1967, Albert Margai faced President Siaka Stevens in one of the hottest political contests in history. Siaka Stevens was permitted to form a government after it was clear that he had the majority of seats.
Despite the military interregnum that occurred at the initial period of the Stevens regime, he ruled the country for long and with some amount of ease. Siaka Stevens went down in history as the longest serving President Sierra Leone has ever had.
President Stevens navigated the Political terrain well owing to his majority in parliament. He handed over power in 1985 to Major-General Joseph Saidu Momoh apparently owing to his deteriorating health condition. Little can also be said about J.S. Momoh and Captain Valentine Strasser as their ascension to the throne was not in compliance with democratic principles.
President Momoh enjoyed an irresponsible political largesse while Captain Strasser used the barrel of the gun to come to power. Probably, one can advance a counter argument that Sierra Leone in its formative period of statehood was under a parliamentary democracy.
In a parliamentary democracy, the party with a majority of seats always forms a government. Sierra Leone regained its real democratic status in 1996 when President Ahmad Tejan Kabba of blessed memories contested the election alongside John Karefa Smart of the United National People’s Party (UNPP) and other presidential candidates.
In the elections that year, President Ahmad Tejan Kabba emerged as the winner after his party won the greatest number of seats. President Kabba also ruled with ease in the face of a spiralling rebel war in the country. President Kabba passed many laws and policies without much trouble in parliament since his party formed the majority.
He worked hard to end the war, and laid a solid foundation for Sierra Leone’s transformation. No country talks about progress and social justice without peace.
In 2002, Tejan Kabba was also made SLPP flag-bearer, and he contested the elections with presidential candidates of various political parties. He was returned almost unopposed as he won the largest number of seats in history.
After he ended the war, the people turned their attention to development, and they expected much from the President because they had given him much in the ballot box.
However, the then President did not have the team to meet Sierra Leoneans’ development aspirations. In his last days, it was clear that a transition of power was imminent.
President Kabba cleverly managed the transition, and was the first President to manage such smooth transfer of power from a ruling to an opposition party in Sierra Leone. In 2007, Tejan Kabba left the political stage after former President Ernest Bai Koroma won the election.
President Koroma won the majority of seats especially in Freetown where he won all 21. He also won all 10 seats in PortLoko, and recorded similar achievements in Tonkolili, and his home district of Bombali. Former President Koroma also comfortably led Sierra Leone since he enjoyed majority in parliament.
Much of Sierra Leone’s development today could be ascribed to the former President. He is also known to have ruled with a high degree of political compromise.
He capitalised on the many seats in his favour and his popularity to make Sierra Leone an envy to most West African countries. The former President gained popularity for his ‘Agenda For Change,’ and ‘Agenda For Prosperity,’ the two political models he adopted to build Sierra Leone.
Under President Koroma’s leadership, Sierra Leone scored high in infrastructure, energy, health, economy ratings among others. In 2012, the people of Sierra Leone thought it prudent to entrust the state’s responsibility again to the hands of the former President.
They were of the firm belief that with President Koroma, a brighter future awaited Sierra Leone. The former President came back and governed for the second time.
Sierra Leone’s development trajectory was also commended in the world. In 2013, Sierra Leone was rated as the fastest economy in the world when it recorded 21% growth projection by the International Monetary Fund.
It has been constantly argued that had Sierra Leone remained safe from Ebola Virus, the country would have exceeded its present state.
In 2018, a transition was clearly foreseen, and President Koroma walked towards that direction. In managing the transition, former President Koroma weakened the pillars of the APC paving the way for a Bio victory.
Such move was one of the greatest dramatic ironies in the country’s political stage. The main characters never knew about President Koroma’s transition manoeuvring, but some viewers knew about it.
In the elections of 2018, President Bio was announced the winner, but with a sad history. He was the only President with less number of seats compared to the main opposition, APC.
Governing the country is no easy ride with a parliamentary minority. In trying to pass major bills and laws, New Direction, most times, had to adopt the carrot- and-stick approach which gave birth to a new form of democracy known as ‘democracy with the rod.’
However, a court verdict in May, 2018 stripped the main opposition of 10 parliamentary seats, and transferred nine to the ruling SLPP. APC subsequently retrieved one seat in a re-run election ordered by the court.
Throughout his leadership, President Bio has found it difficult to man affairs of state owing to his sour relationship with political parties. 11 political parties have recently constituted a consortium of Political Parties to get the New Direction out of power.