*Attacks On Muslims And Christians
*Lockdown of Kenema District
*Attacks Against Diplomats
*Naked Rigging Of The Bar Election
*Claims Of No Rerun
*Tampering Of Elections In Non-Governmental Institutions
As the Tripartite Committee rounds up its work, government officials have resorted to a flurry of distractions to take people’s minds off from the real issues of the day.
The distractions come in different seen in attacks to the two main religions, keeping men in locked rooms for a day, claims of no rerun, attacks against members of the diplomatic community and alleged tampering of elections in non-governmental institutions.
These distractions, by all indications, form the core of current discussions and debates within public domain.
Sierra Leone is faced with an economic crunch that has no equal anywhere in the sub-region, but the work of the Tripartite Committee is the most attention-catching for now.
The committee is created to look into alleged irregularities of the June 24, 2023 elections and proffer recommendations to government with the task expected to be accomplished barely a month.
The recommendations, according to a communiqué of October, 2023, must be “actionable” and “implementable” implying that government is under obligation to carry them out at all cost and against all odds. The international community will spend their money if a rerun is announced by the election investigation committee.
The Tripartite Committee, according to the APC co-chair, the Tripartite is bigger than government and individuals and there is no way an authority can stop the implementation of the recommendations come what may.
Although there are speculations everywhere about the recommendations, no one could tell what the committee would recommend to the government.
Reliable sources say SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party) officials have run out of options about what should be done to remain in power after the Tripartite Committee comes out with its recommendations.
Majority of the voters have demanded that either a rerun or fresh election is held without the SLPP-appointed Chief Electoral Commissioner, Mohamed Konneh and the other commissioners or the opposition leader, Dr Samura Kamara is declared winner of the elections.
According to reliable sources, the Tripartite Committee is now at the last stage of the investigation since Konneh has submitted the election results to be verified by election experts brought from outside Sierra Leone. Currently, SLPP officials are jittery as the autopsy of the results is about to commence, and distractions seem to be the only way out.
Sierra Leone’s Chief Minister, David Moinina Sengeh who signed the communiqué that has put SLPP in disarray is the first to initiate an array of distractions by referring Muslims and Christians as big thieves stealing electricity for their mosques and churches.
According to social commentators, the unsubstantiated claim is a forethought and mere ploy to create polemics that could overshadow the election probe amid deteriorating security situation.
Indeed, polemics was generated, but the ploy seems to have failed as the people’s focus on the election probe could not be diverted.
As vilifications against the Chief Ministry persist, Sengeh, probably out of paranoia, has apologised to the religious community for forgiveness, but many see him as one without real remorse as he is sure to repeat similar actions. It was not the first time the Chief Minister is insulting the people of Sierra Leone after rigging the election.
Sierra Leoneans particularly APC members got the negative his side when he accused opposition politicians of a jail break that saw close to 2,000 inmates out of their cells.
He even appealed to the APC politicians to ensure that the prisoners were brought back as a strong condition for SLPP’s participation at the Tripartite Committee.
Situation also became rowdy for days, but, as usual, more attention is paid to the election investigation than any other exercise.
In the midst of the heated debates over Chief Minister’s allegations, the arbitrary lockdown of Kenema town also was topical as if there was no investigation.
The Eastern city was placed under siege for a day during sultry a Sunday morning by ‘Bondo’ leaders known as ‘Sowei’ in Mende while carrying out their initiations and masquerades.
The single act which many said was championed by Sierra Leone’s First Lady in conspiracy with local authorities rendered Kenema into a mosaic of medieval times as life was brought to sudden halt in a city whose hustling and bustling was beyond imagination.
Neither churches nor mosques were opened on that day as the women put the entire town under their control. Market centres were also shut down putting the lives of those on the hand-to-mouth survival on a knife edge.
It is also another real sway of attention from the election probe as the political authorities are aware of the tough feedback that might emanate from the illegal lockdown.
Without doubt, the one-day closure of Kenema also generated tough debates casting blame on the clergy particularly the Inter-Religious Council of Sierra Leone for being tight-lipped at a time God’s religions are under attack. However, the discussions and debates about the lockdown could be transient while the work of the Tripartite Committee will unstoppably go on.
As if the distractions were not enough, SLPP politicians are also at the throats of members of the diplomatic community raining various unfounded allegations on them.
It is currently not unusual to hear accusations against the US, EU, UK and Irish diplomats as ones responsible for causing violence in Sierra Leone, a claim SLPP politicians could also not support with facts.
It is a big smear campaign against members of the international community who are fighting hard to ensure sanitation and hygiene in the country’s body politic.
In a widely shared audio, one of the Electoral Commissioners, Edmond Alpha recently bashed at the international community for attempting facilitate regime change in the country, a move, he said, would bring chaos to the country.
A senior SLPP politician went at great lengths in inciting, by subtle means, violence against foreign diplomats as well as the election observers.
The threats of violence forced the election observers to leave the country earlier than expected as they run for their lives. Quite recently, SLPP grassroot supporters urged government to initiate treason charges against EU Ambassador, Manuel Muller without showing why.
The call for trial of the EU diplomat came after a move to humble him in parliament failed.
Majority of grassroot members wanted Dr Abass Bundu to summon the EU Ambassador to defend his role in June 24, 2023 election failing to realise that foreign diplomats and principal representatives in Sierra Leone enjoy diplomatic immunity.
The harsh statements and insults uttered by Dr Prince Harding against international election observers by referring them as “academic dwarves” would also hardly fade from Sierra Leoneans’ minds.
The tactic is clear as it is a way of dragging the international community to a conflict that will take their attention from the investigation of the election results.
However, the more distractions come, the more members of the international community pay more attention to the election investigation than at any moment in recent time.
Alleged rigging actions perpetrated by the ACC (Anti-Corruption Commission) boss during the elections of the Sierra Leone Bar Association to impose a candidate said to have close ties with SLPP also became prominent quite lately.
Officials of the ruling party feel safe from prosecution for the barrage of crimes against humanity allegedly committed by the PAOPA regime between 2018 and 2023.
They however feel secure when they leave power when one of their own heads the countyr’s body of lawyers. But, the ACC boss, Francis Ben Kaifala is under the spotlight for the rigging actions also seen as a form of distraction of minds from the current election stalemate that has left tongue-wagging, head scratching and sleepless nights.
Also forming part of the barrage of distractions is the claim of no rerun in the face of an election investigation by the Tripartite Committee.
The no rerun claim previously widely peddled by SLPP politicians was going to be used as an effective weapon of distraction.
Senior government officials including Information Minister have said in plain terms that there is nothing like a rerun recommendation as June 24, 2023 polls were over and government now looks forward for another election expected to take place in 2028.
The no rerun claim has got strong support among SLPP members, supporters and sympathisers as they believe that relinquishing power to the opposition after an election is big error on the part of their party.
Currently, SLPP politicians would not hesitate to work with any political or economic stakeholder to facilitate a second term. The party members were recently caught in ecstasy and unprecedented elation after US Ambassador, David Hunt completely ruled out any rerun recommendation.
But, according to realities on the ground, the distractions are not sure to work as the people could not be restrained if the Tripartite Committee says nay while they say yes.