By Mr. Felix B. Khonte
“In the book, Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, the Romans believed that the world of Nature known as the ‘MACROCOSM’, and the political world of humans, the ‘MICROCOSM’ reflect each other, and that disturbances to one causes parallel or unusual events to the other” This is the position we have found ourselves today in this our beloved Nation.
Sierra Leone, land of brilliant sunshine, and a shrine of rich cultural heritage, where citizens cohabited and lived happily as one People. But the history of our Ancestral blunders once again visited us when in April 2018, the mantle of leadership was handed over to President Bio wrongly, in the name of regime change. In those elections, the All Peoples Congress scored the highest number of Parliamentary seats including local council offices country wide. But fraudulently enough, he was announced the winner. Mr. Nfa Alie Conteh, the then commissioner of the National Electoral Commission, and returning officer was so opaque in the announcement that he over scored the result by over three percent in favor of Mr. Bio.
In his first five years of rule, we witnessed how so many things went wrong in the way a Country can be run under civilized democracies. There was the forceful imposition of the speaker of Parliament, which should have gone to the All Peoples Congress as they commanded the highest number of Parliamentary seats. The removal of ten opposition Parliamentarians and the swift replacement of nine to the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party on the same day without a bye-election as mandated by the constitution was a sign of bad omen of things to come. The State capture of all state institutions, the Sierra Leone Police, the Sierra Leone Army, The Office Of National Security,(ONS) the Correctional Center, the Civil Society Organizations and the Human rights activists who are supposed to be our gate keepers and moral guarantors all abandoned their moral duties to speak truth to power!!!
Even our sacred instrument, the constitution was perforated that made room for bad laws to be enacted and passed without the usual procedures as mandated by the constitution .The controversial Mid Term Census which was not approved by the World Bank that made way for the forceful imposition of the Proportional Representation PR or District Block system in less than a year to the elections. The massive human rights abuses perpetrated especially to members of the opposition All Peoples Congress supporters in the North West, the unwarranted spate of killings that characterized his first term in office, coupled by the high cost of living triggered the people to vote for a change of government.
The elections of 24th June 2023 came, headed by Mr. Mohamed Kenewui Konneh, who, according to the constitution, was not qualified to head that institution. On taking up office, he introduced his own ‘antidotes’ in the Electoral Commission like the disenfranchisement of first-time voters, the poor production of voter identification cards, the borrowing of voter boxes from Guinea, the misplacement of several names in the voter register especially from the North West, the strong hold of the opposition All Peoples Congress. An election that we heard the Returning officer Mr. Mohamed Konneh telling voters to go out there and vote Saful(carefully), go and seat at home Saful (Carefully), and the winner to celebrate Saful (Carefully).That rings a bell for what was expected as even one prominent human rights activist predicted the elections by 56 percent in favor of President Bio!!!
The results were announced clandestinely even when tallying and tabulation of results in most pooling centers across the country was still going on. As a sign of protest against this day light robbery, the All Peoples Congress APC, decided not to take part in the Governance of the Country by telling their members of Parliament, their Local Council Chairmen, Mayors and Councilors to stay put. This impasse lasted for three months that prompted the National Commission for Peace and National Cohesion to intervene. After so many overtures to the Opposition All Peoples Congress to canvass them to join the governance of the state did not pay dividend, they decided to turn to the African Union, the Ecowas and most importantly the Common Wealth to arbitrate and find solutions to end the stalemate.
The deliberations lasted for three days and they came out with a communique that was signed by the two parties in the presence of the moderators who served as moral guarantors. According to the terms of the communique which all parties should adhere to the fullest within a six-month period without any compromise, the gullible population came up with different opinions of a sell out by the Party Leader Dr. Samura Kamara and his team of negotiators. BUT LET US DON’T LOOSE SIGHT OF THE FACT THAT THEY WERE HERE NOT TO RECOMMEND A RE-RUN OR RUN-OFF OF THE ELECTIONS, AS PEOPLE WERE EXPECTING,RATHER,THE FOUNDATION HAS BEEN LAID DOWN FOR A TIME BOUND AGREEMENT IN WHICH THE INTRA PARTY COMMITTEE, INCLUDING OUR MORAL GUARANTORS SHOULD GO DEEP DOWN INTO ALL THE VARIOUS STAGES OF THE ELECTIONS MANAGEMENT UP TO THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE RESULTS.
Mother Sierra Leone– Father Sierra Leone– your children lean on borrowed hopes, visualizing vague visions of UNITY, FREEDOM and JUSTICE. Can we ever obliterate forever, pungent memories of our brothers and sisters, who in protest against bad governance and economic hardship were gunned down in cold blood? As we await to see the implementation of the communique, let us continue to pray to God Almighty that the “UNHIDDEN TRUTH” will emerge victorious….