The people of Sierra Leone in their numbers have said that they want to vote and are willing and prepared to vote President Bio out over the weekend on Saturday 24 June. They say no matter what, come rain or shine, hell or rainstorm, bullets or cutlass, ‘we are willing to vote’ they added.
The bipartisan group of Sierra Leoneans say they are tired of the five years that they have collectively suffered under the present regime headed by the incumbent and his party government and that they are no longer scared of whether the police or soldiers or ruling party supporters or hired thugs will shoot, maim or assault them, refuse them entry to their areas and set their homes and businesses on fire, ‘but come Saturday June 24th we are all going to vote’ they assured.
‘Even if the price of the dollar was to change from NLe2,400 to NLe750 for $100 today, even if this regime is able to provide 24 hour consistent electricity supply all of a sudden, all of that won’t save them. As a matter of fact we take it as an insult for the regime to be claiming that they will fix the economy in three months; why didn’t they fix the economy in six months as promised in 2018? But in reality the Chief Minister said this because there was nothing wrong with what they inherited from Ernest Bai Koroma. They messed up the economy to the point where they were unable to fix it. They took care of their business since 2018. Now that we know how they have managed and know that we no longer want them, they are beginning to use all manner of violence against us. The violence or threat of violence will not stop us from voting,’ said a female supporter of the main opposition.
Joining in, Idrissa Sandy (not his real name) said although he is an SLPP supporter, this time around he plans on voting for the APC.
‘I am bona fide SLPP. My whole family is SLPP. I am from Bo but what I now know from reading and listening to people talk about democracy, President Bio and his men didn’t do anything to make things better for us these past five years. Look I am not impressed with the way they handled state money. They showed no concern or love for the poor people of this country. The way they wasted money is unrighteous. God has been against this regime since they started making unnecessary spending and taking such trips all around the world that produced nothing of real value to the people. I am voting for APC because I don’t think Bio and the SLPP can turn things around. All the many projects that they are unveiling in traditional APC strongholds how come they didn’t do them these past five years, why now that you see that you are on your way out, you want to now do these things? And after Saturday’s vote, when will we see you again, in another five years? We are tired of this way of doing politics. I am SLPP but not for this year’s elections,’ said Idrissa Sandy, an SLPP supporter who said he has decided to side with the APC this time around.
News reports from around the country indicate that there is widespread violence being perpetrated against people belonging to opposition parties in areas considered to be strongholds of other parties. The main contention however is between SLPP and APC supporters. The violence is so rife that there is a fear that many people will not be able to cast hence protect their votes. Despite the great witnesses we have from regional and worldwide groups and organisations presently in the country, we can see that several of our brothers and sisters are not even ashamed for disallowing other political parties and their candidates from campaigning in their villages and or communities. This kind of political intolerance, this kind of insular politics is antithetical to the aim of true democracy: one man or woman, one vote cast without fear, intimidation, coercion or duress. Anyone experiencing anything short of this definition is not living in a democratic state. They must be either living in a police state or banana republic.
‘This election that is going to take place this coming Saturday is about the future of Sierra Leone. It is about what kind of future governments we want. Do we want to see the kinds of progress we have gotten used to after our war with both Presidents Tejan Kabbah and Ernest Bai Koroma making obvious and felt improvements to the people and nation’s material condition? Or do we want to return back to conditions of the pre-war years as we have been experiencing under this SLPP regime? Since the end of the war this is the only regime that has not performed to the people’s liking. This is why they are pushing for a second term. It is as if they are saying that they performed as well as Tejan Kabbah and Bai Koroma, who were both given second term mandates by voters. But President Bio and the SLPP performed badly, poorly. If we re-elect them then we will be a failed state. We are already a narcotic state with many of our recently or newly rich people making their money from the importation and selling of illicit drugs to the youth and members of the state security setup,’ he said.
The staunch SLPP and APC supporters said they are prepared to protect their votes since the ECSL cannot guarantee them or give them assurances to this effect. They believe that the ECSL is involved in a dubious game aimed at forcing the current regime on the people and economy for another five years.
‘We are not in the position to suffer again after our 11 years of senselessness that nearly killed all of us off in this country. That war never benefitted anyone anything. All we can show for that war is a bunch of traumatised and maimed citizens and a damaged infrastructure we are still trying to fix and improve. The SLPP has failed us and they know this. We are not interested in the games the party wants to play. As an SLPP supporter that is definitely not voting for President Bio this time the only way that the SLPP can win is if they can create a situation where they will have to declare a state of emergency and use that to stifle all opposition and even seize power. If we are allowed to vote freely across this country, the SLPP does not stand a chance at re-election on Saturday,’ said one Lamin Fornah.
The group of concerned Sierra Leoneans from the APC, SLPP, PMDC and C4C have said that this Saturday’s election is about the future, ‘about the right direction for Sierra Leone’. They are calling on the international community and citizens to realise that ‘should the SLPP win this election, a lot of people are going into self-imposed exile. We will take our businesses to neighbouring countries whose economies are performing way better than ours. We don’t even have a free port in Salone as is now standard in the other Mano River countries except Salone’.
For all intents and purposes unless otherwise stated by the ECSL, all the elections slated for Saturday 24 June 2023 will go on as scheduled. According to our sources at the Commission, ‘nothing except an act of God will stop the elections from taking place on Saturday’. The nation has been assured.