The appointment of Edmond Alpha Chief Electoral Commissioner (CEC) has sparked controversy among the ranks of the main opposition, All People’s Congress (APC).
The appointment has prompted APC’s top cream to mount pressure on the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) to reverse its decision threatening to withdraw their participation from local and national governance.
Ahead of government ‘s response to their concerns, APC members of parliament have staged a sit-at-home and the boycott is further cascaded to the provinces where councillors, chairmen and mayors have also called it a day. Like their fellow parliamentarians, the councillors said they would not return to the councils until another person was appointed although they outline no criteria.
An APC press release dated 12th March, 2026 confirms APC’s position towards the appointment of Edmond Alpha.
“following extensive discussion on the prevailing political situation and the status of the recommendations of the Tripartite Committee, the National Secretariat is pleased to inform the general membership of the APC and the public that both the parliamentary representatives of the party and the elected APC local government officials have reiterated their unanimous endorsement of the party leadership’s decision to withdraw participation from all engagements with the government,” a portion of the press release reads.
APC’s press release is a product of two consecutive meetings held in March, this year by senior politicians of the party.
As it stands, the boycott is still in force with no one knowing when it will come to an end.
But, many questions have popped up about APC’s current line of action against the appointment of the new electoral boss since they put up with the past appointment.
A senior APC politician, Eddie Kamara said he was taken aback few days ago when he learned that APC parliamentarians and councillors had left parliament and councils.
For him, APC’s action is all about hypocrisy to deceive the people of Sierra Leone, but surely the people have woken up to their tricks.
“All what APC is doing is not something real; they just want to cover up their hypocrisy and tricks to lead the grassroot people astray. But, it will not work this time,” Kamara asserted.
The APC veteran politician went on to state that if APC parliamentarians and councillors meant business they ought to have successfully resisted the appointment of the erstwhile Chief Electoral Commissioner, Mohamed Kenewui Konneh two years prior to the conduct of 2023 elections.
Kamara argued that Konneh’s appointment was more controversial than that of Edmond Alpha as a result of a stark contrast between the two personalities in terms electoral experience.
The age-old politician says Edmond Alpha is better off since he is a senior employee of the Electoral Commission (ECSL) with fine experience compared to Mohamed Konneh who never served in the low cadres of ECSL. He came into the ECSL as a boss and not a worker.
At the time of his appointment, Mohamed Konneh was head of the Financial Intelligence Unit in the Ministry of Finance meaning that he was a public officer as provided by the Constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991.
Lawyers too argue that Konneh was not supposed to lead the electoral agency owing to the senior public post he held at that time, but APC accepted him to conduct and supervise the election despite calls by the grassroot members of the party.
The ordinary supporters (men and women) of APC urged APC politicians not go into the elections owing to what they referred to as a suspicious manner of Konneh’s appointment.
Apart from Konneh being a public officer at the time of his appointment, another constitutional provision which warrants the President to consult with leaders of political parties before having an election chief was also flouted.
For proper and legal appointment, there must be consultations among leaders of political parties about the person to hold the CEC’s post for the purposes of fairness, transparency and credibility of the electoral process.
For Konneh’s appointment, only ex-President Ernest Koroma, as it later came out, was consulted.
The CEC’s academic papers were taken to the APC headquarters under the instruction of the former President Koroma, but APC politicians also turned a blind eye without taking any action.
APC’s acquiescence to the political plan was seen as a complete collusion with government rebuffing calls from the grassroot supporters to take on SLPP.
The grassroot’s call for APC politicians to stand up with them became intense when Mohamed Konneh failed to publish the data ahead of voting.
It is a normal practice in Sierra Leone for all former electoral chiefs to publish disaggregated data before voting takes place so that the people can know exactly how many voters there are in the country as a measure to forestall rigging. The people resisted when ECSL failed to publish the data since Konneh said such publication would expose voters’ personal details.
The ‘NO DATA, NO ELECTION’ slogan was taken to every corner of the country particularly in opposition strongholds with Magburaka in the North being the first to peacefully take to the streets.
The people of Magburaka expected APC politicians to come out and bolster the resistance, but sat with folded arms and watched a terrible situation.
In spite of the tempo raised, APC politicians were still complacent and ready to go into election which many Sierra Leoneans believed APC won, but the elections went the other way.
The official results showed that President Julius Maada Bio clinched victory in the 2023 polls surpassing the 55% threshold provided by the Constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991.
However, the people were not convinced that SLPP won the election as they rely on the reports of local and international election observers (National Elections Watch, EU, Carter Centre, Commonwealth, ECOWAS, AU and G7+), but APC accepted the election outcome as clearly manifested by their actions.
Following the announcement of the results, the people and the international community also intensified their calls for the publication of the results by polling stations and districts, but ECSL also refused to respond to such calls.
The CEC said, he was not obliged under the law, to publish the results as demanded by the people and the international community, a defence akin to the one put up following calls for the publication of data.
But, APC stalwarts especially those in the executive apparently accepted the results despite their initial refusal to take up their seats in parliament and councils.
Even during the stay-at-home protest, some APC parliamentarians led by Honourable Mohamed Bangura sneaked quietly into parliament in complete betrayal of the party as well as grassroot members and supporters.
The grassroot supporters of the party expected the party leadership to take disciplinary or punitive measures against Honourable Bangura since his action amounted to what they called “anti-party activity.” But, the APC politician walked free and continued his work with the SLPP embarking on local and international missions.
The political crisis, at that time, prompted an internationally mediated three-day dialogue between SLPP and APC to secure the country’s peace and stability.
The aftermath of the three-day mediation saw APC politicians in parliament and councils even when SLPP failed to carry out their own part. According to the agreement, government was supposed to discontinue all “politically-motivated court cases,” release of political detainees and pay three-month backlogs among others to foster peace and national cohesion in the country many believed to be tinkering on the edge of explosion.
After the peace plan and after all, all what APC politicians were crying for was to see their backlogs paid neglecting the voters’ interest while they remain in comfort.
Owing to their effort, their backlogs were paid, and the APC parliamentarians and councillors tightened their cooperation with the SLPP government than ever before in the face of bitter public criticism and resentment.
The next move by the APC politicians is to invoke a clause in the APC Constitution which provides that when a presidential candidate loses an election, he is permitted to stay in charge of the party for only six months and later give way to a new leadership.
This means after the June, 2023 elections, Samura Kamara was supposed to have vacated his seat in December, 2024 so that APC could move on with its leadership until another National Delegates’ Conference was held for the election of a new flag-bearer.
The APC politicians believed that once the six months elapsed, Samura Kamara would cease to be the party leader, and they were ready to force him out if he resisted. They hope that a cool and docile Samura Kamara would peaceful go out, and everything would be alright.
They were a bit successful as Samura Kamara reportedly handed over the keys implying that his leadership was over, but still retained his somewhat de facto post of flag-bearer of the party arguing that “it is not yet over until it is over.”
On the other side of the pendulum, APC politicians vehemently held the position that the election were over and “it is done and dusted.” A recent audio released by former President Ernest Koroma while in exile in Nigeria said the June, 2023 polls were over and that the party should move forward. He further stated that one of the main ways of solving an electoral dispute is to get the opposition to the table drawing on his international electoral experience.
Koroma said he applied such tactics to Zambia’s post-election stalemate with the current President Hakainde Hichielema and Late Edgar Lungu at the centre of the crisis.
It is therefore the same for Sierra Leone where APC’s opposition leader, Samura Kamara sat on the peace table with the incumbent to solve a post-election dispute. The then election boss Konneh also had a fair share of the crisis as everything emanated from him, but APC politicians were comfortable with the situation.
Therefore, a popular argument holds that if APC support President Bio in the appointment of Mohamed Konneh, they must also prepare to accept the new election boss, Edmond Alpha.