When one looks back at the launching of the Tripartite Committee, it can be safely said that the election probe has been delayed beyond imagination raising question of what goes on at the moment.
Launched in October, last year, the committee has entered its fifth month and should be rounding up its work by now and ready to submit its findings and recommendations since it initially has a six-month mandate.
The committee, according to the October communiqué, has an important task of investigating the June 24, 2023 elections to establish who the actual winner is and make recommendations to ensure that all future elections are free, fair and credible.
It stems from the belief that it is only a credible election that confirms the people’s will to have a government of their choice and, in turn, strengthen democracy.
The communiqué is a product of a three-day dialogue brokered by the international community (Commonwealth, African Union and Economic Community Of West African States) late last year with the aim of ending a post-election stalemate between the main opposition, All People’s Congress and the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP).
The communiqué reads in Clause-3 that “…the President in consultation with the APC party, will constitute a cross party Committee on Electoral Systems and Management Bodies Review with a three-way leadership nominated by the Government of Sierra Leone, the APC party and Development Partners…to examine the electoral systems, structures and processes of the 2023 multi-tier electoral cycle.”
The committee, according to the communiqué, will be informed by previous elections with a view to highlighting and addressing the contentious issues of elections and results management including the collation, verification, authentication and publishing of electoral data consistent with international best practice. It is also vivid in the peace document that the duration of the committee shall be six months commencing from the day of establishment.
The all-important committee had been set up after it was launched at State House by President Julius Maada Bio, and work ought to have begun at that time.
If the committee means business, it should be at the tail end of the probe and get ready to submit the findings and recommendations which the people of Sierra Leone eagerly wanted to see.
This press has also learned that the Tripartite Committee also known as the Election Investigation Committee has not gone far into its work thus raising big doubt as to whether it would complete its mandate in June, this year as earlier trumpeted by the authorities.
At the moment, only the terms of reference have been launched and a secretariat set up for work to start but without knowing when.
All along, government has been attributing the waste of time to the lack of money to implement a project that represents the hope and future of all Sierra Leoneans.
Surprisingly, delays still continue after $1.5m was made available to the committee by US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Greenfield. The feet dragging about the election probe all started when government chose Vice President, Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh to head the investigative body knowing fully well that the probe will not be free from bias.
It was a big tussle between ex-US Ambassador, David Reimer and government over the selection of Juldeh Jalloh to steer such a sensitive committee.
As the controversy ensued, Ambassador Reimer hit out at government when he said “that a candidate in an election cannot take part in such investigation.” The US diplomat went on to argue that he had great respect for the Vice President, but he was not the right person to head the investigation. The debate went on for days if not weeks and months before it settled down. According to many Sierra Leoneans, Ambassador Reimer was right since the Vice President had headed two committees without good results. He led the Clemency Committee that saw a convicted murderer, Baimba Moiforray out of prison without taking any responsibility for it.
Government’s delay tactics of the election probe was also made visible when they attempted to include other institutions not provided for by the communiqué.
It was government’s aim to include the Inter-Religious Council of Sierra Leone and civil society organisations when the communiqué was completely silent about them. The controversy became a heated one for weeks before the main opposition, APC saw a head way.
It never stopped there as another delay was created by an endless disagreement by the two main political parties as to whether the Chief Electoral Commissioner, Mohamed Kenewui Konneh should avail himself at the committee or not.
Those who witnessed the launching of the terms of reference over a month ago at the New Brookfields Hotel in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown observed that government would not like to see Konneh questioned by the election investigators. They fear that the real election results would be revealed, an act that would amount to a coup against the people of Sierra Leone.
Electoral coups have been bitterly condemned in Africa as they pave way to military takeovers in various countries. Former Liberian President, George Opong Weah and Gambia’s opposition leader, Mamah… Kandeh supported the claim that election rigging invites the army into national politics
Senior opposition politicians have constantly argued that the delay in the election probe by government is a well-planned and executed scheme that causes an irreparable reputational damage to Sierra Leone.
In the presence of members of the diplomatic community in Sierra Leone, Governance Advisor, Dr Emmanuel Gaima who represented government at the Tripartite Committee said the committee was deficient in coercive powers and thus cannot force Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) to appear before it.
ECSL, according to Dr Gaima, will honour an invitation by the tripartite body only on grounds of “moral suasion.” If his statement is properly understood, it is a subtle way of saying that ECSL would not submit to the investigation and that is what the people of Sierra Leone are seeing today.
Critical questions will be posed to government that if ECSL enjoys the freedom to either appear or not to appear before the election investigators to answer critical questions about an election, what will be the way out?
It is really a trying time for Sierra Leoneans whose lives have been taken away, driven away from their homes, houses set ablaze, maimed, raped and subjected to other forms of political thuggery for taking part in an election.
When one looks at the communiqué and even the terms of reference, the investigation begins and ends with the Chief Electoral Commissioner, Mohamed Kenewui Konneh and the other commissioners who allegedly unanimously endorsed the decision to rig the elections or steal the votes in favour of the ruling party.
The Constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991, the highest law of the land establishes ECSL as the sole agency with the power to conduct and supervise all public elections and referenda in Sierra Leone.
Another provision also states that in the exercise of such function, ECSL should not be controlled or directed by any person or institution, and this provision was well dealt with by President Julius Maada Bio while delivering a lecture at his almametre, a Washington university in the US. When asked about the June 24, 2023 elections, the President minced no word saying that ECSL was an independent agency and had no control over it.
The question that many are asking now is who should be taken to task when the people’s votes are not properly accounted for? Is it President Bio and his ministers? The answer is a big NO; it is the election boss that should explain to the election investigators how it all plays out, and any move to offer Konneh the discretion to either face the committee or not amounts to creating unnecessary delays in the election probe.
In the face of diplomats of great nations, Dr Gaima was also definite in his statement that the people of Sierra Leone should look forward to 2028 elections as the June polls were done and dusted. By his statements, he does not care whether the election committee would recommend a rerun or fresh election at the end of the probe.
The government representative has also made it manifest that they are in no mood to accept any rerun, run off or fresh elections even if the election investigators discover significant irregularities at the end of the probe. No one knows what has been government’s back up that embolden its officials to navigate on such a perilous journey.
As it stands, the stalemate is far from over as the Tripartite Committee is seen a mere cool off phenomenon for the aggrieved and angered Sierra Leoneans whose votes were allegedly diverted.
It is however rather unfortunate that the communiqué contains no clause that calls for televising the hearings of the Tripartite committee which has been a key and reasonable demand.
It is really dangerous when the people are kept in the dark about the proceedings of such an important investigation but much more dangerous when opposition spokesmen fail to inform their people.
The absence of a resolution that confers coercive powers on the Tripartite Committee also created another difficulty that would further delay the investigation for months to come.
By the people’s persistent questions about the progress of the probe, the international community particularly Britain should know that a swift and fair election probe is the foundation for peace and stability in Sierra Leone.
Five years back, Sierra Leoneans witnessed how the UK government reportedly funded a commission of inquiry that speedily and fiercely investigated the Ernest Bai Koroma regime with a view to unearth corruption and other forms of mismanagement of public funds whose recommendations were wickedly enforced against members of the opposition.
Even the dead, Minkailu Bah, Education Minister and Momoh Conteh, Chairman for National Telecommunications Authority were not spared.
Posthumous actions were taken against them by driving away families of the dead from their homes they had built out of their hard-earned money.
Today, a committee that is more important than the commission of inquiry is being openly derailed by men who have stayed in London for years and now in the camouflage of people’s servants with the former colonial power not acting tough to send a loud and clear message that the world does not accept votes stealing.
Blatant rigging of elections leads to democratic backsliding whose consequences could neither be predicted nor quantified in the short run.
The delay, according to observers in the media and the public is nothing other than an evasion of justice, a move that has caused many Sierra Leoneans accusing Mohamed Konneh of navigating a perilous journey.
He is at the helm of affairs at ECSL and should answer question when situation goes abnormal as uneasy lies on the head that wears the crown.
The ECSL boss must be told that leadership brings not only power and authority but responsibility and accountability. Only such caution will end the delay so that the country can move on with the rebuilding project after years of destruction.