Will President Julius Maada Bio accept the recommendations of the Tripartite Committee after the committee would have completed its investigations into the result of the 24th June, 2023, presidential elections?
This is the question posed by well-meaning citizens who say they are confused and concerned about the committee’s work and if it will make any difference regarding our elections narrative going forward.
The people of this country consider the committee’s work to be much bigger than just recommending the type of election to use if they discovered that another election should be in the offing to address the current stalemate.
What is worrying to the people of Sierra Leone is that the ultimate enforcing of the recommendations will be based on the president’s discretion as they will not be legally binding.
However, the expectation or hope is that the parties will put national over personal or partisan interest. Sadly, the president has not shown himself as one that respects agreements.
For example, a concerned MP said since the communiqué that was signed that in effect led to the elected Members of Parliament and the town and city councils from across the country belonging to the opposition All People’s Congress – APC that had boycotted taking part in the running of the government citing manipulation of the tallied polling data to return to the House and councils, the ruling party government has so far not fulfilled their end of the people’s expectations of the communiqué.
The MP pointed out that the returning APC MPs and councillors and mayors have not received their backlog salary that is a part of the communiqué. Also they have not seen an end to politically motivated cases and the people that had to flee their homes before and during the elections have not been allowed to return because the Sierra Leone People’s Party – SLPP has failed to impress it on their supporters to allow people from the other political parties to return to their homes.
Adding to this injurious action from SLPP gangsters and their handlers in the party, those that were in jail belonging to the APC because of politically motivated reasons have not had their issues resolved as many of them are still locked up.
Meanwhile, many citizens are concerned that the importance of the Tripartite Committee to the future of politics in Sierra Leone is slowing being missed because of the dishonesty that has been displayed by the SLPP party government and their leader. The future of elections is at stake and those responsible to see that it is improved on for the general good are dragging their feet on an issue with the potential to cause civil unrest whenever there is an election event.
According to members of the sixth parliament that spoke to nightwatch they see the advent of the Tripartite Committee as a God sent moment that will address our electoral problems going forward. If done in the interest of saving the nation from the civil situations that result from electoral impasses, then the work of the committee will be a historic one as it will clear the nation’s path to becoming a genuine and credible democracy.
Done with the peace and nation’s prosperity in mind, the committee’s work will make the people know and feel like their votes matter and that they will be protected by the electoral commissioner. It should never be the job of the contending presidential hopefuls or contestants in an elections race to secure or protect our votes; this should be the work of the electoral commissioner.
But when the people cannot trust the commissioner any result that he or she announces will always be contested.
The MPs said the work of the Tripartite Committee will not only lead to the people knowing that their votes matter as previously mentioned, they will also realise that their vote decide the fate of powerful people in the country including the president. This will be empowering to the people of Sierra Leone who have for a very long time felt like their votes don’t matter. This is the reason for the voter apathy that raises its ugly head during every electoral cycle. It is a common practice for people to register just to get an official government identity card they can use to transact business instead of registering to vote.
Meanwhile, should Mr. Bio accept the recommendations of the committee this will give power to alternative paths to resolving issues of national importance without the singular reliance on the National Constitution for clarity and justification. Therefore the committee’s recommendations are much bigger and important than just recommending what type of election to employ in resolving this and any future electoral impasse.
The people have said that their confusion about the entire process of the committee’s work comes from the opinions and interpretations of the work of the committee that seems to be operating in secret by people beholden to the political parties. The secret nature of the committee’s work has left the general public in the dark and consequently given rise to unguarded speculations from both sides of the political divide that add more to the people’s frustration with the uncertainty of the committee’s work because such utterances are partisan, one-sided and highly subjective. It would help if the committee has a public relations or communications team that gives the public regular updates on the committee’s activities.
That said, will president Bio do the needful at the end of the day and accept the committee’s recommendations?
People in the SLPP have reminded this medium that the president is not under legal obligation to accept any recommendation from the Tripartite Committee especially one that threatens his continued stay at State House and as head of state. The party government, they went on, will accept any recommendation that does not support early presidential elections.
According to the minister of information, the only presidential elections the party government is preparing for is the 2028 elections. The comment of the baby-face minister has put to rest the boast by president Bio that he will defeat the APC if there was another election. Citizens are convinced that the president is overestimating his popularity across the country especially in SLPP strongholds.
As the committee’s work draws to a close, many people across the country belonging to all sides of the political divide are worried if the president will put partisan interest and personal ambition aside and for the sake of the peace and progress of the people and the country, accept the recommendations of the Tripartite Committee.
It would seem as if the work of this committee that is important to the elections narrative in Sierra Leone and the expected actions of the incumbent are confusing to the general public, who are not trusting that the president will do the needful for the country. Many have said the work of the committee will end up like many such committees set up to look into issues that are collecting dust in government enclaves.
Only time will tell if this will be the case with the Tripartite Committee. It’s only saving grace is if the president puts pen to paper when that time comes. Lonta!