Sierra Leone Telegraph: 18 March 2018:
Elections in Sierra Leone that are currently underway, have thrown up some of the most bizarre campaign strategies and tactics ever seen in the nation’s history. The Chinese backed ruling APC party proudly referring to its leaders and supporters as Black Chinese, are not only throwing cash at voters to win their support, but are now being accused of massive electoral fraud and ballot stuffing.
Results of the first-round voting which took place last Wednesday, show that none of the parties’ presidential candidates have been able to win outright majority of 55% needed to form a government.
A run-off will now take place on Tuesday, 27 March 2018, between the ruling APC candidate – Samura Kamara and the opposition SLPP’s Julius Maada Bio. Dr Kandeh Yumkella of the NGC, is expected to support the opposition SLPP in winning the run-off and form a coalition government of national unity.
But anxiety has been growing over the role and influence of China and its citizens in helping the ruling APC win the elections, by any means necessary. The Chinese have directly and openly campaigned with APC supporters on the streets.
Writing in the Diplomat, Arran Elcoate – a Casberd Scholar at St. Johns College, Oxford University, analyses China’s role and influence in Sierra Leone’s presidential and general elections. This is what he said:
China is playing an unusually direct role in Sierra Leone’s presidential campaign.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s warning, made on his first and last official visit to Africa, that “African countries” should be careful not to “forfeit their sovereignty” in their dealings with China seems particularly pertinent as Sierra Leone heads to the polls for the second time later this month.
Following an inconclusive result in the first presidential election last Tuesday, the next election will be a two-horse race between the ruling All People’s Congress (APC) and the Sierra Leone People’s Party.
The National Grand Coalition, once touted as a likely contender to break Sierra Leone’s two-party system, was decisively routed, achieving only 6.9 percent of the vote.
Support for the APC, which came in a narrow second place in the first round of voting, stems from a surprising source; not just from native Sierra Leoneans, but also Sierra Leone’s biggest trading partner, China.
A stir was caused recently by footage of ethnically Chinese men campaigning alongside the APC in full party uniform, raising the issue of direct partisan involvement by China in Sierra Leone’s political process.
This is but the latest in a long string of such incidents confirming the close relationship between the APC and the ruling Communist Party in China.
In 2017 construction began on a seven story “Friendship Building” donated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to the APC and earlier this year at an APC rally supporters could be heard chanting “We are Chinese! We are Chinese!”, an expression of support for the country that has poured vast amounts of resources into Sierra Leone.
Under President Ernest Koroma, Chinese investment in Sierra Leone has significantly expanded. Under Koroma’s headship, Chinese resources have been poured into a new freeway system, a hospital, and a $318 million airport. It is the last of these investments that has received particularly sharp criticism.
Both the World Bank and the IMF have criticized the project, suggesting that this hugely expensive project is a poor use of resources when Sierra Leone is still recovering from a devastating Ebola outbreak.
It is projects like this that informed Tillerson’s criticism of China’s “predatory loan practices” in Africa.
However, while the United States remains the leading aid donor to Africa, it was China that took the lead in responding to Sierra Leone’s Ebola outbreak and to the global fall in iron ore prices, which badly hit the country in 2014.
Indeed, Koroma is supportive of China’s influence in his country. Speaking in China in 2016 he praised Chinese investment: “(With) the support of friends like China we have been able to roll out programs of recovery to restore our utilities, get our services back and provide support for our private sector to get the market properly operating again.”
Whether this close relationship with a foreign power will help Koroma’s party as they proceed to the polls for the second time remains to be seen. His party is suffering in the aftermath of the Ebola epidemic, the drop in the price of iron ore, and a huge mudslide in Freetown, the capital city, last year, which killed approximately 1,100 people.
While the rally cry of “We are Chinese” confirms some support for the Asian giant among Sierra Leoneans, it seems many share Tillerson’s concerns regarding China’s “predatory loan practices” and use of imported Chinese workers over native Sierra Leoneans.
Similar sentiments won the 2011 election for Zambia’s Micheal Sata who attacked an equally heavy Chinese presence in his own country, memorably stating that “Zambia has become a province of China.”
Even if the Sierra Leone People’s Party manages to win the election, however, it seems unlikely that the increased Chinese role in Sierra Leone will be overturned altogether. The relationship between the two countries runs deeper than links between the APC and the CCP, going back to Sierra Leone’s independence in 1961.
However, while a loss by the APC in the forthcoming election might not herald the rejection of Chinese investment in Sierra Leone, it could represent a rejection of something more significant and more sinister: direct involvement by the Chinese Communist Party in the free elections of an African nation.
China’s move into Sierra Leonean politics, coming at a time when Chinese President Xi Jinping is taking decisive steps to undermine democracy in China, is but another aspect of China’s growing influence over Africa.
With China expanding their “soft power” via the Kenyan television marketand their military power with the establishment of a naval base in Djibouti, it remains to be seen whether Tillerson’s warning will be heeded by Sierra Leone.
About the author
Arran Elcoate is a Casberd Scholar at St. Johns College, Oxford University. This story was published in the Diplomat.
Editor’s note
Videos and pictures have been added by the Sierra Leone Telegraph.
No, that is why we say no to you. Sierra Leone is not for sale to the Chinese people. Have you ever seen any black Chinese in Sierra Leone, are you kidding? Thank God all these guy’s plans have gone in vain. Who do you blame for the collapse of the economy? Dr. Samura Kamara answers” the government”
The video clips showed lack of humility and they are sticking their middle fingers in the face of average Sierra Leoneans.
I really felt disrespected and cheated the first time. I was asked to pay money in order to travel within my country without giving me any alternative.
I even felt intimidated by the presence of an armed police officer which seems obvious that I had no choice but to obey even though I have been traveling within my country over the past 40 years, on those same roads without paying a cent. I hope someone will do whatever it takes to overturn this terrible decision made to impose toll on the citizens of Sierra Leone, so that our dignity and self esteem will be restored.