Sierra Leone Telegraph: 7 November 2020:
Joe Biden has been elected the 46th president of the United States of America after a nail biting finish which saw the incumbent president Donald Trump kicking and screaming to the Courts calling for counting of votes to be stopped, sensing he was losing grip on power.
In an election that many have likened to those on the African continent, President Trump has been described as no different from some of Africa’s authoritarian and despotic leaders who want to hang on to power by all means necessary.
Although counting is still ongoing in just a handful of States, Biden needed just 270 of the Electoral College votes to win the presidency but has already won 273, leaving Trump trailing behind with just 213.
Joe Biden has twitted this afternoon thanking the people of America for the confidence they have reposed in him and promised to rule as president of all Americans.
His running mate – Kamala Harris – the first woman and first Black American woman to win the vice presidency has also twitted a few hours ago congratulating Joe Biden. “We did it,” she said. “You will become the next president of the United States,” she told Joe Biden.
There has been no statement so far from president Trump who has been spotted playing gulf, but several of his supporters are out on the Streets in several States waiving the American flag, as supporters of Joe Biden celebrate.
Two days ago Trump poured a lot of scorn on the election process and threatened to go to the Supreme Court, if he does not win the election. Its yet to be seen whether Trump will continue with his lawsuits and what his supporters will do now.
Trump will no doubt go down in history as the worst president the United States has ever had, after making a series of public gaffs that came to define his presidency around the World.
Sierra Leone Telegraph will bring you more on this story later.
Fantastic and straight commentary there, by the wise Mr Alimamy Turay. The APC must take note indeed. Mais Attention! Donald Trump has served his country honourably. Thereby, built a political party power house in America. With 71 million Americans behind President Trump, he has clearly become a political force to reckon with and of course, relevant in American politics in the years to come. That is why, I want him to go honourably, because he has served the Great Untied States honourably. As the saying goes, he who lives to fight and runaway, lives to fight another day. Yeah.
President Trump has every right to fight the results as far as he is concerned. But eventually, I believe, President Trump and the Republicans will do the right thing, if they realize that President Trump lost to President Elect Joe Biden. Many thanks Mr Alimamy Turay for your brilliant thoughts and wise commentary, which I very much appreciate. May God bless you. Yeah.
Finally the nail biting is over and definitely our lives are back to normal. Congratulations to President Biden and Kamala Harris for their historic victory.
Donald is an enigmatic character. Can you imagine the man is busy trumpeting, when the dance is over, building castles in the air, rather than doing himself the honourable thing, to concede to Joe Biden and begin the hard work to think for what next is for him, breathing free air to do. Instead of doing the obvious, Donald’s hippocampus went bad, since Joe Biden’s conferment of the status of President-elect. Trump hasn’t got it sinking in his frontal lobe that, in this constitutional republic of his birth and idea called America, when a president’s four year lease at the white house has expired and is not renewed, they wipe up their backs in a hurry, packed the luggage and gracefully leave. I’m just saying if Trump knows that’s the decent thing to do.
Despite the imperfections of America, as this election reveals, the United States of America is still a country of laws, not of strong men. Here, the rule of law is honorific. The beauty of it all, is easily detected. Every institution in this country has a job description and administers an Oath of office. It’s unlawful to be influenced by orders from above, outside the law and in violation of an Oath taken.
Donald would have to advise himself to realize that, it’s in his own best interest to allow an orderly transition of the presidency to take place. He’s a businessman who highly prides himself in making good deals. Is this intransigence a good deal making venture? Can or will he seize the moment rather than making the situation difficult for himself? Time will tell. Or, should he support his claim of fraud election, showing the evidence, if he has any, proving fraud, where and when it occurred. Otherwise, I’m afraid Mr. Trump is falsely trumpeting claims he cannot support. The beauty of America though, is, every cry of controversy will receive a hearing. But they just lost their appeal.
Yeah. The whole world saw democracy at work. But are we going to see a “smooth transfer of power” or a smooth retention of power” in America? If President Trump decides not to concede and go graciously, it’s up to him, but that will not be good for his legacy and reputation of his family in my view. By the way, this idea of conceding is tradition and is not a law. Frankly, what matters is the 270 electoral votes or more. Period.
America like Sierra Leone has been very decisive.
In fact, the divisiveness in Sierra Leone, due to the recklessness and vengeful political moves by the Bio SLPP kakistocracy, is worse than anywhere in the world, I reckon. That is why Sierra Leoneans have to kick their butts out of power in 2023. Only a new and cool headed President will bring the unity and meritocracy Sierra Leone dearly needs. Like America, President Bio and his Bio SLPP kakistocracy are going to loose big time, whilst the SLPP party Champions are going to win and become a responsible opposition to the mighty and indomitable APC in 2023. But all depends if the APC choose the right leader.
Trump came in and hijacked the Republican party diverting from traditional American politics. Bio came in and hijacked the SLPP party continuing JUNTA style rule. Can you imagine? The result was total polarisation and divisiveness in their respective countries. Anyway, President Trump has lost and has to go. But State House is 2023m in sight. Have they started packing their suitcases to “get SALONE sorted”? I hope so. God bless the Republic of Sierra Leone and America. TBC.
Good one, Diplomatic Sahr Matturi. There are a lot of similarities in the break up of democratic principles in the mighty US, as in little Sierra Leone. Perhaps, these parallels will continue in 2023, when the former Vice President of Sierra Leone – Chief Sam Sumana – demolishes the Sierra Leone Peoples PROBLEM (SLPP), just as former Vice President of the US – Joe Biden – swept away TRUMPISM like a tsunami. Like in the US, the 2023 elections in Sierra Leone, will be decided by people’s power. The All Peoples Congress (APC) should take note ..
American democracy at work, what can our country and people learn from the US presidential election experience? The lessons abound. First, the lesson for NEC to learn from is that, maintaining elections integrity matters; the rights of the people to exercise their civic duty to vote and be counted must be well guarded; an election commission should follow the law and listen to no dictates of power; the courts must always stand ready to address petitions as soon filed for speedy election process and procedures; finally, counting votes should be transparent to all the parties involved.
Hopefully, people too have learned the lesson that voting is a civic duty and should be taken seriously, for it’s the only way at the people’s disposal to effect the changes they want. Most importantly, Politicians I hope, will take a page on democracy, respect for the rule of law, process, rights of opponents and preserving the integrity of institutions. People can hold different view points in politics but, that shouldn’t make people enemies, presidents must lead, not only the people who voted for their party but also, those who did not vote for them. Enough teaching experience.
We now have the ability to communicate across cultures, politically, socially and economically because of the communications revolution. what happens in America or in any country now and in the future, is no longer hiding to other parts of the global village. It’s open, like the bible says, for those who have ears to hear, let them hear and those who have eyes to see, let them see.
Allegations of vote-rigging, revolts at counting centers, and false declarations of triumph from an embattled incumbent. President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims in the election’s wake are a gift to the world’s dictators and undermine American efforts to call out antidemocratic behavior abroad, as expert warnings.
Since the referendum, Trump has fired a rhetorical assault on the primary tenets of American democracy. He compelled officials to stop calculating votes when his advantage in several battleground states narrowed; he alleged widespread voter fraud without evidence and erroneously identified mail-in ballots illegal, and he, again and again, accused the Democrats of trying to “steal” the election.
Even after a first term in which president Trump repeatedly undermined democratic values, his comments this week have generated a whole new level of tension. This only heightened when his allies, some of them armed, came out crowding polling centers during knife-edge counts in Arizona and Michigan. We, the American citizens, stood against tyranny and fired Trump.
Bio is a patriot, he has a broom to sweep away corrupt elements in society.
If we learnt anything from this US election, we’ve all come away with one thing, the voice and the choice of the people matter more than president Trump and president elect Biden. People’s power matters because its the people who through the democratic system set up to express their opinions are able to deliver this great moment in American history. Yes President Trump, through his words and pronouncements won’t look out of place in any one of these BANANA REPUBLICS IN AFRICA, might have cast doubt on the elections process. How fair and transparent it has been, and not forgetting the seventy million plus Americans that voted for him. But if there is one take away, as the counting continues, when American news networks were still waiting to call it for Biden, I quote the 46th president elect – “LET THE PROCESS RUN ITS COURSE. AT THE END I AND KAMALA HARRIS WILL WIN” And to some extent is what is lacking in many African countries .
Our process through corruption is lacking people’s trust. In the nutshell there you have it. That is what democracy is all about. Its the voice of the people that matters not the politicians. Now president elect Biden has the difficult task of bringing a DISUNITED STATES OF AMERICA that has its fair share of problems this year together, economic meltdown, COVID19, Black lives matter, reform of the criminal justice system and police brutality.
In effect, Biden’s work is cut out for him. He will hit the ground running. A promise he made and a promise I believe he will work his shocks off to achieve. Unlike president Bio that promised us the same thing, but succeeded in sowing seeds of division in our country. May God bless Sierra Leone.