Kabs Kanu: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 16 October 2023:
At long last, the mediated dialogue between the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and the opposition All People’s Congress (APC) to break the political stalemate in the country begins today in Freetown, with the Commonwealth, the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) overseeing as negotiators.
The outcome of the dialogue will determine whether elected APC MPs, Mayors and councillors who had boycotted their seats in protest over the rigging of the 2023 elections — as confirmed by the U.S, Britain, France, Netherlands and international elections observers including the Carter Centre, the European Union ( EU ) Observer Mission and the National Elections Watch ( NEW ) of Sierra Leone — will return and the opposition will work with the ruling SLPP to govern Sierra Leone.
The United States, angry with the scale and impunity of the rigging of the elections by the SLPP, has suspended the Millennium Challenge Corporation ( MCC) U.S $400 million grant won by the government and imposed travel ban on all those who undermined the elections in Sierra Leone.
The U.S has appealed to the APC MPs, mayors and councillors to return to parliament and the councils, while giving the SLPP the conditions to dialogue with the opposition and to make meaningful reforms that will forestall the occurrence of elections rigging in Sierra Leone.
The U.S demand is however a difficult proposition for the APC because the grassroots of the party have rejected any suggestion of MPs , Mayors and councillors taking their seats and are demanding a re-run of the 2023 elections in the interests of strengthening and deepening democracy in Sierra Leone.
Cokorioco newspaper has been sounding the opinions of grassroots members of the APC and stakeholders and supporters of the party; and from all their responses, the APC rank-and- file have resolved not to go back to Parliament or the councils and only want a re-run of the elections.
Social media is also seething with audios and videos produced by partisans of the APC demanding a re-run of the elections. Some of the audios and videos are replete with very harsh language and even profanities and threatening remarks about dire consequences for the leadership of the APC if it accepts any resolution of this governance stalemate other than a re-run of the elections.
Last week, the EU released its final report on the elections, and it was damning and damaging to the SLPP, providing statistical data and facts to conclude that no presidential candidate reached the threshold of 55% to avoid a runoff.
In essence, the EU demonstrated that nobody won the elections and insinuating that it was fraudulent of the Elections Commission of Sierra Leone ( ECSL ) to declare the SLPP‘s presidential candidate – Maada Bio, as the winner of the elections.
I spoke to some SLPP supporters and they rejected the notion of a re-run of the elections. They asserted that only the Supreme Court has the power to annul an election and order a re-run. They said that the APC bungled the opportunity to have the Supreme Court make any decision because the APC failed to file a lawsuit at the court challenging the results of the elections. Also, as far as they are concerned, the SLPP won the elections.
The results of the 2023 elections announced by the chairman of the Sierra Leone Elections Commission, Mr. Mohamed Konneh, exacerbated the political crisis in the country and produced a governance impasse with the APC boycott that prompted the intervention of the Commonwealth, the AU and ECOWAS.
It remains to be seen what this mediated dialogue will achieve, with relations between the SLPP and APC seriously polarized and supporters of both parties apparently holding firm to their respective positions.
Alusain Fallay you are part and parcel of those Sierra Leoneans who don’t mean well for this nation, that is why you are always supporting your selfish gain. I deeply know that the illegitimate government has brainwashed you with their brown envelope for you to keep on making noise on social media.I don’t blame you because you went to school but you are not educated.twwwww
A. Sanusie, well done. You know your contemporary history of our dear country and can hold your own in analysing it. Some of us deserve to be in a reeducation camp vis-a-vis,our recent history.
Those of us who are neither APC nor SLPP, but quite simply on the side of truth and remarkable overall progress, are ecstatic about the dialogue/mediation that has started. The immediate consequence of the exercise should be the lesson that never again will the local and international community accept fraudulent elections. We are into the dizzying phase of human development where nothing remains hidden anymore, technology has entered even our bedroom. If Bio gets to know what Western intelligence services know about him he will have a heart attack.
I watched the opening of the dialogue. It was a disaster for SLPP, represented by chief minister Sengeh. Samura Kamara delivered one devastating blow after another. If it were a boxing match the referee would have had to step in to save the life of Moinina Sengeh/SLPP. Only at the very end of his presentation that Sengeh mentioned anything about the purpose of the dialogue/mediation: the production of the real results of the elections. The man was quite simply in a tangential mode in an effort to fool and divert the attention of the mediators. A court of law would have thrown out his case notwithstanding his being the nephew of Samura Kamara’s wife. Bio must be a worried man even though there were toadies in the hall clapping for Sengeh.
There must be many questions in SLPP quarters for which there are hardly any answers: what if a rerun of the elections is called for? What if power-sharing is called for for a certain period while arrangements are being made for a rerun of the elections sponsored by the international community? What would be the consequences of SLPP intransigence – full blown economic and other sanctions? How about the probability of Brigadier Bio being indicted by ICC? Are the mediators aware of the assertion by Fatima Bio that her husband holds a PhD in coup staging, which he, in fact, did in the aftermath of the casting of votes? The catalogue of questions is endless.
Quietly Maada Bio will ask himself these question: why has my third form Economics failed me? Wouldn’t I have been more endearing to my people if I had curtailed my renting of jets to fly aimlessly around the world, but instead spend such money on importing loads of rice and other basic food items while relentlessly strengthening the agricultural sector ? Should I have controlled the loose tongue of my wife and make her realise that her escapades were hurting the presidency? I can already foresee the leaning of the mediators, who are closely being observed by the US, EU, UK, ICC, UN, IMF, World Bank and others. I don’t think they are ready to soil their reputation over Bio.
Alusine Fallay, you are full of it. Clearly you have lost your marbles. You say Pa Shaki and S.I. Koroma will be turning in their graves because of the blatant disregard for the law by the APC. Seriously? Pa Shaki and S.I?
Pa Shaki destroyed our country and is an inspiration to those in SL politics who feel they can do whatever they want to do. Shaki and S.I. were very bad people and had no regard for the law. Pa Shaki was a thief of the highest order, robbing his own (very poor) people. That is what you call regard for the law? If you have any questions as to their character, you can go ask the families of those they had murdered.
You also seem to lay all blame on the APC and and hide behind the “only the judiciary can order a re-election” nonsense. Those calling for a re-election are not asking for anyone not authorized to do so, to call for a re-election and if the EU said it, they are suggesting it as a remedy because the election was not won by Bio and that is a fact, but I would be surprised if they have.
You are either falling for the game that Bio is trying to sell or are really too moronic to be able to think properly. Our judiciary is corrupt. Our judiciary is not going to go against what the “president” wants, whether that is Bio with his now stolen mandate or an APC president. We don’t have a Sierra Leone judiciary. We have a SLPP/APC judiciary.
So please don’t join the chorus of those insulting your fellow countrymen by stating the APC should have gone to court or only the judiciary can order a reelection. The case would have languished and never brought up until five years were up after Bio has to leave anyway, or never. The Chief Justice basically works for Bio and knows he might be playing with his life and maybe his bribes if he were to try to overturn the election. We do not have an independent jury. It is an embarrassment.
I read about the Kenyan Supreme Court ruling against the president/government every so often and I’m beyond amazed, like wow! This is Africa? Don’t lie to yourself, we don’t have that in Sierra Leone. Are you forgetting it was the Chief Justice that swore in Bio after what he knew to be false results?
Ask yourself why the ECSL is refusing to release polling station data and if you are a fair-minded person, you will come to the only answer any logical person would come with and that is that they reported false data, but most likely, your answer will be the nonsensical retort that it is not mandated by the constitution, so they don’t have to and didn’t.
In case it is not clear to you, neither Bio or Kamara got 55% of the vote. Their should have been a re-run between those two and all the other opposition parties would have aligned with the APC and Kamara would have won. Bio knows this which is why the election was run the way it was. Stop blaming the victim!
I have always stated that Sierra Leoneans living in the USA are facing double jeopardy since the two main opposition parties lost the presidential elections. The APC party has already IMPLODED and become UNGOVERNABLE from within, and the same situation is now happening in the USA with the opposition Republican Party. For the first time in the history of Sierra Leone, elected representatives of the APC party have refused to perform their constitutional duties in representing their people. I personally believe that the founding fathers of the APC party, late President Siaka Stevens and vice president S.I Koroma will be turning in their graves for the blatant disregard for the RULE OF LAW that the current executive members have displayed in our country. I was not a fan of Pa Shaki( due to his corruption and violence ) who started his political career in the SLPP, but he attempted to practice the basic principles of the rule of law by not even sacking Vice President Koroma, but convinced him to nominate late President J.S Momoh as his successor. He even used the judicial process of naming late Chief Justice C.O.E Cole as the first president of Sierra Leone before he became president 24 hours later.
The only institution that has the constitutional mandate to ORDER a RE- RUN election is the Sierra Leone JUDICIARY and not the ICC or the international community. So the APC executives have the task to educate and reprogram their BRAIN WASHED and GULLIBLE members and sympathizers.
I hope and pray that the international community will also travel to the USA to engage in dialogue between the Democrat and Republican Parties.
USA does not have this problem, the opposition cannot select a leader. No one stole votes. No one lost their life.