Sierra Leone Telegraph: 21 March 2022:
Former President of Sierra Leone, H.E. Dr Ernest Bai Koroma, departs Freetown today, Monday 21st March 2022, for Nigeria. The Sierra Leonean statesman will participate in a dialogue, aimed at coordinating response to the emerging socio-political trends in West Africa, following an invitation from the West Africa’s Elders Forum (WAEF).
The dialogue will be held under the aegis of the WAEF which has been established by former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, as a mechanism to promote peace, governance, and democracy in the sub-region.
WAEF particularly emphasizes preventing election-related conflicts and maintaining stability in West Africa.
A letter signed by former President Goodluck Jonathan (Photo left with former president Koroma), says that: “The accelerating trend of instability, insecurity and breakdown of constitutional order within the West African Sub-region cannot be allowed to continue unchecked. There is an urgent need for a collective response to the emerging challenges.”
The Meeting will be held on March 23 2022, at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja, Nigeria.
In another engagement taking place tomorrow, March 22, former President Koroma will participate as ‘Guest Speaker’ in a virtual event on the Experimental Leadership Series hosted by Tel – Africa. He will be speaking on the theme; “Reaction Vs. Proaction; rethinking the leadership experience in Africa.”
And on March 25, President Koroma will deliver the Keynote speech at another virtual High-Level discussion organized by Club House, which is an auxiliary of the Centre for International Policy (CIP), speaking about “The Challenges of African Leadership.” CIP says it prides itself as ‘an independent research and policy centre dedicated to promoting Africa’s position in international affairs and global governance.’
Between the 28th and 29th March 2022, President Koroma will also participate in a High-Level discussion organized by the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA) at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, focusing on democratic good governance and the role of sub-regional bodies such as ECOWAS in achieving this goal.
“The reversal in democratic governance and the re-emergence of military rule in West Africa is troubling. This calls for frank discussions and practical solutions to the underlying factors,” said former President Koroma.
The CoDA event will bring together over 40 participants comprising political leaders, policymakers, civil society actors and academics in a joint endeavour to find ways of addressing the discontents affecting democracy in West Africa.
Ladies and gentlemen, the only major differences between these two former statemen are the quality and a better decision makings, to prove that yes; you love your country. Mr. GoodLuck Jonathan, H.E. never demanded for more time, neither enforced for ” Third Term” in office. After his defeats in his second term presidential bid, did he ever hang on to be a life chairman for his party?, let someone disputes that. My own opinion, all this invitations to our former leader H.E. EBK, within the West African, is to teach him what is Democracy indirectly. If someone was suppose to do such a stuff, that could have been the late, South African President” Nelson Mandela”. Trust me, APC will loose this coming election big is just because of EBK. Our we complaining about tribalism? yeah!… Ok, come 2023 Samura Kamara again?
The legendary late musician Bob marley left one of his great reggae music( Get-up stand up). “You can fool some people sometimes, but you can’t fool all the people all the time”. Ernest B. Koroma wants Samura Kamara in the state house just as a mirror. Time will tell.
I certainly think engaging in peace building and the democratisation of the west African region in the face of the anti democratic forces sprouting in the African continent in general is a matter of urgency. When Liberal democracies or in our case aspiring Democrats, like holding general elections so people can choose their political representatives, is the only viable option left for some of us that have always argued about the respect of the constitution, rule of law, free Press, and above all eles respecting the rights of ordinary citizens to express themselves freely and openly with out the fear of an over reach by the state. Any elections is better than no elections. And this threats to our democratic values, sometimes we take for granted can come in all forms. And the usual suspects is always the military, but in some cases, like Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, and Mali the abuse of constitutional power can come from the elected civilian governments that sometimes want to change the constitutional order to extend their two terms limits.
So fomer President Koroma , Sierra-leone and Goodluck Jonathan Nigeria, two presidents that completed their terms in office and gracefully passed on power to their successors are best suited to spread the gospel of democratisation in west Africa or Africa as a whole. So when they speak on public forums , we should pay attention. The mechanisms set up by state to prevent the abuse of power, by would be good leaders or bad leaders is our constitution. In other words whether you are the Pope or Pol Pot you are only entitled to two terms limits . So no one can hijack the state apparatus for their own selfish reasons.
The rotation of leadership is the only means to the end for the state and its peoples. We live in a world where identity politics,in the case of Sierra Leone tribal politics and political polarisation is testing the pillars and the very foundations of our democratic dispensation. Men like Bio will try his luck but he will not succeed. Because the power to elect your leaders or reject them is with you the ordinary citizens of the state.