Sierra Leone elections 2028: Bridging the nascent tribal rift – the Fulani factor  

Abayomi Tejan: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 18 November 2024:

As is to be expected, both the ruling party and the opposition, SLPP and APC respectively, are contemplating choosing a flag bearer for the next general elections in 2028. Both parties are locked in a power struggle in choose from among their multiple contenders.

Chernoh Maju Bah (aka Chericoco) of the APC (Photo) and Juldeh Jalloh, current two-term Vice President in the ruling SLPP administration, are both Fulani, projected to presidential proximity in 2018 for strategic political gains, garnering the Fulani population for the home stretch. This paid up significantly for President Bio’s SLPP victory in 2018 and, daresay, 2023, albeit with the ubiquitous ‘vote rigging ‘ antics of democracies the world over.

The APC has been adamant since, at first clamouring for a re-run, then settling for a US brokered tripartite agreement. Now, the struggle for a successor to Samura Kamara, or settling for yet another chance for him, is rattling the APC like never before.

Is there no one else competent to replace Samura Kamara? Time will tell. One thing is certain though – be it Samura Kamara or whosoever, the APC has a hold on the North/West that should not be underestimated.

So has the SLPP in the South/East plus a good chunk in the West. Both parties are walking a tight rope in a race where the rewards for winning are as high as the consequences for losing severe. One wrong step is all it takes to swing the odds.

The decisive variable here is the Fulani population, which cannot be assigned a region, they are everywhere, and they are many. And both VP Juldeh Jalloh and Chernoh Maju Bah, the former in particular, hold significant sway over that portion of the electorate that should not be taken for granted.

Naturally, Juldeh Jalloh would like to be the next SLPP flag bearer, and he would not be human if he did not. Throughout his tenure as Vice President  so far, he has walked placidly, toeing the line behind his boss with magnanimity and calmness, not once showing indignation or presumptuousness in the execution of his duties and responsibilities.

Might he be the one to quench that virulent animosity between North Westerners and their South Eastern political rivals? Put more bluntly, between Mendes and Temnes et al?

Detribalization of party political leadership is crucial here; another Mende as flag bearer for the SLPP would draw bitter resentment from the other side, and such candidate would not be able to contain the ensuing rift.

The APC, however, does not have that ‘tribal’ problem in choosing a flag bearer. The options are many: Temne, Limba, Loko, and Creole would do just as well, although the Creoles, despite their close association with the APC, have been constantly hived off the leadership of that party.

Choosing a suitable successor from the no doubt competent ranks in the SLPP, is difficult enough; choosing one who is free from ‘blemish,’ well-nigh impossible. No matter the choice, people will criticize, but choose, the SLPP must. The most obvious is the current VP, Juldeh Jalloh, a Fulani.

When former president Ernest Bai Koroma selected Chernoh Maju Bah as running mate to Samura Kamara in 2018, it did not resonate well with some of the other APC potential candidates for that position. While most, if not all, were rather reticent to speak their minds openly, they nonetheless whispered bitter recriminations behind closed doors.

It was by following that same example that President Bio chose Juldeh Jalloh to be his running mate. That singular instructive move by President Bio saved the SLPP from certain defeat at the hands of a menacing APC in 2018.

Juldeh Jalloh was the key to that victory, and one would be deluding oneself to not concede that fact. By so doing, both parties acknowledged the fact that the Fulani have as much right to the presidency as any other tribe in Sierra Leone.