By Kabs Kanu
From all the ominous signs manifesting themselves , the Presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections in Sierra Leone, scheduled for June 24 , 2023 might end in big chaos capable of engulfing the whole country and spilling over into neighbouring states.
The ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party ( SLPP ) government of retired Brigadier Maada Bio continues to assure the international community of its commitment to ensure smooth and peaceful elections but these promises are not being kept and events on the ground in Sierra Leone show a petulant ,undemocratic and abrasive government working at cross- purposes with the assurances it is giving the international community and the nation.
The SLPP government has wilfully dismembered Sierra Leone into two distinct regions — its Southeastern stronghold and the opposition stronghold of the Northwest. The SLPP has created a state of affairs that grants its supporters a free run to campaign solidly everywhere in the nation, but the opposition All People’s Congress ( APC ) face daunting impediments to campaign in the SLPP strongholds of the Southeast.
There are reported attacks on campaigning APC supporters in Pujehun , Bo, Kenema and Kailahun by not only SLPP supporters but members of the security forces ( Army and the Police ) . The images and videos of the attacks showing APC supporters in blood or lying helplessly on the ground bleeding do not make for comfortable viewing.
President Bio’s silence and his lack of action to condemn and deter these attacks cast serious doubts on his seriousness to sustain peace in Sierra Leone . In fact, there have been cases where reports had emerged that orders from above precipitated these violent actions against the opposition.
And these attacks and attempts by the SLPP to create an uneven playing field for the opposition, ugly and inimical as they are to peace and security, are not the only vexing issues surrounding the forthcoming elections. The Bio government has also shown no inclination to make the June 24 elections free, fair and credible. Instead, everything the SLPP has done points to an unbridled desire to rig the elections—And the opposition and patriotic Sierra Leoneans are not having it !
The SLPP’s subterranean efforts to rig the elections have ranged from conducting a bogus census ( that has swelled the population unduly in their strongholds while reducing figures in the opposition conclaves ), a flawed voters registration process ( that had deliberately eliminated and disenfranchised thousands of prospective voters in the Northwest ) and the release of mediocre and substandard voters registration cards that will put opposition voters at a disadvantage during polling. In no time, Sierra Leoneans have noticed that the secret behind all the high confidence of victory and jubilation going on in the SLPP strongholds already before the elections are based on the census figures, skewed voters registration and fake ID cards.
There is no way that the SLPP will not win the elections with these incongruous structures they have put in place. It is on account of these disadvantages the opposition has seen that they have not only said they have lost faith in the Elections Commission but are calling for the whole electoral process to be overhauled before any polling should be allowed. Backed by an organization called the People’s Power in Politics ( PPP) , led by an angry social media political activist based in Holland, Adebayor, many Sierra Leoneans are threatening to stage massive demonstrations in Sierra Leone next week .
The last time there were these kinds of public anti – government demonstrations in Sierra Leone on August 10 , the security forces overreacted and scores of demonstrators were brutalized and murdered . But this time, organizers of the demonstration next week are vowing on social media to burn down buildings and create mayhem if the security forces dare to shoot at them .
This COCORIOKO newspaper renounces, denounces and condemns all forms of violence. We think that violence is not the answer to the problems of Sierra Leone. We call on the political parties and power brokers to engage in dialogue to resolve their differences.
The U. S Ambassador to Sierra Leone has made a public statement already condemning violence and urging dialogue, peace and free and fair elections ; however, that is not enough. International stakeholders and peace guarantors need to intervene more directly and more effectively . They need to stop the SLPP government in its tracks from rigging the elections. They need to take up and investigate the complaints of the opposition and Sierra Leoneans and where there are merits, they must prevail on the government to rectify the anomalies . Additionally, they must try to meet and sit down with the opposition and aggrieved and angry Sierra Leoneans and pacify them.
There should be no disguising the fact that Sierra Leone is heading for chaos. The SLPP has s tendency to ignore their faults, misstate the facts , call protesters terrorists and threaten violence , but this authoritarian, junta and oppressive style of handling national issues are dangerously outdated in this era of social media and the ability of aggrieved state actors to incite, mobilize and get the masses to act out their anger for the government.
