KABBAH’S GOVERNMENT FAILED TO ACT IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE NATION

Tuesday September 7, 2004

Whichever way we choose to look at it, the resignation of the Electoral Commissioner, Eugene Davies , on allegations that the government fiddled with elections results, is a big slur on the character of the SLPP regime. How can a government that is worth its salt change an elections result ?

We are so accustomed to standing the truth on the head and bashing the hero or heroine and glorifying the villain that many people chose to denigrate the character of the Elections Boss than accept the fact that a deed had been done against the best interests of the nation. The government had no right to overturn a result, let alone interfere in the activities of the Elections Commissions. The Elections Commissioner had a right to resign.

PRESIDENT KABBAH : NOW, HE CHANGES ELECTIONS RESULTS

If the government is not stretching credulity when it calls itself a democratic entity , there is actually no sane reason for it to interfere with elections results.

What the recent events have done is that they have authenticated the bad reputation the SLPP government has for tampering with elections results. In 1967, the Prime Minister, Sir Albert Margai called on the Force Commander of the Army, Brigadier David Lansana , to declare martial law and intervene in the affairs of state after it was apparent that the opposition APC was on the verge of defeating the SLPP in the epic General Elections that later led to Sierra Leone’s first military coup.

The bare bones of Mr. Davies’ allegations were given meat by the revelation that the SLPP had altered the results of the Koya Ward 3 Elections where an APC candidate won and imposed its own candidate Mr. Abdul Sultan Kamara on the people.

The government should have acted in the best interests of the nation by not only allowing the Koya result to stand but by giving the Elections Commissioner a free hand to do his job .The Elections Boss is not the errand boy of any government , but a public servant paid with the taxes of the common man to ensure that the will of the people prevailed at the ballot box.

The government’s action is a disgrace to the tenets of free and fair elections and the principles of democracy. The shameful act is also a slap in the faces of those patriots who sacrificed their lives in 1997 to successfully stand up to the Johnny Koroma-led military junta which overthrew the SLPP government, with elections malpractices being one of the reasons given by the soldiers for toppling the government.

The SLPP government has driven itself into a corner where it no longer has the moral authority to talk about the elections abuses allegedly perpetuated by the APC during their 27 year hold on power in Sierra Leone.

It is even more disgraceful that President Kabbah, a man on whom much national sacrifice has been lavished and from whom so much is expected, has allowed all the anti-people and undemocratic perfidy to occur under his nose. Will Kabbah have the moral wherewithal to look UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, former OAU Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim , British Premier Tony
Blair and other 1997 world leaders in the face ? It was these international personalities who stuck to their guns that the so-called democratic government led by Kabbah should be returned to power by the military junta.How cruelly has Kabbah failed them ! ! !

The government’s excuses in the face of this colossal scandal show a regime that has no sense of shame. These lame excuses prevail because the government does not care for the feelings of the people.It is taking the electorate for granted. And that is the tragedy of Sierra Leone. Since Independence, government has ever taken the people seriously.
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