It was a long time coming but the stance of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party, – SLPP, with regards the recommendations of the Tripartite Committee as they deal with the settling of the political impasse that has gripped the nation for a year now has finally been made known.
President Julius Maada Bio’s statement that the next presidential election will be in 2028 has laid to rest speculations by all and sundry on the expected recommendation of the Tripartite Committee that was established to look into our electoral processes with a view to addressing them with recommendations in this direction.
Therefore if the main opposition All People’s Congress – APC was hoping for any election to settle the June 24, 2023 general elections they should set their hearts on 2028. That said any political party that is serious about getting their house in order for any future election should start as of now getting their houses in order for their national delegates’ conventions.
In a speech that has now gone viral President Bio, addressing his supporters including a gathering paramount chiefs in Bo, made it clear that the ruling party government will not entertain any talk of either early elections, a runoff or rerun, or even fresh elections to settle the impasse that has polarised the nation taking us to the brink of all out running street battles across the country pitting supporters of the APC on one side and the force and might of the security forces of Sierra Leone backed by SLPP election gangsters on the other side.
While people the world over have been disgusted by what many have called a very dangerous and non-leadership statement by the president for threatening civilians calling for a nationwide protest action on 19 June – five days before the year anniversary of the discredited 24 June 2023 general and presidential elections – bullet for bullet, many have switched their focus to his admission that his party has resolved to ignore any call from whatever quarter, be it the Tripartite Committee or our international partners, about any election to resolve the impasse.
Mr Bio – the APC, the nation and our development partners should be aware – is president of Sierra Leone until the expiration of his second term mandate in 2028. So, no matter how one chooses to call his regime: stolen mandate, illegitimate presidency or regime, Mr Bio will be our president until 2028.
The people of Sierra Leone including the main opposition APC should have been prepared for such a day as it was just a matter of time before Mr Bio let the cat out of the bag. Not long after the chief electoral commissioner for Sierra Leone, Mohamed Konneh, announced the highly disputed presidential elections, Mr Bio on several occasions boasted that even if a runoff or fresh elections were called, he would defeat Samura Kamara anytime, any day.
He continued making that boast until he was prevailed upon by his juvenile looking minister of information and others in the party to stop making such a boast because they consider him unaware of his lack of popularity among the voting public. Aware of how the people felt across the country about their economic and social conditions including the lack of peace and national cohesion the minister and others impressed it on the president to stop encouraging thoughts or hopes of any other general and presidential election that will fall any time before the five year cycle; that is, 2028.
As a matter of fact it was the president’s new minister of information, C. Bah that had first stated that the next election the SLPP government was looking up to and preparing for will happen in 2028.
It must be recalled that all this was happening while the APC was still on their boycott of taking part in the governance of the state by staying out of parliament and the town and city councils across the country. This was also before the dialogue brokered by the Peace Commission that resulted in the communiqué that ushered in the Tripartite Committee.
So, the APC, the people of Sierra Leone who felt cheated that their votes weren’t counted and those that couldn’t vote because of what many said was an orchestrated plot to disenfranchise people in APC strongholds including members of the international community that were hoping that the Committee would recommend early elections have all been naïve to think that President Bio would accept any recommendation that threatens his continued grip on the Office of the President at State House.
Bah’s disclosure of the SLPP’s take on redoing the presidential election was followed by the US Ambassador ruling out the possibility of a rerun, which recommendation would have been an admission that the electoral commission had manipulated the voting record and would have put Konneh and the other commissioners right in the line of fire in terms of appearing in a court of law to answer to questions from lawyers about their role in falsifying voting data.
Meanwhile, a source at State House hinted to this medium that the president was forced to state his position on the expectation of any new election to settle the 24 June 2023 electoral dispute because he was angered by those calling for nationwide protest on 19 June citing the slow pace of the Tripartite Committee to come up with their findings and recommendations.
Therefore, to answer the question the protesters were hoping to get answers, “Mr Bio let the cat out of the bag and informed them and all that early elections to settle the impasse resulting from the presidential elections result will not happen as the party is preparing for 2028,” according to our source at State House.
Now that we know that the president is not going to accept any talk or recommendation for a runoff, rerun or fresh elections it will be prudent for the APC and other parties to be getting ready for delegates conventions to prepare their candidates for 2028.
Sierra Leoneans that were hopeful that they will witness a historic electoral event if a runoff were possible should know that their hope has been dashed as the next presidential election is in 2028, and Mr Bio is president until then.
