Concerned citizens that spoke to Forum New after the postponement of the submission of the much anticipated and expected report and recommendations from the work of the Tripartite Committee and after the publication of the speech by the main opposition leader and the All People’s Congress (APC) 2023 presidential candidate in the June 24, 2023 election, Dr Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara, have called for the arrest of the Chief Electoral Commissioner of the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone, Mohamed Kenewui Konneh, who they called “public enemy number one”, blaming him for all the socioeconomic issues and peace deficit the country is experiencing after he announced the incumbent Julius Maada Bio as winner of the presidential elections.
The citizens say Konneh’s continued refusal to hand over the disaggregated polling data per station which he is entitled to do as per law is the reason the country continues to suffer from the economic and social woes it has experienced since our development partners cut off funding the government until the electoral impasse that resulted from his announced election result has been amicably resolved.
Contrary to his ranting about having the right and authority not to be told how to do his work, according to published opinions there are laws mandating the publication of the elections results particularly the June 24, 2023 multitier elections. What is now becoming an open secret for the failure and refusal of the National Returning Officer, Konneh and the ECSL to publish the results to test, verify and provide evidence for the controversial announcement made on June 27, 2023, by Konneh, is directly related to Section 120 of the Public Elections Act, 2022, which explains the law regarding ‘Falsification of return of election’, and it states: “A person who being a member or officer of the Electoral Commission, charged with the counting of votes or the making of a return at an election, wilfully falsifies the count of the votes or wilfully makes a false return commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of not less than NLe20,000 or to imprisonment for a term of 5 years or to both fine and imprisonment.”
By refusing to release the demanded result members of the public say it doesn’t need the interpretation of a PHD degree holder to assume that the incumbent had lost the election and that the result as announced by Konneh must have been manipulated to give the incumbent an edge as his released result is contrary to those collected and tallied by other observers of the day’s voting.
The citizens are upset at Konneh’s audacity not to release the result, even to the Tripartite Committee that was established to resolve the issue. According to the speech by Dr Samura Kamara, he said, ‘…despite the agreed Terms of Reference, demanding a thorough examination of the 2023 election results, and repeated requests by the APC, the work of the Tripartite Committee has to date been frustrated by and downplayed as the ECSL has contemptuously refused to submit the disaggregated results at the polling station level, backed by the relevant RRFs (Results Reconciliation Forms).’
Konneh’s impunity the people say can be linked to his belief that he will be protected by the regime no matter what. This is justified by the fact that two cases brought on by private citizens against the ECSL to produce the results, by lawyers Augustine Marrah and Charles Margai, were thrown out of court by the judiciary.
The citizens say all the issues that we have experienced as a people have been brought on by Konneh’s refusal to release the result although according to Section 92 subsection (2) of the Public Elections Act, 2022: “Certified copies of the summary compiled under subsection (1) shall be supplied to observers or counting agents present at the office of the District Returning Officer.”
Despite not having reassurances at the judiciary the citizens are calling on the APC to take their cause to the courts believing that at the end of the day electoral justice will prevail over the evil that Konneh hopes will result from his continued refusal to release the demanded elections or polling data result.
Since Konneh announced the discredited elections result we have experienced funding cuts to our government that resulted to government sacking hundreds of workers it could not pay, we have had an attempted coup against the president and his regime, uncontrolled hikes in the prices of goods and services that continue to add to the hardships and suffering of the most vulnerable in our society, we have had an expected day of violence (Wednesday June 19) that never happened but was a day of huge loss of revenue generation and collection, and the nation continues to live in fear of a situation arising from the people not knowing or being assured of who really won the presidential race of June 24, 2023.
If we continue to allow Konneh to continue breaking the law with impunity there is no one telling him how our fragile peace will be sustained. Therefore the citizens are calling for his arrest and dragging to the court of law aimed at him subjecting himself to respecting and obeying the law and releasing the result that has polarized our society.
His continued refusal is the only thing derailing the work of the Tripartite Committee as it was among other things established to look into how the voting happened. Where else should the committee get such data if not from the only agency established to conduct public elections in Sierra Leone, the ECSL?
The time has come, the citizens told FORUM NEWS, for publically elected officials among others to subject themselves to the rule of law, failing which it will set a bad and dangerous precedent that anyone can disobey the law as long as they will be protected by orders from above, which order is above the law.
God forbid!
