What the All Peoples’ Congress (APC) and local and international elections observers have long known has finally dawned on some members of the Sixth Parliament belonging to the SLPP.
The MPs who say they represent a new breed of MPs informed this medium that they very recently started questioning why the Electoral Commissioner, Mohamed K. Konneh, is so obstinate about not being obligated to release the polling station voting data that is being demanded by all well-meaning people to clarify who really won the 2023 presidential elections based on the tallied number of votes per polling station.
‘It finally dawned on us that because Commissioner Konneh is refusing to release the results, President Bio did not win the June 24 presidential elections,’ said the young SLPP MPs.
This sudden realisation, they said, has made them to start losing respect for the president and their credibility and integrity as the people’s representatives.
‘Well there are things that people in our constituencies are starting to ask. Like if a teacher is telling me that I failed an exam, for clarity’s sake, I would expect for the teacher to show me, upon request or point of objection, my result and how I performed for him to have failed me. If we had won the presidency, Konneh would have released the results as it is being demanded,’ the new Members of Parliament told FORUM NEWS SL.
The SLPP MPs informed that they came to parliament to speak the truth, even to the president, as long as speaking the truth is in the interest of the people and country.
‘We didn’t come to parliament to be a part of or contribute to our culture of divisive politics. We want to encourage a culture of truth in the House like the Americans have recently shown us, and that is common around the world.’ ‘When Donald Trump lost the 2020 elections, his vice president Mike Pence signed the elections result that his boss was claiming to have won.’
‘Trump is still insisting, even though he may be on his way to prison. Imagine that Mike Pence, not considering how Trump would feel, signed the elections results accepting that he and Trump had lost the elections, although Trump refused to concede defeat. Mike Pence clearly told Trump that he will not choose Trump over the US Constitution. Imagine also that the Attorney General brought charges against Trump saying no one is above the law in the US.’
‘The states that voted for Donald Trump that resulted to him winning in 2016 were the same Republican states that voted against him and for the Democratic candidate Biden, who ended up winning the elections. His own party people voted against Trump because they were not pleased with how he had run the country. Will we be ever able to do such things in Sierra Leone?’
‘When will people the president appoints to power in Sierra Leone take the execution of the duties of their offices so seriously and with godly conviction that they will do so above all considerations using the rule, intent and spirit of the law as their guide?’ one of the new SLPP MPs asked rhetorically.
The youngsters said if other SLPP members of parliament were honestly in the House to represent the people they would tell President Bio the truth that he lost the election. While they admire Bio for introducing the PR system of elections, adding that ‘he did that so that if he was to lose the presidency the SLPP would have strong representation in the House and Councils’ they still have serious doubts and questions about his presidential elections victory.
‘While we consider the president as smart for raising our numbers in the House and Councils we don’t see that cleverness in how the presidency was won. There is a serious question mark with how he won the election, considering all the issues of that and days leading up to the elections. Our contention is with both the president and the electoral commissioner. Their collective action is destabilising the state and has dented the credibility and integrity of this Sixth Parliament. So far no one from our party, especially the older ones, has openly told the president that he lost the elections, except Professor Kelfala Kallon. No one is calling on Konneh to release the result on demand as that would be his job.’
‘We see the president as that king the tailor duped into walking in the streets naked while under the impression that he was fully clothed. Someone needs to tell President Bio to dress up, that he is naked with how he won the elections. By insisting that he is the winner portrays all of us in a very negative light. The credibility of our nascent democracy is at stake. So far no one will do business with us. 
The country is broke and parliament is not doing any serious work. The whole world is calling on Konneh to release the result, which he is failing to do. If the president was concerned with how the world sees Sierra Leone he would have submitted to the requests being made of him as well,’ said the members of the Sixth Parliament.
The youngsters said they admire the APC for sticking to their stance that they will not participate in governance unless the disaggregated polling data per polling centre is released.
‘The APC’s action is the only thing saving our democratic credentials. That they will insist on not coming to the House says a lot about how strong our democracy is. The only thing left to do is for this regime to undo all they have done, the naming of ministers and other appointments and disband parliament. If we care about this country we will dialogue and either re-do the elections or based on Konneh releasing the result we expect the president to step down and hand power over to Dr Samura.’
‘The voice of the people is the voice of God and that voice gives us the mandate to lead. Short of that voice, everything else is a lie. We cannot be credible operating on a stolen mandate. If President Bio had won the elections, Konneh would have released the result, if just to show off that Bio won fairly. But by refusing to do the needful we are sure that President Bio lost the 2023 elections,’ they admitted.
The young MPs advised both the APC and SLPP to engage in dialogue ‘to save the country from a military coup brought on by an institutional coup cooked up by the regime’ they advised in light of popular military uprisings in the Sahel or sub region.
‘We are calling on the president to save the country from what is happening in West Africa. We should not forget that our situation is the same as in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Gabon and Niger. If the president cares about the people he will save us a reversal to the 90s. The electoral commissioner should release the result in the interest of clarity, peace, safeguarding our democracy, social justice and national unity. If we continue like this it will not end well,’ they warned.
