By Hassan Osman Kargbo
The 2018 and 2023 Presidential Candidate for the main opposition party, The All People’s Congress (APC), Dr Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara, has called on Sierra Leoneans not to use the final report of the Tripartite Committee as an excuse for violence, ethnic hatred, political vilification, and destabilising the nation.
He made this call on Wednesday, 19 June, 2024, during his National Address on the implementation of the Cross-party Agreement for National Unity.
According to Dr. Samura, leadership, at all times, means taking bold and difficult decisions even where they affect your ego and personality. That is what should be acknowledged and done in the current circumstances, he said, adding that, as the major political parties in the country, they have voluntarily agreed to examine the outcomes of the 2023 elections. By so doing, they have made the difficult decision to place national interest above partisan politics, to prioritise governance and the economic well-being of the people, to provide our local councils across the country inclusive environment necessary for them to deliver for the people of this country. He said a Southern African proverb says that “when the elephants fight, only the grass gets trampled”.
‘It is time in our beloved Sierra Leone for the elephants to stop fighting and allow the grass to grow,’ he said.
Dr Kamara continued that he would like to firmly implore and encourage any voices wishing to use the final report of the Tripartite Committee as an excuse for violence, ethnic hatred, political vilification, and destabilising the nation and the economy, to desist as it is unacceptable.
He said too much blood had already been shed, and too much treasure has also been lost in the history of the country. ‘We cannot as a nation afford to lose any more innocent lives and hard-earned treasure. Peace, tolerance and mutual respect must remain an overriding priority,’ he added.
He admitted that because of the irregularities of the June 24 multi-tie election, the All People’s Congress (APC), which had been serving as the main Opposition party, decided not to accept the results as announced by ECSL and hence withdrew their participation in parliamentary and local council governance, adding that the prolongation of this governance boycott could have paralysed the entire governance system in the country.
However, he thanked the timely intervention of the international community, the goodwill of the APC, and the patience and understanding of all Sierra Leoneans, as a solution was found in an internationally mediated cross-party dialogue between the APC and the SLPP government, that brought hope and relief to millions of citizens who had exercised their democratic vote on 24th June, 2023 for electing the political leaders of their choice.
He confirmed that an Agreement for National Unity was signed by the leadership of both the SLPP government and the APC, which among other things, provided for a review of elections management, retribution, and other elements for advancing political tolerance and cordial interpersonal relationship among politicians and their respective supporters.
A Tripartite Committee (TC), comprising representatives of the APC, SLPP government, and the International Community, was established, to examine shortcomings and irregularities in the 2023 and past electoral cycles, relative to the thresholds for free, fair, transparent, and credible elections. Understandably, the entire nation awaits the results of the Tripartite Committee’s analyses, deliberations, findings and recommendations by end of day, Wednesday, June 19, 2024, as time-lined in the Agreement for National Unity.
He said he has received incredible support from the AU, ECOWAS, the Commonwealth, European Union, United States, UK, Ireland, and many other development partners. The Committee has also benefited from interactions with election management bodies and the people of Sierra Leone.
The work of the Tripartite Committee is a public good, Yet, 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.
He furthered that, The Agreement for National Unity is an opportunity to end the political divisions that for too long have paralysed nationalism, development and economic growth in Sierra Leone. It is not perfect, but it represents our best opportunity to end the culture of political retribution that for too long has characterised Sierra Leone’s body politic.
He said he has clearly heard the demands that ‘your national leaders must break with their collective past and do better. Political leaders must come together to focus on governance, service delivery, and above all, poverty elimination. They must create new economic and livelihood opportunities for us all. When we agreed to take the courageous step of embarking on a new direction through the Agreement for National Unity, this was our primary motivation.’
He went on saying that ‘The 2023 elections stand as a sad chapter in our political history. The ongoing disputes and disagreements over the ECSL announced results are solely due to the failure of our national institutions to deliver for the common good, in particular, the ECSL.’ ‘The final report of the Tripartite Committee, which is now under active preparation, will work to change this long-standing reality. It will begin the hard legislative and regulatory work of putting in place safeguards to ensure that never again in our national life will the ambitions of the few be allowed to overcome the will of the many. It will protect our national electoral institutions from the corruption and incompetence that has marred successive electoral cycles in our country, leading to the divisions and retribution that we now seek to end going forward.’
At the same time, he said the Tripartite Committee is not a panacea. ‘It was never intended to address all political ills in our society or to repair all political and electoral wrongs. The damage that has been done through the failure of our electoral institutions has been done. The wounds to our body politic can never be fully repaired. But we can grow, learn, and change from them as time goes on. And that is why the APC will continue to urge for appropriate sanctions on persons responsible for inflicting this national damage.’
He continued that as with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, that helped to heal our country’s wounds, following our brutal civil war, the Tripartite Committee started from a simple premise, that is, to correct the problem, we must understand what happened.
To that end, the Tripartite Committee initiated its work including an examination of the 2023 elections, seeking to understand the perspectives and facts that underlay this contest. It did so, as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission before it, to right every wrong and bring every wrongdoer to justice; to shine a light on where radical change and institutional reforms are desperately required; and to build, to the extent possible, a shared historical narrative, a foundation on which we can build better and stronger democratic systems and institutions.
‘We have already encountered aspects of the 2023 elections on which the Tripartite Committee and Sierra Leoneans of different political stripes, likely, will not agree or may never agree on. That is to be expected. However, our differences and these contentious aspects should be reflected in the report and recognised as such, while allowing equitable space for respective parties to pursue their positions further. Notably, however, these aspects represent proximate determinants of accepting the will of the people and thereby, building a sustainable democracy, peace and stability. They should also not stop us from grasping simultaneously the opportunity to change electoral systems, institutions, and personalities going forward. We agree on enough of the diagnosis that we can treat the disease,’ he said.
He furthered that there is no question that the final report of the Tripartite Committee is a political necessity.
‘They knew that would be the reality, when we elected months ago, in the committee’s terms of reference, to have it operate by consensus. We did so to ensure that recommendations coming out of the report had a strong national basis to move forward rapidly into law and best electoral practices. We did so to guarantee that our key concerns were fully addressed in the report. We did so to enable the political class to move forward on the fundamental irregularities of the 2023 elections while also focusing on the issues of governance, economic growth, and poverty reduction that are also presently core concerns for every Sierra Leonean,’ he ended.
