By Albert David
Sierra Leone stands today at a painful crossroads, one defined not by the will of its citizens, nor by the aspirations of its democracy, but by the deliberate choices of a government that has treated a solemn national covenant as a disposable political accessory. The collapse of the implementation of the Agreement for National Unity (ANU) and the Tripartite Committee Recommendations is not merely a political setback; it is a profound moral failure, a civic betrayal, and a dangerous assault on the democratic integrity of the state.
The ANU was not an ordinary political arrangement. It was a national rescue mission, painstakingly negotiated after the disputed 2023 elections, endorsed by the international community, and embraced by Sierra Leoneans across political, religious, and regional lines. It represented a rare moment when the country’s fractured political landscape found a path toward stability, accountability, and institutional reform. Yet today, that promise lies in ruins, undermined by bad faith, unilateralism, and a pattern of state manipulation that has rendered the reform process dysfunctional.
The Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP)–led government entered the ANU with commitments that were clear, measurable, and time‑bound. Twenty-nine months later, those commitments have been replaced by silence, obstruction, and a systematic refusal to engage. Politically motivated cases remain unresolved. Files involving APC officials have mysteriously disappeared from the courts. Parliamentary responsibilities remain disproportionately allocated. The presidency and the government’s chief negotiator have ignored formal correspondence. State institutions continue to be weaponized against political opponents and ordinary citizens. This is not governance. It is institutional sabotage masquerading as leadership. The ANU was designed to rebuild trust. Instead, the government’s conduct has deepened suspicion, widened political fractures, and eroded the very foundations of national cohesion.
The Tripartite Committee was one of the most significant democratic undertakings in Sierra Leone’s recent history. It brought together The APC, The SLPP government, ECOWAS, The African Union, The Commonwealth, Development partners, Religious and moral guarantors. Millions of dollars were invested. Thousands of hours were spent. Sierra Leoneans placed their hopes in a process meant to correct the failures of the 2023 elections and safeguard the credibility of future ones.
Yet the government’s actions have reduced this monumental effort to a political casualty. The implementation road map was abandoned immediately after the report was submitted. A steering committee was formed without consultation, dominated by government loyalists. Meetings became irregular, minutes withheld, and transparency discarded. Key recommendations on electoral oversight, security reforms, and institutional restructuring, were ignored or distorted. The Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) refused to publish essential documents, validate technical studies, or adhere to transparency standards. This is not incompetence. It is deliberate obstruction.
To undermine the Tripartite Committee Recommendations is to betray the Sierra Leonean people, the international community, the moral guarantors, and the democratic future of the nation. It is a betrayal of truth, a betrayal of trust, and a betrayal of the very idea of national unity.
The government’s conduct reveals a consistent pattern: Manipulation of constitutional reforms to centralize presidential power. Imposition of proportional representation despite public opposition and Tripartite guidance. Appointment of electoral commissioners without independent vetting, including individuals implicated in the discredited 2023 elections. Delays in the 2025 census to bypass legal timelines and engineer electoral advantage. Non‑responsiveness to oversight requests from parliament and the opposition. These actions are not isolated. They form a coherent strategy of state capture, designed to predetermine electoral outcomes and weaken democratic accountability.
Sierra Leone’s civil society organizations, journalists, and public commentators must confront an uncomfortable truth: neutrality in the face of democratic backsliding is complicity. Too many voices have been co‑opted. Too many institutions have been silenced. Too many journalists have chosen access over accountability. Democracy does not survive on silence. It survives on courage, scrutiny, and principled dissent.
The All Peoples Congress (APC), as a constitutional stakeholder, has taken a principled stance. Documenting government lapses for development partners. Engaging moral guarantors. Withdrawing participation from parliament and local councils until credible reforms are restored. Demanding transparency, restructuring, and genuine oversight. Insisting on the removal of Mr. Edmond Alpha, whose appointment violates the spirit and letter of the Tripartite Recommendations. These actions are not acts of defiance, they are acts of democratic responsibility. No political party should legitimize a process designed to manipulate the will of the people.
The collapse of the ANU and the Tripartite process is not merely a political disagreement. It is a national emergency. What is at stake is the credibility of the 2028 elections, the rule of law, the independence of state institutions, the peace and stability of Sierra Leone, and the trust of citizens in their democracy. History will judge this moment. It will ask who defended democracy? Who manipulated it? Who stood for truth? and Who betrayed the people?. Sierra Leone deserves better than a government that chooses unilateralism over dialogue, manipulation over reform, and political survival over national unity. The people of Sierra Leone deserve a democracy that works, not one that is engineered.
