By Sylvanus Fornah Koroma (What A Man!)
Sometimes when people write, critical-minded people ask questions that help reveal the real purpose of the write-up in question. This is related to an Abu Shaw October 6, 2024, online publication on a possible libelous *Evil Text purportedly made by former President Ernest Bai Koroma to the United Nations Security and ECOWAS to delay the deployment of ECOMSIL troops in Sierra Leone.
Abu Shaw if at all is credible and doesn’t want to be rated like those bloggers who would normally solicit funding by creating stories like, ‘My phone has gotten damaged as it fell into the water and that’s why I couldn’t make audios …’ should come out with the proofs to his opening paragraph that states, “The United Nations Security Council has bluntly refused the request by former Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma to delay the ECOWAS deployment.” The United Nations Security Council or UN as the parent organization is commonly called is not a secret organization; they normally publish their information accessible to the public. I am imploring or challenging Abu Shaw to produce the request made by former President Ernest Bai Koroma to the institutions he purportedly stated that President Koroma requested the deployment delay.
The reason we need such purported and alleged requests to be made public is very crucial because the devil has many ways to spoil things and fan more confusion just to destroy things and hinder progress. The devil sometimes comes to you as a friend to deceive you, but if you’re not smart enough to discern the hidden intention, the devil will successfully sow the seed of discord and shatter a possible good and friendly relationship, and by the time you realize the real intent of such people, the damage may have gone beyond repairs and enmity replaces the previously good and friendly relationship. This is why some of us ask ourselves critical questions before engaging.
If someone’s intention is to foster a good relationship between people, that person(s) will ensure that he/she/they bring(s) up the issues that are real and put them on the table for consideration in fostering the said objective. Except Abu Shaw has an ulterior motive, he can only have published such statements about President Koroma when he can attest to the evidence of former President Koroma to the institutions he mentioned in his write-up. Otherwise, when someone else decides to, for instance, state that Dr Samura Kamara’s driver or security recorded him unnecessarily bad-mouthing and maliciously talking against former President Koroma, would the likes of Abu Shaw just publish such a story without bringing out such recordings? This is just a food for thought!
I remain committed to our fight for electoral justice and thankfully so, in the penultimate paragraph in the press release of the U S Embassy on the MCC grant and especially its second arm of its last sentence that states: “ …and achieving justice and accountability for violence related to the 2023 electoral cycle will be key to this effort.” To have justice and accountability for violence related to the 2023 electoral cycle which the press release empathetically states that IT IS KEY should be paramount to all well-meaning Sierra Leoneans. The issues of ‘justice’ and ‘accountability’ are the very reasons why in the first place the dialogue between Dr Samura Kamara and Mr Maada Bio started so as to address these serious concerns. Justice and accountability both formed the object of the National Unity Agreement and the Resolution for the Tripartite Committee, and these issues are both amply covered in the preambles of both documents.
Let us ask ourselves what constitutes accountability. Accountability simply refers to the obligation of individuals or organizations to explain their actions, accept responsibility for them, and disclose the outcomes transparently. Key elements of accountability include transparency, responsibility, answerability, consequences, and ethical conduct. In different context, accountability might apply to individuals, institutions, organizations, or governments. The Tripartite Committee was an opportunity for the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) and even the government of Mr. Maada Bio to display transparency by bringing out the Results Reconciliation Forms (RRF) as the All People’s Congress (APC) did in fulfilment of the elements of accountability when they brought out over 70% of the RRFs to the Tripartite Committee. Without these elements, the APC’s position on the disaggregated results remains a serious concern as well as the demand for a re-run based on the prevailing circumstances accentuated by the opposing Chairman Dr Prince Harding’s statement in which he stated that the APC are mad people, and that they the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) will never hand power to the APC.
Justice forms part of accountability but goes further. Justice is generally understood as the principle of fairness, where individuals or institutions receive what they are due based on laws, rights, and moral codes. It involves ensuring that people’s rights are respected and that wrongs are righted through the appropriate remedies and punishments. In other words, justice seeks to balance competing interests in a way that upholds equality, rights, and societal well-being. It is important to note that justice comes after accountability as the accountability aspect provides the basis upon which justice is meted out.
These are the serious issues that are expected of intellectuals to focus on, and not the malice and hate messages that haters of former President Koroma are deviating from and distracting people to fall for to create further divide with nothing tangible to show as proof of evidence of the malice for a very respected political icon many more Sierra Leoneans are proud of in the person of former President Ernest Bai Koroma.
