One of the international observation missions in the 2023 multitier elections in Sierra Leone which is not up to the task is the ECOWAS Election Observation Mission (EOM) which is headed by Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas.
It is no longer a secret that Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas is one of those rogue diplomats who stole the people’s mandate in 2018 and gave it to current President Julius Maada Bio.
Now this same man is up to his tricks again. Despite there are clear evidence that the main opposition, the All People’s Congress (APC), is on an irreversible path to an overwhelming victory; Dr Chambas is said to be working behind the scenes with the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) to steal the people’s mandate again. He is said to have been bribed by the Bio administration to give favourable reviews of the electoral processes which he knows were marred by irregularities that were deliberately caused by the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) which is not respecting the due process and adhering to international best practice.
The leadership of Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, who is now being called “Mr Fixer”, is now so questionable that he was rejected by the Guineans when he was appointed as an envoy by ECOWAS to mediate a peaceful transition with the Guinean military junta headed by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya who categorically stated that Dr Chambas couldn’t be trusted as a credible mediator because of his complicity in the 2018 elections in Sierra Leone.
Due to the dishonesty and complicity of rogue diplomats like Dr Chambas, there has been democratic decline in West Africa (Guinea and Mali are the newest examples). This is why ECOWAS should ramp up its antenna in halting the shameful events in the region. One way this can be achieved is for ECOWAS to be very mindful of the choice of its envoys which should be informed by the neutrality of the individual they appoint.
In the case of Sierra Leone, it is imperative for the ECOWAS Elections Observation Mission (EOM) to demonstrate distinctive and inspiring leadership in the face of such deteriorating situation in Sierra Leone. Unlike the African Union (AU) and the West African Elders’ Forum which have been standing with the people of Sierra Leone and for democracy; the EOM under Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas is doing things which are very inimical to the peace and stability of Sierra Leone.
The undiplomatic undertones of Dr Chambas and his EOM have not gone unnoticed by the Leader and Presidential Candidate of the APC, Dr Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara, who in a statement yesterday called on “ECOWAS in particular, to ensure that the decline of democracy in West Africa does not continue under their watch in Sierra Leone”. It will be a shame if under ECOWAS’s watch; Sierra Leone becomes another country in West Africa where democracy is overthrown through the ballot box. After 20 years post-conflict peacebuilding and reconstruction, Dr Chambas and his anti-democracy conspirators want Sierra Leone to relapse into conflict by trying to steal the people’s mandate again.
It is no gainsaying that Sierra Leone has barely achieved the milestone of post-conflict stability, given that the war officially ended in 2002. And it will be a disservice to the country, the West African Region and the international community all of whom invested blood, sweat, and resources in ending that destructive war and in rebuilding peace, security and physical infrastructure to witness Dr Chambas and his ilk doing things that will plunge the country into another war.
To end this short commentary, it is good to reiterate that ECOWAS in particular should ensure that the will of Sierra Leoneans is respected as expressed in the ballot. This situation provides ECOWAS with the option to either salvage its image among the community of West Africans or ruin it even further.
And the West African Elders’ Forum, the AU and Sierra Leone’s Good Friends are being urged to continue to support the people of Sierra Leone.