By Abdul Bero Kamara (Chief) 28/08/22
Two weeks and five days after the Kenya election was considered to be a tight race between the two main contenders veteran politicians, the 77 years old Raila Odinga, who was nicknamed ‘BABA” and the current Vice President The 55 years old William Ruto who was nicknamed “The HUSTLER” because he resonates well with the average man in Kenya.
The dust is finally settling down and the majority of the people have recalibrated their minds back from the election mood to normal and are going about their normal lives.
Except for BABA the losing candidate and his supporters have challenged the result in court on one of the grounds that the IEBC commissioner Wafula Chebukati should not have announced William Ruto as the winner.
Because four of the seven commissioners were against it, albeit some experts say that the Kenya constitution gives the commissioner, who is the returning office the sole power to announce the outcome of the presidential poll. At any rate that should be a subject of debate For the Kenyan people.
Notwithstanding, the focus of this piece is going to be on the former President of Sierra Leone, Dr Ernet Bai Koroma, who was sent to Kenya as head of the AU monitoring team.
Most people will think when they hear the word monitoring is just to observe – interestingly is far beyond that in the case of the former President.
The work of the former President involved among other things the mandates to promote democracy, and democratic elections in Africa in line with their overall vision of a peaceful, prosperous and integrated Africa.
Per se Kenya has a history of post-election violence evident from the 2007 election when over 1000 people were killed after Mr Odinga rejected the result when President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner
A similar incident happened again in 2017 after Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner, the same Mr Odinga rejected the result, consequently, 24 people lost their lives as a result of post-election violence.
The 2022 elections could not have been an exception because of the historical evidence mentioned above – therefore anything was possible after the announcement of the result.
Unlike the past elections where the AU team was headed by former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, and John Kerry who represented the Carter foundation.
This time around it was the former President of Sierra Leone. The election is done, the winner was declared, the loser is in court and everything went smoothly without any post-election violence,
What was the magic the former President Koroma took to Kenya, a question any diplomat may be curious to ask?
It was not a mistake the AU reposed such confidence in the former president by choosing him to head the AU team for the Kenya 2022 elections.
I might be an opponent on the debate “whether leaders are born and not made,” but I will not be shy to say former President Koroma is a natural-born leader, hence the reason his innate leadership attributes make him stand out always.
Therefore, his performance among other things his diplomatic skills and his ability to convince and relate to people were exceptional in Kenya, no wonder he was able to win the hearts and minds of Kenyans even those who are on the losing side.
SHAME ON OUR LOCAL MEDIA
Besides, the Star TV and a few online newspapers, that covered the story of former President Koroma’s assignment in Kenya, other news outlets like the SLBC, AYV, 98 and other TV, Radio, and print deliberately failed to cover the story.
There is no justification for them not to have covered such kind of event that involved a former President who served the nation honourably and with distinction-
During his tour of duty in Kenya, we observed in all the meetings and engagements held with dignitaries – he was been referred to as the former President of Sierra Leone and not as the former chairman of the APC,
For God’s sake, he was flying the Green, White, and Blue flag and not the APC RED FLAG …What a shame to see how the practice of journalism has been taken to the gutter!
In conclusion, former President Koroma, rest assured God is with you and no weapon fashioned against you will prevail- thank God you are back home and, thank you because you made mama Salone proud and we will continue to hold you in high esteem.
