Having lost the confidence of the electorate, development partners and the international community, the principal elections management body has resorted to the primitive options of attacking the June polls observers, four months to elections.

The lack of trust and confidence in the elections commission in Sierra Leone has continued to expose to a peak of attracting global attention by the tick of the clock, as it is being clearly manifested in the conduct and mannerism of senior staff of the Elections Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL).

It is becoming too glaring that today nobody including the international community has confidence in the credibility of the ECSL and its workers in conducting the June 24 elections.

A popular card-carrying member of the failed ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) who works with the ECSL, the Commissioner for South, last week wrongly accused the international community of ‘hypocrisy’ and ‘pushing for regime change’. The Commissioner, who spoke the voice of the ECSL, unleashed all sorts of derogatory descriptions on the roles being played by the international community, accompanied with verbal attacks on members and representatives of the diplomatic community as well as on development partners in the country, with specific reference to the European Union Delegation in Sierra Leone.

The EU is undoubtedly one of the key sponsors of Sierra Leone’s democratic processes and all periodical elections since the return of multi-party democracy in the country in 1996.

But ECSL staff Edmund Sylvester Alpha – who was chased out of Njala University College, University of Sierra Leone, during his days as lecturer, and as a strong member of the pro-SLPP FUTURE SHOCKER political fraternity at Njala University – has sworn on oath to do all in his powers to earn victory to the incumbent come June 24 this year.

Pursuant to his vows in his unethical and partisan attacks on development partners, Alpha said, “The international community are very hypocritical. They are making all these nice things and at the background they say something else. I cannot imagine the EU Ambassador telling us that when he went to the north, he saw a lot of people during the voter registration but when he went to the south, he didn’t see much crowd for the voter registration, but ‘I noticed that their figures are higher than those of the north’. But he knows the answer that I gave him for that.”

Being the ECSL Commissioner South, Alpha in an audio shared viral on social media in a failed attempt to embarrass the EU pre-elections observer mission, and the EU Delegation to Sierra Leone, has clearly exposed the hidden plans of President Julius Maada Bio and ECSL boss Mohamed K. Konneh to rig the elections. He expressed desperations as if they are not comfortable with the monitoring processes being undertaken by the EU elections observer mission and other monitors.

For ECSL Commissioner Alpha to be publicly accusing the international community and development partners of being hypocritical, saying that “some of the hypocrisy around our national issues should be nipped in the bud” is clear manifestation that the ECSL is trying to hide their aim at giving victory to the incumbent by any means necessary.

What is the proof and justification of the ECSL Commissioner South that the international community have no good intention for the nation of Sierra Leone, when in fact the whole government is donor-led?

Commissioner Edmund Sylvester Alpha’s statement is an affront to the integrity of the EU and the international community and has already prejudiced the very outcome of the June 24 polls. It is rather unfortunate thus completely unacceptable in the democratic space.

Commissioner Alpha should henceforth stop making such wayward and thoughtless remarks and humbly tender a public apology to the international community and the EU for wrongly accusing them of being hypocritical in the internal issues of Sierra Leone. How dare you attack a dependable development partner like the European Union, calling them hypocrite, when they and others are fully responsible for the logistical and material support to the electoral process and other development agenda in the country!

Alpha must learn to hold up to his own truth, respect and give a bit of respite to the international community to do their independent elections monitoring and observation now, during and after the polls of 24 June 2023, for it costs him and his highly discredited ECSL nothing to grant that space. Otherwise, Alpha, the ECSL and the SLPP-led government of Bio would end up laying themselves open to ridicule and pushing Sierra Leone into jeopardy. So the ECSL commissioner must stop launching into verbal attacks.

Alpha, as ECSL Commissioner South, a citizen of Bonthe district, must practise giving an open space to all friends of Sierra Leone to do their parts in sustaining the country’s democracy, instead of stooping low to baselessly accuse them of having ‘hidden agenda’ and ‘pushing for regime change’. These are claims Alpha, his ECSL and the government of Sierra Leone totally lack proof of and clear justification for.

And Alpha’s unethical brag of ECSL being the referees has vast limitations when it comes to international best practices, let alone to talk of sovereignty. Hence Alpha should pause a bit with his weightless charges and know that sometimes it is good to tell what the facts on the ground are but with clear proves and justifications, though the facts are there for all to see including commissioner Alpha, his ECSL boss and those who hired him based on his region and ethnic linage.

It must be noted that the EU and other development partners in the country who are working tirelessly on behalf of the people of Sierra Leone, are no strangers to the gimmicks of elections management institutions including the ECSL. The EU and their partners are also potential investors to ensure a rig-free and peaceful elections in the country.

“I always tell my brothers and colleagues at the ECSL that they cannot threaten us. We are not going to be threatened,” commissioner Alpha defiantly reaffirmed and reiterated that he was speaking the voice of the ECSL.

It must however be noted that the people of Sierra Leone are very firm. Power cannot be grabbed by force anymore. Gone are the days when somebody would point a gun at you then you run to the bush. Now all are ready.

As if he is the newly assigned overzealous presidential and government spokesman, the ECSL Commissioner South Alpha has just exposed his loyalty to the governing SLPP by wrongfully accusing Sierra Leonean musicians of being groomed and placed on the pay list of politicians to sing against the failed presidency of Bio. What would ECSL Commissioner South Alpha say about the likes of Emerson Amidu Bockarie when SLPP was in opposition?

Considering all local and parliamentary by-elections that have been conducted under the watch and supervision of the ECSL leadership of Alpha and Konneh indicates lack of trust and confidence of the elections commission with tangible proofs that they both have plans of rigging the votes come June 24. It is therefore significant that the EU and other observer missions stand firm with the people of Sierra Leone in the best interests of peace and democratic accountability in making sure that the true voice of the electorate is heard loud and clear this time around. And as the popular saying goes: put your mouth where your money goes.

FORUM thus looks forward to seeing more fearless energy from the European Union Delegation to Sierra Leone, and their elections observer mission and monitors now, during and after the elections to ensure free, fair, transparent and credible elections come June 24.

If only the ECSL were doing the right thing, as bragged by Alpha, they should not be annoyed with the EU, for the EU and other observers in the country are here to add credibility and value to the work of the ECSL and to restore public trust and confidence in the electoral commission provided they strictly play by the rules and in sync with international best practices.

In the elections and political landscape of Sierra Leone today, it is no longer the end justifies the means; rather it is the means justify the end.