By Kabs Kanu
When the military finally intervened in politics in Sierra Leone in 1967, it was triggered by General Elections that the SLPP rigged but were still not able to win. To stop the winners, the APC, from ascending the throne, SLPP Prime Minister, Sir Albert Margai, of whom President Maada Bio is a replica, forced his brother-in – law, Brig. David Lansana, the Force Commander of the Sierra Leone Army, to seize power. Junior officers, led by Majors Abu Noah, Charles Blake and Bockarie Kai- Samba, smelling the rat, captured Brig. Lansana, bundled him and the very Margai in jail and staged their own coup. The National Reformation Council (NRC) made it clear that civil war would have broken out in Sierra Leone, if they had not intervened. The SLPP had done everything in 1967 to provoke civil war. Thanks to Brig. A.T. Juxon – Smith and the majors.
Nigeria’s civil war in 1967 was precipitated by bungled General Elections that first led to chaos and then a spate of tribally- inspired military coups.
The catalyst of Liberia’s civil war was the 1986 presidential elections rigged by President Samuel Doe and SECOM Chairman Emmett Harmon which first provoked the Gen. Thomas Quiwonkpa invasion and coup that Doe foiled with the help of Israeli military experts.
Rigged elections are dangerous and have the potential to turn a whole country into a conflagration of hostilities and war.
President Bio is making big plans to rig the 2023 Presidential elections in Sierra Leone but it will backfire on him and lead to his demise. The president’s plan to cheat is very evident from the bogus voters registration that is creating so much headache for would- be voters, especially in opposition strongholds.
One of the despicable criminals in the SLPP government, former Foreign Minister and UN Permanent Representative, ALIE KABBA, a kingpin of the RUF rebel force that waged war in Sierra Leone and killed over 500, 000 people, has been caught on video, shamelessly stating that SLPP are making the registration process very difficult for the opposition APC to enable President Bio to win the elections without a run off. Can you imagine the impunity of this criminal egg- head!!!
But that video clip will surprise only Sierra Leoneans who do not know the eternal modus operandi of the SLPP. The SLPP is a political party that never believes in democracy or respecting human rights, the constitution or the rule of law. Rigging elections and ruling by subterfuge have always been the stock-in – trade of the SLPP.
It is not only the registration that the SLPP will try to use to rig next year’s elections. They have criminal computer and I.T experts already trained and poised to use the biometric system to manipulate and change figures as they did in 2018 to rig and give the unpopular and besieged president Maada Bio victory. The very President Bio is also the hidden hand behind the APC paralysis, using puppets, headed by one Alfred Peter Conteh, to render the APC impotent to put up a dogged fight in the upcoming elections. There is no end to the criminal stops Maada Bio will pull to rig next year’s elections. He has also packed the Elections Commission with his tribesmen, thinking they can help him in his criminal and treasonable enterprise to stage bungled elections.
But what Maada Bio is failing to realize is that the eyes of the people of Sierra Leone are now wide open. Bio will not be allowed to rig the elections and give himself another undeserved term. If he pulls it off, he will provoke chaos that will make Sierra Leone ungovernable until he is finally removed by a coup or people’s action. Bio will not finish his term if he cheats his way back to State House against the will of the people.
If President Bio had been a wise man and had not also been followed by pseudo- intellectuals who do not know B from a bull’s foot, he should have learnt from the August 10 people’s action that he will no longer be allowed to stage – manage and manipulate things in Sierra Leone. The people are ready to challenge everything he does , especially with regards to next year’s elections.
President Bio is playing with fire. The late President of neighbouring Liberia, Mst.Sgt. Samuel K. Doe was given the same warning but he did not heed it and look at the ruthless and painful manner he learnt his lesson. at the hands of INPFL rebels led by Prince Yormie Johnson. Professor Alpha Conde of our other neighbouring country, Guinea, , also stubbornly refused to heed the signs and paid the price from a coup, though mercifully , he was not butchered to death by the soldiers that overthrew him. But he was shamefully removed from power.
President Bio thinks he is a strongman, invulnerable and powerful enough to thumb his nose at the people and get away with it. All dictators who learnt bitter lessons thought the same, from Gen. Ignatius Acheampong, to David Dacko, to Marcias Nguema, to Marien Nguabi, to Jean Bedell Bokassa, to Mobutu Sese Sekou, to Samuel Doe, to Hosni Mubarak, to Mohamed Morsi, to Zine Al Ben Alie , to Alie Abdullah Saleh, to Moamar Ghadaffi etc. etc. They all thought they were smart or macho men who could get away with everything but they learnt to their shock and dismay that dictators are for most times giants with clay feet. They are no match for people’s power.
We, the people, are calling for free and fair elections in Sierra Leone. Let the democratic process continue to work in our country. It is the only way struggling Sierra Leoneans can be assured of sustainable peace and progress in their country.
We beseech President Bio to learn from history and avoid endangering peace and stability in Sierra Leone .We enjoin the president to abandon his plans to rig the 2023 elections. He does not need all the subterranean and nebulous tactics he is employing that have put the country onedge. If he is popular and the choice of the people, he will win the elections hands down. The people will vote him to victory. Sierra Leoneans appreciate good presidents trying to alleviate their socioeconomic and political woes.
At the same time, if Bio realizes that the people do not want him because he has failed them, he must not force himself on them. The days when leaders did that and got away with it are gone. He must accept the people’s verdict and quit before they Samuel Doe him. He is not even as strong and solidly placed as Samuel Doe was in Liberia. If Doe was removed, nothing will stop Bio from being bludgeoned out of power if the people do not want him and he tries to impose himself on them History does repeat itself.
We want peace in Sierra Leone. We do not want any more chaos. One way to ensure that is to allow the electoral process to play itself out cleanly and successfully. Our country has been commended by the international community for staging relatively free and fair elections and presiding over peaceful transfers of power, since the end of the war. President Bio must consider himself honorable and democratic enough to follow the pattern and precedents set by the late President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah and former President Ernest Bai Koroma. Both men have entered the history books of fame for respecting the wishes of the people at the ballot box. Any attempt by President Bio to deviate rom these precedents will not augur well for him or the country.
Stop underrating people’s power, President Bio. You are no different from other African leaders.You can be beaten by the people . And note the international community is also following up everything happening in Sierra Leone. They will not allow you to steal the elections.
A word for the wise is enough.
