By Joseph A. Kamanda

With the leadership of the ruling Sierra Leone people’s Party (SLPP) now in the hands of President Julius Maada Bio and Vice President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, other executive positions including Chairman and Deputy are up for grabs.

The competition is set for the national delegates’ conference in the not-too-distant future or whenever COVID-19 subsides.

Political parties’ regulator, Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC) ties active politicking to COVID-19 protocols.

The Commission lately cautioned political parties to strictly observe COVID-19 preventive measures to mitigate the spread of the virus.

Many political observers and analysts have seen the PPRC move as a clear political bias.

PPRC stands accused of offering government an opportunity to trample on the constitutional and democratic rights of political parties while the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party SLPP carry out its programmes uninterrupted.

The bias from PPRC emerged two weeks after President Bio and Vice President, Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh were confirmed SLPP leader and Deputy Leader respectively.

The PPRC action portrays SLPP as the political party in the country.

It appears as if PPRC had been waiting to play a cheap political gimmick to shape and control the pace of opposition parties since the pandemic hit Sierra Leone.

A position most people see as a restraint  on political activities especially vibrant opposition parties including the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) from holding its delegates’ conference in October this year.

The PPRC, no doubt, stands on the threshold of exposure owing to its act of according undue political advantage to the ruling party.

However, the commission seems either clueless or negligent of its implication on the country’s peace and democracy as long as it pleases SLPP.

The party seems to care little about how others perceive its restrictive actions.

SLPP’s grip of the Presidential and Vice Presidential offices should not be a justification for other political parties to participate in the democratic process.

Is Sierra Leone heading for another one-party rule in the 21st century?

Certainly not for president Bio is the ‘Father of Democracy’ although his SLPP now nurtures democratic dictatorship.

SLPP and the PPRC, by indication, are slowly killing democracy in Sierra Leone.

Reforms within the SLPP failed to meet democratic standards as there was no form of elections that saw the emergence of President Bio and his Vice at the helm.

Is that true democracy being practised by the ‘Father of democracy?’

This new development in the ruling party has somehow set the stage for a cut-throat contest by the aspirants, Dr Alex Prince Harding, Jimmy Batilo Songa and Joseph Samba Kaifala, former mayor of Kenema City Council as well as unnamed ones who will soon make public their intentions to run.

Although the commission tries to hide under COVID-19 preventive protocols, the press release however exposed the injustice of the PPRC against opposition political parties.

PPRC has, in the last two years, failed to play a neutral role in the democratic dispensation since it has succumbed to government pressure.

By its mandate, the commission is expected to serve as a twin-breast feeding mother bearing in mind that it is meant to serve all political parties.

Authorities at the commission, therefore, should be cognisant of internationally accepted systems of politicking especially those standards prescribed by the European Union, Africa Union who are busy training election bodies on how to conduct elections during COVID-19.

Conversely, it is in the midst of the pandemic that the party’s laws were reviewed to extend more time for president Bio and Vice President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh to serve as chairman and deputy respectively.

What is wrong with the conduct political activities during Covid-19 when greater democracies in the world like the United States of America are preparing for elections?

Many have argued that it is needless for PPRC to slam a ban on political activities in Sierra Leone if only such moves are not aimed at providing political leverage for the ruling SLPP to operate, while others stay back waiting for the end of the eradication of Coronavirus from the country.

PPRC, while playing deeply into the hands of its pay master, Government should equally bear in mind that there is no way COVID-19 can reverse any slated election schedule nor even attempt at stopping political parties from holding their regular meetings and national delegates’ conferences.

Besides, SLPP members always converge for meeting at several locations hiding in the apparel of official duties not monitored by PPRC.

As the ban remains in force, the people of Sierra Leone call on the commission to reverse its indefinite suspension of political activities and restore the democratic rights of the people.

The state of emergency itself does not have any guiding legal framework from Parliament, but it is used to restrict movement and assembly of political parties and the people as well.

PPRC and SLPP must realise that the national democratic process belong to all Sierra Leoneans and not only the ruling party.

The people have, for a long period, witnessed the obituaries of their democracy since the early 90’s when the National Provisional Ruling Council unjustifiably interrupted Sierra Leone’s governance process in April, 1992.

Trends in the country’s political situation calls for a change in the dynamics since the country’s leaders are yet to be reformed.

Actions of the current government shows that the Tejan Kabbah government left an unfinished job which they are prepared to complete.

Any Failure by PPRC to reverse its decision will heighten the cloud of suspicion among political circles, and may not bode well for the country’s fledgling democracy.

It may go without saying that PPRC wants the public to believe that it is because President Bio and Vice President Jalloh have secured a fair share of the party’s dictatorship to accomplish undone deals.

Such actions by the PPRC and the ruling SLPP are destroying the democratic foundation for personal gains.

As a commission, PPRC must create a level playing field for all political parties for the consolidation of the country’s democracy.

It must not bow to the SLPP dictates because the President and the Vice President preside over SLPP affairs.

The move has the tendency to further derail the confidence of the diplomatic community evidenced in the EU’s resistance to the party’s attempt to shift 2023 to 2024 for elections.

In the face of turbulent circumstances, President Bio must strive to restore democratic values and good governance within SLPP which is a foundation of freedom and democracy.

President Bio was allowed by the previous APC administration to conduct his political activities, and implement programmes throughout the country.

It is widely believed that the wide latitude of freedom he enjoyed in his campaigns made him to occupy the presidency of Sierra Leone.

It is needless for President Bio and his party to hide under the PPRC canopy to restrict opposition parties having killed democracy in the SLPP, and by extension, the country at large.

As President Bio is always called ‘Father of Democracy,’ he must allow democratic institutions to function well without undue influences and interferences as it has been done at the National Electoral Commission and now the PPRC.

Sierra Leone no longer tolerates monopoly of power by any government for the people have to enjoy their democratic rights.

Thus, SLPP and PPRC must restore respite to political parties so that they can operate freely without unjustifiable hindrance.