The regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) standby force, ECOMOG, is stationed at Lungi in Port Loko district right across from the city centre of Freetown to ensure strict compliance to the work of the Tripartite Committee.
This assurance was given by a high ranking military officer who said he has intimate knowledge of why the standby force jetted into Sierra Leone.
The officer said for too long democratic dispensations across Africa have been responsible for huge loss of lives and destruction of public and private properties and the setting back of that society due to the breakdown of key institutions and sectors necessary for the development of such societies.
The military brass said ECOMOG is around in anticipation of any potential fallout should the incumbent fails to adhere to the findings and recommendations of the Tripartite Committee, whose terms of reference were agreed to by all parties involved including the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) led government of Sierra Leone, the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) and the international community members of ECOWAS, the African Union (AU) and the Commonwealth.
ECOMOG’s arrival is to announce that the standby force is in Sierra Leone to enforce compliance if necessary by force to prevent the nation from deteriorating to the point of brutal conflict.
The high ranking member of the ECOWAS force informed that from recent developments in the region the former president of Ivory Coast Laurent Gbagbo was removed from power by a force flown into Abidjan from France after he lost but failed to adhere to the people of the country voting against him in favour of the challenger, Alhassan Ouattarra. The action was carried out to prevent further loss of life after over 1500 people had been killed in Abidjan with millions displaced across the country from the electoral impasse.
He also gave an example of the former president of The Gambia, Yayah Jammeh who quietly flew out of The Gambia after word reached him that the regional force ECOMOG was already approaching Gambian waters to enforce the elections result that saw him losing to challenger Adama Barrow.
He went on that the comment by president Bio that his forces will meet bullet for bullet anyone that come out to protest on Wednesday, June 19 caused quite a stir in the sub-region and across the world especially coming from such a man with a sordid past in the events that overshadowed normal life in Sierra Leone during the nation’s 11 year brutal and unnecessary civil war.
So far the work of the Tripartite Committee continues to be hindered by the continued refusal by the head of the nation’s electoral commission to release the disaggregated polling data per station for public review. This affront to the rule of law has given cause to many people believing that the incumbent couldn’t have won the elections, because had he won the election the commissioner would have gladly made the voting data public even if as he has been purporting that it is against his mandate.
The chief electoral commissioner according to the people of Sierra Leone is the real culprit in the electoral drama that has gripped the country, saying that his action could see the country reverting to the lawlessness that engulfed it during the warring 1990s.
Therefore to prevent the nation from sliding thus, ECOMOG is here for the president and all to accept the discovery of the Tripartite Committee whose recommendations on the way forward will be for the good of the country as it will ensure peace and national cohesion as the nation strives towards economic development.
