The 24th June elections will be Sierra Leone’s third elections in which an incumbent government seeks a second-term mandate. It was President Ahmed Tejan-Kabbah who first sought a second-term mandate in 2002, followed by Ernest Bai Koroma in 2012 and now Julius Maada Bio in 2023.
Neither President Ahmed Tejan-Kabbah nor Ernest Bai Koroma’s second-term bids were done in circumstances so painful for the country’s democratic future as that of the era we are in today. Second term elections bids, all over the world, are hardly ever dangerously contested, and a loss for the incumbent is always seen as a major upset.
In the case of Sierra Leone, the All People’s Congress (APC) made it their primary objective to ensure that President Bio does not get a second-term mandate at any cost. The APC pursued this ambition with shamelessness, vile and rudeness and sometimes with very covert violence. Whereas multi-party politics should be a contest of ideas and track record, and credibility of personnel, the APC turned it into an effort to delegitimise government, stoke or comfort violence, and mobilise ethnic hate among other vile methods.
In the trail of the APC’s efforts to delegitimize government, stoke or comfort violence, and mobilise ethnic hate, we have a nation heavily bruised. The increasing reference to the need for social cohesion by President Julius Maada Bio, Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella, and Alpha Kanu on the campaign trail should provide some comfort. The APC’s anger levels, methods and purpose of politics, however, remain an existential threat to democracy, peace and stability in the West African nation.
The APC has not shown any willingness to change ways; and the party’s modus operandi and purpose of politics remain banal, irrespective of the constraints imposed on them by Constitutional requirements. It clearly looks like the APC does not have the capacity to change ways. What do Sierra Leoneans expect of the APC after decades of imbibing violence, plunder, and banality? Old habits are hard to die; if they ever do.
In 2007, Sierra Leoneans were amply reminded about the APC ways, to which came the vulgar reply by their supporters that “kaka, win noh yerri”, some vulgar local expression that is loosely translated in English as ‘we don’t want to hear shit’. Indeed, they didn’t get to hear shit when the APC took their old habits to new heights in ten years, from 2007 to 2018.
If the APC is going to change and engage in politics for their own good, and the good of the country, that push has to come from an external force. A resounding defeat in the June 2023 elections is going to be that external force that forces the APC to change course and work on becoming a serious and civilised party.
Note: Reader be informed that opinions expressed herein this article do not represent the Editorial stands of FORUM. They are the personal views of the author at SL News Blog.
