Kabs Kanu: Sierra Leone Telegraph:
We have come to one of the most pivotal moments of our country’s history. A moment when men have to tie their trousers turgidly, be real men and redeem our country from the current crisis it is in.
The whole world is condemning Julius Maada Bio for the broad daylight robbery of June 24, 2023 General Elections results in which he was declared President of Sierra Leone.
In direct response to this act, the United States angrily suspended the MCC U.S $400 million Compact grant and slammed travel restrictions on all those guilty of or collaborating in rigging the elections and undermining democracy in Sierra Leone. More sanctions are going to follow.
Since the opposition All People’s Congress (APC) refused to cooperate with the government, by boycotting Parliament and Councils, and governance in the nation has come to halt, despite all the showboating by Bio and his supporters.
Some other financial aid to the government have been stopped and now the Bio SLPP government is starved of funds and having difficulties paying salaries.
The U.S and international partners continue to insist that aid will not be resumed or travel restrictions lifted unless President Bio brings back the country’s democracy.
Now, the Commonwealth, ECOWAS and the AU have decided to hold a dialogue between President Bio and the APC to break the impasse and restore democracy and good governance.
The facts are clear to all. Bio must restore our democracy by proving how he won the elections, or organize a re-run. The U.S and international elections observers, who rejected the results because they lacked credibility, are demanding that the Elections Commission release the disaggregated polling stations results.
Bio ‘s Elections Commissioner has impudently refused, and when he came to America recently to attend the UN General Assembly, Bio lambasted America, accuse it of trying to undermine the elections. Instead of accepting his faults, Bio flipped it on America.
While the fuming nation is gratified that at least the U.S and international community are with them and holding Bio to account and will not compromise with him until Bio restores our democracy, disturbing, but unconfirmed news making the rounds is that the leader of the main opposition (APC), Samura Kamara, has decided to let Bio off the hook by compromising with him, without forcing him to bring back our cherished democracy.
If these reports are true, it will be the biggest mistake that Dr. Samura Kamara has ever made in his life that will hurt his base (the grassroots of the party).
Any arrangement short of restoring our democracy will not be honored by President Bio and the SLPP. One has to only look at the way Bio breached his agreement with the National Grand Coalition (NGC), whom he promised high level positions in government if they voted for him in the June 24 elections (promises he has failed to honor).
Now, the NGC are planning to take him to court for breach of agreement. Bio is just waiting for the MPs and Councilors to return and take their seats to show this nation.
Secondly, with the whole nation and the world looking up to him to save democracy in Sierra Leone, Samura Kamara will create an irreversible and eternal stigma on his name, if he fails to hold Bio to account and force him to return the democracy to Sierra Leone.
Samura Kamara will forever be classed among the nation-wreckers and one of those who conspired with Maada Bio to destroy democracy in Sierra Leone. This is not the dishonorable image Samura Kamara wants to live with for the rest of his life.
If he fails to hold Bio accountable and force him to return our stolen democracy, Samura Kamara must as well also kiss his political career and Presidential ambition goodbye, because he will certainly fall into the bad books of the grassroots and rank and file of the APC.
A negotiated settlement with Maada Bio that does not answer the demands of justice, democracy, good governance and human rights will not bring peace to the country. We all need peace and we are praying for peace in Sierra Leone. He will simply use Samura Kamara to get back the MCC Compact grant and the travel ban rescinded.
Samura Kamara must denounce and refute the rumors going around that he wants to sell out. He owes the grassroots of the APC and the people of Sierra Leone that duty, because lots of people have lost their lives fighting for him.
Lastly, Samura Kamara must stick to the script he and the grassroots of the APC formulated. The ECSL must release the disaggregated polling stations results; Maada Bio must reform the ECSL and make it cross-national instead of being stacked with his tribesmen; he should reform all governance institutions and detribalize them; he should reform the judiciary with men of honor and integrity; and re-run the June 24 elections. Anything short of these actions is a sellout and the outcome is unacceptable.