The next president of Sierra Leone?

Dr Kadie Sesay has for a long time remained on the list of favourite female presidential candidates, writes Kemo Cham.

Last week, Sierra Leone’s biggest opposition party, the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP), breathed a sigh of relief after the Supreme Court threw out a protracted case brought against it by one of its own members.

That ruling paved the way for the party’s much anticipated convention, this week end, when it is expected to elect its flag bearer, who will face off President Ernest Bai Koroma in next year’s election.

So many issues will influence next year’s polls. But with the cost of living sky-high, the economy will certainly make a tormenting subject for the ever-smiling President Koroma who, despite his arguably impressive performance, will have to contend with a lot of unanswered questions from the ever voluble Sierra Leonean electorates.

Nonetheless, with election season fast approaching, the opposition SLPP, too, has a multitude of challenges to overcome first if it can be seen to have any chance of reclaiming power, nearly five years after it lost it to the All Peoples Congress (APC) in a rather discordant atmosphere.

There is the contention with the National Electoral Commission (NEC), whose chairperson the party desperately wants replaced as Chief Commissioner. The SLPP argues that Dr Christiana Thorpe deliberately disregarded substantial number of its votes cast in its stronghold thereby denying it victory in 2007. It has therefore vowed it would not accept the outcome of the coming elections if it is presided over by her. Recent statements attributed to the leadership of the opposition promise a chaotic 2012 electoral process.

There is also the potentially divisive situation occasioned by the just ended legal battle brought up by one of the party’s own, a contender for the position flag bearer. And barely a day after that ruling, another report emerged of a possible fresh litigation.

At the background of all these very highly important issues is an equally pertinent matter for the party and even more so for the increasingly strident gender activists - the prospect of the country having its first women president. Incumbent President Ernest Bai Koroma will not have to go through a selection to emerge as the party’s presidential candidate. Unlike his APC, however, the SLPP has the tortuous task of managing a selection process that has already promised a fascinating outcome – violence and character assassination has been a hallmark.

Female candidates
The inclusion of names of three women on the ballot for flag bearer adds impetus to this. Tribalism, which here takes regional dimension, exists at the heart of all level of politics. Delegates will most certainly have that at the back of their minds as they cast their votes on July 31. But perhaps of utmost interest is that out of 19 aspirants vying for the chance to face off with President Koroma only three are female.

Sierra Leonean women, who constitute a majority 51 per cent of the population, recently rekindled their resolve to assume their “rightful place” in politics and governance. The so-called 30 per cent quota has been a buzz word here since then.

A series of conferences, both local and international, have recently provided perfect forum for discussions in this direction. The composition of the list of SLPP flag bearer contestants may not be seen here as any anomaly, but it certainly points to the magnitude of the fight these women championing this course have in their hands.

With a majority voice, one can’t help but imagine why it should be such an uphill task to get those crucial votes around female candidates. In fact, women are the most visible in politics across this region. They mostly do the dancing, talk the talk and vote the vote.

Great illiteracy
However, illiteracy means that tribal and religious leanings that characterise politics here will not let the mostly religious minded people readily see women as viable presidential candidates. This is in spite of the fact that Sierra Leone has a crop of highly competent women to run it affairs.

In fact, all three female aspirants for the opposition SLPP boast impressive record in service and commitment, and their respective supporters are making good of their time trumpeting this. One of them, Dr Kadi Sesay, mother of renowned CNN presenter, Isha Sesay, has for a long time remained on the list of favourites. This is in fact not her first time running for president. She first tried it under a different ticket.

Nonetheless, there are people who wield the view that Sierra Leone is not yet ready for a woman president.
“An imaginary statement,” is how national women’s leader of the opposition SLPP responds to such views
“If Liberia has done it, why not Sierra Leone,” wonders Isata-Jabbi Kabba, who is also the head of All Political Parties Women’s Association.
“If we have sober candidates as we are having now, said the National Women’s Leader Jabbi-Kabba, “it is left to the women to rise up to the challenge…Women should arise, this is our time…”

Governments across Africa have trumpeted their inclination to streamlining political representation in terms of gender by pointing to appointments of women to positions that in effect have no significant bearing.
Maybe electing them to the highest office can do the trick. Liberia has done it. But can Sierra Leone do it?