On challenge of observing an African election - Part II

What you need to know:

  • Similarities. There are interesting similarities and differences between Sierra Leone’s 2018 elections and Uganda’s 2016 polls. First, the role played by the electoral commissions of the two countries.

The people of Sierra Leone go to the polls once again on Tuesday, March 27, because none of the 16 presidential candidates who contested on March 7 obtained the required 55 per cent of votes cast.

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On challenge of observing an African election - Part I

There were several observer groups in Sierra Leone, notably from Ecowas, the African Union, the European Union and civil society organisations

The chairman of the Commonwealth Observer Group (COG), former Ghanaian president John Dramani Mahama, issued an interim statement on March 9 in which he announced that the elections were peaceful, orderly and inclusive and in addition, “the electoral environment on election day was conducive to the free exercise of the people’s franchise and basic freedoms were respected.”
In Tuesday’s run-off elections the two candidates who will be on the ballot paper are Sierra Leone People’s Party’s flag bearer Brig (Rtd) Julius Maada Bio and the ruling party, All People’s Congress’s candidate, Dr Samura Matthew Wilson Kamara.

In round one of the elections, SLPP’s Bio came first and was followed by APC’s Kamara. The National Grand Coalition’s Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella, a former United Nations undersecretary general and director general of UNIDO came a distant third.
On basis of individual merit, Dr Yumkella would be an obvious and preferred choice, but in Africa wananchi rarely get the best candidates they deserve.

Who are the two candidates?
Brig Julius Maada Bio was elected flag bearer of SLPP at the party’s convention held in Freetown on October 15, 2017. He is a former head of state of Sierra Leone who led a military coup on January 16, 1996, which deposed Capt Valentine Strasser who came to power in 1992. To his credit, Bio fulfilled a promise he made to return Sierra Leone to democratic rule and handed over power peacefully to president Tejan Kabbah on March 16, 1996.

The ruling party’s presidential candidate Samura Kamara is a former minister of foreign affairs of Sierra Leone. It is alleged that he was handpicked by president Ernest Koroma in violation of the party’s constitution.
APC, which by the way is a sister party of UPC, with red as its party colour, held a party convention in October 2017 to elect its flag bearer for the 2018 presidential elections. In accordance with party rules, delegates to the convention were supposed to choose, by vote, a flag bearer from 28 aspiring candidates. COG learnt from reliable sources that president Koroma, in his capacity as APC chairman, appointed unilaterally Dr Kamara as flag bearer which left many APC members disgruntled and gnashing their teeth.

A petition was filed in the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone to challenge Kamara’s candidacy on the grounds that internal APC party rules and procedures were not followed, which reminds me of the internal workings of a political party in our neck of the woods. Without naming names, your guess is as good as mine.
There are interesting similarities and differences between Sierra Leone’s 2018 elections and Uganda’s 2016 polls. Due to constraints of space, let me mention only two factors.

First, the role played by the electoral commissions of the two countries. Unlike Dr Badru Kiggundu’s spineless and toothless Electoral Commission which was openly and without shame partisan and biased in favour of the ruling party, Sierra Leone’s National Electoral Commission was commended by most stakeholders, especially by opposition political parties and CSOs, as an independent and trustworthy organisation which ably delivered free, fair and credible elections.

Second, the police forces of the two countries have a lot in common. I am sure Gen Kale Kayihura would feel at home at Freetown’s Police Officers Mess. Except for perhaps the ruling party, most stakeholders COG met had no kind words for the Sierra Leone Police (SLP). Virtually all of them expressed reservations and concerns about the independence, professionalism and capacity of SLP to execute its duties and mandate in a non-partisan manner. The irony is that many national and international stakeholders have provided substantial assistance to support and strengthen SLP’s capacity through training and capacity building programmes.