By Amin Kef Sesay
In the scriptures, we are told that the truth will set us free. Without the truth, the lie beclouds our minds making it impossible to see issues clearly, thereby seriously affecting our judgment.
In this light, the European Union post 2018 Elections Observation Mission’s recent report ruffled many feathers in Government governance circles.
So flustered were New Direction governance officials that instead of taking the report gracefully with a view to incorporating its audacious findings into election reforms, they instead started damning the report’s authors as protégés of the former APC Government.
New Direction even went further to sinisterly state that the stage was being set by EU for APC to dispute the outcome of the 2023 elections.
Nothing could be further from the truth than that; given that when APC lost the 2018 presidential elections, they took their case to the Supreme Court and humbly abide by its ruling that the SLPP candidate won the election.
The EU Report, contrary to the dim view taken of it by the New Direction, should be seen as a positive step in the right direction to ensure that the State authorities responsible for ensuring free, fair, credible elections whose results are accepted by both victor and losers is taken.
However unpalatable it may taste in the mouth of the New Direction, it is true that they have done nothing to change the mentality of NEC, SLP, and the Judiciary with regards ensuring free, fair elections by them behaving impartially and dispassionately in the process, including hearing of election petitions and appeals.
Rather than seeking to undermine the credibility of the country’s Elections Management Bodies, what the EU report should do is to serve as a wakeup call to these institutions that they owe no obligation to the ruling party but to the people of Sierra Leone that their democratic will is not perverted or sabotaged.
Let us look at one of the issues raised by the EU Mission.
Government must speed up the process of overall constitutional review that was started by the previous Government which cost the country above USD4 million.
With regards elections, one of the EU’s comments was that if an election is declared void, according to section 146.4 of the Public Elections Act, another election should be held.
What is there wrong in telling a friend the truth?
Putting its mouth where its money is, having since the end of the war spent hundreds of millions of Euros to bolster the country’s governance structures and systems, including financing of national elections to ensure the consolidating and strengthening of a culture of democracy, the EU Mission definitely has a moral right to express grave concern regarding failure of the Government in implementing the 29 recommendations made in 2018; noting that that the implementation would enhance the credibility, inclusiveness and transparency of Sierra Leone’s 2023 elections
