Crunch time for Sierra Leone

AS Sierra Leone prepares for presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24, there is a sense of foreboding among the citizens –be they supporters of the governing Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) or the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC). This has been blindingly obvious as the countdown looms.

Politics in Sierra Leone over the last five years has created a toxic atmosphere that could derail the outcome of the polls. The SLPP and APC, the only two parties that have held power in Sierra Leone since the country gained independence from Britain in 1961, have been having a go at each other way beyond the bounds of normal politics.

Hate speech, misinformation, disinformation and malinformation have been deployed to very devastating effect mainly through social media. For instance, the violence that erupted in parts of the country in August last year, which left six police officers and over 20 civilians dead, social media, so it’s difficult to track down the culprits. Shutting them down does not work because they will easily metamorphose into other entities to continue to weaponize social media and spread disunity.

I am regularly bombarded by these vile audios and inflammatory videos, but I can quite easily deconstruct their underlying messages aimed at causing mayhem. But for those who are disgruntled, they quickly swallow the propaganda because that is what they want to hear anyway.

The messengers are quite clever. They know that people will be swayed by whatever is said about either the SLPP or APC because they are already disillusioned with politicians.

This is crucial because when messages are sent out, the mood of the receiver will decide how to accept whatever he or she hears, sees or reads. Currently in Sierra Leone, given the fraught political situation and economic constraints, it is not difficult to figure out how negative social media

Desmond Davies

On the issue of PR, the APC believes that this is against the party’s chances of getting a majority in Parliament, with arguments raging over the census and electoral data to be used. All of these are adding to the tension, which some might try to exploit.

Sierra Leonean voters should not forget that it was political intolerance that directly led to the civil war that lasted from 1991 to 2002. Forget about the glib narrative that the war was over diamonds; the simplistic manner in which Westerners will try to explain African conflicts that are deep-rooted.

The diamonds were just the spoils of war. In any case, who benefited most from those stones? Diamond dealers in Europe who knowingly bought these stolen natural resources belonging to the government and people of Sierra Leone. They got away with it while Sierra Leoneans are still picking up the pieces from that bitter conflict.

The seeds of discontent of the civil war were sown in 1982, long before it began nine years later. A violent election campaign in the Southern Province, when the country was a one-party state under the APC, was the spark that eventually flared up in 1991.

was a direct result of social media warriors stoking the flames of discontent.

Of course, Sierra Leoneans have not been totally happy with their lot under the SLPP. But what’s new in politics? You can’t please everyone all the time, and, naturally, politicians do exploit this, but within limits.

However, there has been no such consideration among the Sierra Leonean social media warriors. Most of those espousing poisonous messages reside either in Europe or the US, where governments do not take kindly to such destructive communications in their societies.

But one can hide one’s identity on communications are being received.

When President Julius Maada Bio came to power in 2018, he made a commitment to fight corruption, which he said was rife under the APC. Now, the APC and the government’s opponents are saying that Bio’s attempts to tackle corruption has failed. Indeed, it has been a tough fight for the SLPP on this front.

The most crucial thing, though, is to ensure that the elections are held in an orderly manner, and the results accepted without a violent response. Naturally, there are the usual arguments and objections being raised by the opposition parties: disputes over voters’ lists and proportional representation (PR) for the elections of MPs are the two main sticking points.

But by the way Sierra Leoneans of every political persuasion have been lapping up the discontent that is now been sown by social media warriors, it would seem that they have forgotten about the devastating civil war.

This is really crunch time for Sierra Leone. Supporters of the various parties must not resort to violence just because social media warriors or agitated politicians say so. They should realise that they are the ones who will suffer the most if the country degenerates into postelections violence.

Their political masters will not be at the frontline when the going gets tough. So, any dispute that arises should be resolved peacefully by the courts. After all, the political parties in Sierra Leone just love litigations. AB