Sierra Leone: battle for the country’s soul

SIERRA LEONEANS are beginning to realise that most of their politicians do not care much about their well-being. In recent months, they have become disillusioned with the established powers; most do not trust the political and security institutions, and respect and trust for the civil service and other public services have reached rock bottom.

Five years ago, the country went to the polls and voters handed power to Julius Maada Bio's Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) because the soldier-turnedpolitician told the voters that he had all the answers to the economic hardship millions were facing in their daily lives. Throughout the election campaign in 2017/18, one of the SLPP’s top economic advisers, J.J. Saffa, told the country that the party had solutions to the country's problems and that if it were to be elected in 2018, it would “fix the bread-and-butter issues within six months”.

Immediately after Bio won the election and was sworn in as president, he appointed Saffa as Minister of Finance, expecting him to transform the country's economy as he had promised during the campaign. However, two years into the job, Bio removed Saffa and appointed him as Chief Minister. One senior SLPP insider familiar with the workings of the Bio government told journalists he was unexpectedly removed from the Finance Ministry because Saffa underestimated the problems Sierra Leone was facing.

Bio’s margin of victory in the 2018 presidential election was not that wide, indicating that voters were not too sure about whether he could change the country’s fortunes. At the time of his victory, the US dollar was equivalent to Le7,050 while one pound sterling was equivalent to Le9,000. Today the leone is almost 18,000 to the US dollar and £1 is equivalent to Le22,000.

And as the country prepares to elect a new president and parliamentarians for the next five years, Sierra Leone is now considered the second poorest nation in the world with a GDP per capita of $472, compared to $ 716 in 2013, according to Visual Capitalist figures. The latest figures from the Global Human Freedom Index reveal that in 2019, Sierra Leone ranked 132 out of 162 countries, dropping 20 places from 2018. Under the All People’s Congress (APC) of President Ernest Bai Koroma, Sierra Leone ranked 112 out of 162 nations in 2018; and 107 out of 159 in 2017, before Bio’s SLPP took office.

This state of affairs has created tensions around the country, compounded by the economic dysfunction and perceived official corruption, all leading to a deep sense of political disillusionment. In 2018, Sierra Leoneans and many of the country's development partners were excited over the election of Bio and his SLPP.

Indeed, economists were equally upbeat about Sierra Leone's future. One noted recently: “The election of Maada Bio in 2018 was meant to herald a fundamental rewiring of Sierra Leone's economy. The president’s economic team in 2017/18 had correctly identified several maladies including the production of food, particularly rice, which sucks the country’s foreign currency, underfunded primary education and energy and a neglected tourism sector. But President Bio missed a massive opportunity.”

Many Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad see a second chance for the country in the forthcoming election. But they are not too sure about Dr Samura Kamara, the APC candidate. They are expressing concern about the old guard in the APC who might manipulate him if he became president.

Alfred Hamilton, a Sierra Leonean living in Birmingham in the UK, who will be voting for the first in Sierra Leone, asked: “How strong will Samura be in cutting off the 'long-hands of the old guard?”

Another Sierra Leonean, Alimatu Kargbo in Kent in the UK, is also worried. After listening to Kamara recently in London, she said: "I am completely gutted that the same old people are around Samura Kamara,” adding: “Not much will change because he will have their baggage to carry.” She, too, will be travelling to Sierra Leone to vote, hoping the she will be proved wrong about the APC old guard.

Back in Sierra Leone, where the recently returned to the party and had hoped to be chosen as the presidential candidate but failed due to internal party rules.

For most Sierra Leoneans, the June 24 election is not about whether the APC old guard would control Kamara if he is elected; for now, Sierra Leoneans in-country have one primary concern: what will be the reaction to the result by supporters of Bio and Kamara if there is a whiff of foul play and the results go against them?

One senior APC member, a former mayor of Freetown Western rural district, declared that the June 24 election was a battle for the soul of Sierra Leone. But many are warning the APC “not to doubt” President Maada Bio's determination to win a second term in office.

For Kamara and the APC, there are reasons to temper the expectations of Bio. The APC is considered the largest political party in Sierra Leone, and with the high level of disgruntled voices in the country and amplified by foreign development partners, many are hoping for a new government. But for that to happen, the APC needs a swing greater than the one Bio had in 2018.

In the past five years, politics in Sierra Leone has been reduced to the psychology of the SLPP’s Paopa ideology, which campaign is in fever pitch, Kamara’s supporters are also worried about how his government-in-waiting would evolve if he triumphs. They have every reason to feel circumspect. After all, they witnessed the bitter struggles and internal discord within the APC for the party’s 2023 presidential ticket. Many of the contenders who lost have now openly endorsed Kamara's candidacy.

They are now campaigning with him except for a few, including the former Vice President, Alhaji Samsumana, who was expelled from the party in 2015. He literally translates to everything must be done by force, whether people like it or not. One local commentator, Titus BoyeThompson, recently noted: “For the first time in Sierra Leone, the elections are not being fought on policy. The bread-andbutter issues are not as important in the country [today].”

The fear is that in the current political climate, with many supporters calling on the APC to “take the fight to the SLPP” across the country, things might get out of control.