Like all other elections in Sierra Leone since the restoration of democracy in 1996, the results of the polls of 24 June 2023 were contested. Even the one in 2002, when incumbent president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah won by the most decisive victory in the country’s democratic history with more than 70% of the votes, the losing candidate Ernest Bai Koroma faulted the result.
So it was again with the June polls which left the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) crying foul. They carried out their threat of boycotting governance on all levels and refused to take up their seats in parliament and councils.
It caused angst and set off a cloud of uncertainty over the country. This prompted the Peace and National Cohesion Commission to facilitate a National Dialogue that was presided over by ECOWAS, the African Union and the Commonwealth.
An agreement followed. Among other things it states that the APC will take up their seats, a tripartite committee will be set up to review the country’s electoral laws and prisoners and those standing trial for election-related violence will be freed.
Umaru Fofana caught up with the head of the Government delegation and Chief Minister, Dr David Moinina Sengeh and the All People’s Congress, Dr Samura Kamara.
Exclusive Interview with Chief Minister, Dr David Moinina Sengeh
Politico: Dr David Moinina Sengeh, you were the lead for the government delegation, how would you characterize the talks?
Dr. Sengeh: I think it was really interesting set of conversations. Ultimately, the people of the country won. As I said at the end [of the talks] the government didn’t win; the APC didn’t win; It’s the people who won. Because everybody has been waiting to have this dialogue, to speak about how we are gonna work together to move this country forward. We need everybody – the government, the opposition, the citizens. We need everybody to have their best foot forward for us to be able to move ahead.
Politico: So, essentially, how would you encapsulate the agreement? What was agreed?
Dr. Sengeh: I think the main element of it was that the APC party will participate again in governance. Government will seek to make sure that all the allegations around whether it’s people who had been inciting violence, or people who think they didn’t have access to justice, we will look into all those cases. We will work with all the parties to ensure we are able to be better informed as government and to make the appropriate interventions.
It was also important for the parties to agree that we needed a lot more intraparty dialogue. Dialogue is the core part to where our democracy has been and we will make sure that we will work towards ensuring that the SLPP, the APC and other parties have a framework of constantly dialoguing. We shouldn’t just do it leading up to an election or after an election, but we should always be talking.
Politico: Did you have to wait for outsiders to make this happen? Why didn’t you use local mechanism?
Dr. Sengeh: You know the core people who organized this was the Peace Commission. Now, what’s interesting is that the Peace Commission was established three years ago because the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) recommended it, and then we had the Bintumani III dialogue. So, to be able to have a National Cohesion Paper really developed by the Peace Commission that came out of a dialogue three years ago recommended by the TRC underlines something: that when state institutions function, when we treat these national dialogues well and these recommendations and implement them and build structures, we get to benefit for it. And I think the Peace Commission did a great job in inviting and facilitating with the AU, ECOWAS and the Commonwealth. I think it is a good thing as well when there is low trust, that we can have friends who come from the region. The lead facilitator is the former vice president from the Gambia she understands where we come from. She is African. The person from the Commonwealth is a former Chief Justice as well from Africa. And everybody there was from Africa. We have similar cultures and we have similar ways of solving problems.
Politico: Were you forced into this by any external forces – to sit down and have a conversation with the opposition?
Dr. Sengeh: No, His Excellency [Julius Maada Bio] on the day that he won, when he was taking the oath of office, he said “I invite Dr. Samura and everybody to come on board”. At the State Opening of Parliament, he spoke about this dialogue. He spoke about national cohesion. He spoke about all of these things. So we weren’t forced. Maybe people were impatient. They were like, “you should do these things already”. So it wasn’t forced, it was something that the president wanted to do. The president spoke about it, the government wanted to do, and maybe the timing was something that (pause) I wouldn’t say forced. It’s the timing - logistical. We were busy setting up government and getting people appointed and running with our agenda. But it was important that we brought this now and we can continue to move forward.
Politico: One of the main issues or demands of the APC party was for the publication of the disaggregated election results, what happened to that? It wasn’t captured. Was it?
Dr. Sengeh: Well I think in the beginning [of the talks] I spoke about how everybody has these disaggregated polling station results. Those are the forms what everybody signed up for. We have ours, they have theirs and the electoral commission has theirs. I think what they were asking for they could ask the electoral commission for. As we said government does not mandate or tell the electoral commission what to do. I think the electoral commission has said that they have never actually published these polling station level data after they have done all the cumulative result tabulation. The constitution prevents the president or the government from telling the electoral commission what to do and I think there were rules that were agreed to by all parties and the electoral commission does what it does. But most importantly the only entity that could tell the electoral commission to do what to do is the Supreme Court. It is not the president, it is not the government and it certainly is not the opposition.
Politico: The APC say it’s a six-month window that has been opened and that if the i’s are not dotted and the t’s are not crossed, agreements are not reached they could withdraw again from governance. Is that something which you are concerned about as a government?
Dr. Sengeh: No, we are not concerned because everything in that document is stuff we believe in. I don’t think anybody was forced to agree to those things. The opposition wasn’t forced, we weren’t forced. We put the country first, actually. And I think the matters that are in there to look at, justice, there has to access to justice by all and it is not just the APC, but the SLPP, but every other party who has a legitimate cause for concern with how they interact with the security forces, we will look into it. This is good for the country. When it comes down to participating in the constitutional process, the constitutional review that is ongoing in parliament, we want the opposition to come to parliament so that they can contribute to the process that has been ongoing for twenty years. It is good for our country that we can have an instrument that actually strengthens our democracy. So, many of the things that they are asking for we also want. So it’s not like we disagree. We all believe in strengthening state institutions and I think this agreement will do that. We want there to be a framework for interparty dialogue and that government facilitates – that's a good thing. We want there to be a case where justice is given to people – that’s a good thing. We want there to be a case where the opposition comes and participates in governance and parliament – that’s a good thing. The president as father of the nation continues to speak to us about peace and cohesion – that’s a good thing. So, we are not concerned that we will not able to do these things that are there.
Politico: And in terms of electoral reforms, the reforms to ensure that the country’s electoral process becomes a lot stronger?
Dr. Sengeh: And I think that this is actually something that we are super excited about. Since INEC was formed in 1996 and it changed to NEC and then it changed to ECSL, it is the same system. The structures remain the same and yet our democracy has been evolving, the technology, how we think about technology, has evolved. And as such the institution and the organization has to change. So the review of the electoral system – structures and processes, looking back not just at the 2023 elections, but in all the elections – is meant to ensure that all future elections are better, will lead to less and less and less disagreement. And I think we keep strengthening our democratic state institutions. One thing that is great is that there will be a three-way leadership – the opposition, the government and the development partners – and they will develop the terms of reference for what will happen in this review process and they will implement it within six months and we look forward to that implementation.
Politico: Thank you very much
Sengeh: Thank you.
Transcribed by Saio Marrah
Copyright © 2023 Politico (27/10/23)
