By Mabinty M. Kamara
The Publicity Secretary of the opposition APC has said after a round of preliminary meetings with the Independent Commission for and National Cohesion and international mediators including the Commonwealth, his party was now waiting for a date to be set for substantive talks.
Speaking to Politico in an interview on Tuesday, Sidi Yayah Tunis said: “we have presented all necessary documents regarding the dialogue” and it is now up to the mediators to take the next steps.
Following the declaration of President Julius Maada Bio as winner of the June 2023 elections with 56. 17% of the vote cast while the APC’s Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara scored 41.16% of the votes, the opposition refused to accept this result, citing electoral irregularities. This resulted in a decision to boycott governance. All their elected Members of Parliament, Mayors, and Chairpersons are yet to take up duty except for two parliamentarians who have long taken oaths of office.
Both the government and the opposition have agreed to a dialogue to resolve the impasse given the relevance of the opposition party in a democracy. Sierra Leone’s Peace Commission, the African Union, and ECOWAS are all parties to the mediation initiative.
Commemorating this year’s International Peace Day in Freetown, the UN envoy Dr. Babatunde Ahonsi admonished Sierra Leone’s two leading political parties to embrace the process without delay for the benefit of the people of the country.
‘’Political deadlocks are conflicts that descend into violence, hamper peace and stability, and consequently undermine development and social cohesion’’, he said. He said the causative effect is the unnecessary suffering of the people.
He commended the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth for initiating steps to broker peace between the two parties. He said around the world today, conflicts and wars are increasingly taking the place of diplomacy, dialogue, and negotiation. He praised the Independent Commission for Peace and National Cohesion (ICPNC) for organising the commemorative Peace Day celebration under the theme "Action for peace; our ambition for the global goals’’.
He said in devising violence prevention strategies, there’s a need to address the root causes of inequality and marginalisation, particularly of young people, and full engagement of multiple stakeholders from all sides of the socio-political divide.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (29/09/23)
