"Sulaiman relishes the idea of even mentioning that this evidently controversial reasoning is, “the best solution that will prevent the country from slipping back into conflict.”
By Osman Benk Sankoh, Monrovia, Liberia.
Elections are fast closing in. Our politicians are hungry. Take a quick look at their faces and you will notice their hunger for votes. The electorate, on the other hand, are angry but at least, the musicians are giving them something to laugh about while studio producers are busy collecting coins for the production of songs like, “ now di pa dae pack for go ,”In( E )jectment notice and “ di notice nor go right ” to name but a few.
Amid all of these, there is tension in the land and adding confusion to this already soaked tension, unfortunately, are our police; the very one the Brit Keith Biddle christened, ‘a Force for good,’ when he was (in Sierra Leone) several years back to baby-sit a police that was in dire need of cosmetic surgery from the gashes it received from the previous one party and junta regimes and made worse by the decade- long civil war.
In a fashion reminiscent of the ability of the chameleon to change its colour at will, our ‘Force for good,’ during the run-up to the polls this weekend, every now and then, keep giving us different stories as to their ability to provide a watchful eye over the smooth conduct of the polls. As if borrowing a leaf from our politicians, the police at some point had clearly said it was ill-equipped to provide security for the August polls and now singing from a new hymn sheet altogether, the police Chief is ‘harping’ a completely different tune from the one they have been singing all along.
Speaking at an Elections Security Consultative Conference held at the Bintumani Hotel in Freetown recently, Acha Kamara said they were better prepared and even used the conduct of two previous elections as reasons to show that they will be able to curb any act of lawlessness that might want to disrupt the smooth ascendancy of our would -be president from wherever he presently resides to Hill Station Lodge. What the police chief failed to realise however is that this is a different ball-game altogether. The elections in question were done under the watchful gaze of the blue berets- then the largest peacekeeping mission in the world but today, you and I know that the scenario is different as the UN had pulled out its troops from the country and our police are now left to do the work unaided.
Well, whether Charles Margai who was one time their boss believes this or not, it is as clear as daylight, that he is not alone in his doubts over the efficiency of the police to face the looming challenges of this weekend’s polls . Not once, not even twice, has Victor Reider of the ruling SLPP blamed the police for failing to ‘act’ in a manner he wanted them to and as if this does not suffice, the brand new trend that the elections has dawned on us is for most of our presidential hopefuls to surround themselves with former rebel or junta guys as bodyguards.
The message? Give me a former rebel or junta guy, sleep and even snore loudly with both eyes tightly shut. Question is: is this not a message clear enough that those wanting to be President do not even believe in entrusting their safety and security in the hands of the men in blue?
Like the sound of thunder, this ugly situation has reverberated in our every day lives and has become a topic for discussion everywhere and anywhere. Adding fuel to the already blazing inferno are the every day reports of elections violence between and amongst the leading political parties. In Kailahun, it was between the SLPP and the PMDC. In Bo, it was an alleged attempted assassination of the APC leader by an SLPP stalwart and just few days ago, Kono was having its own fair share of elections violence but this time, it was between the SLPP and the APC. Again, the question is, with all this heightened tension, what have the police done or what are they doing to quell this ugly situation?
With the thought in mind that these elections have the tendency of making or breaking the peace that we are now enjoying, several Sierra Leoneans and indeed other friends of our nation have been busy trying to prescribe medication for our ailment before it becomes a contagious epidemic.
While having a drink and talking about our elections the other day with some colleagues, one quickly mentioned that the elections should be postponed, allow Kabbah to continue in office until such a time Sierra Leoneans are really serious to throw away their bush-man tendencies and behave themselves like human beings in the 21st century.
Abdulai Bayraytay(Patriotic Vanguard Deputy Editor), a one time student union leader now based in Canada opined in an article that, “the international community should step in immediately with some urgency so that the state security personnel could provide security for our political leaders rather than by semi-illiterate, notorious ex-khaki boys ....” For the first point, I am not sure if Berewa himself would want to have his outgoing boss enjoy the pleasure of spending another day in power beyond August 11 let alone talk of the ordinary man at Bomeh or Kroo Bay who continues to go to bed on an empty stomach, continues to sleep in darkness and you name the million and one promises that that were made but never fulfilled.
Bayraytay’s prescription on the other hand is a very plausible one and it is doable. However, the problem I have with it is that time is not in our favour considering the bureaucratic nature of international diplomacy having to either consult their Parliaments / Senate / Congress or tabling a motion to the UN Security Council,debates, a draft resolution , resolution and the ultimate deployment of troops. Even at regional level and with the emergence of democratic governments all over the place, there is no way any government can come in at this eleventh ho to lend support.
Truth is, this heightened tension is a self- created one that has been propagated unfortunately, by our political leaders themselves though the blame must be equally shared by the National Elections Commission (NEC) for their failure to start and in a timely manner, a vigorous and effective, ‘violence- free’ elections sensitization campaign as was done in the elections that ushered Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as president of Liberia last year.
This however leaves me to mention the sad recommendation by a previous writer in this medium of inviting the military in full force in order to quell violence.
Sulaiman Momodu, a very fine writer and indeed one time editor of (Concord Times) in a recent article prescribed the recent Nigerian example wherein former president Obasanjo got the military out of the barracks and with a visible show of force, deployed them on the streets of Nigeria in and especially in potential trouble- spots as the way out.
Sulaiman relishes the idea of even mentioning that this evidently controversial reasoning is, “the best solution that will prevent the country from slipping back into conflict.”
If there is any election that deserves the adjective as ‘discredited,’ in recent times, then that is the Nigerian example that my dear big brother is now prescribing. Definitely, not even my two and a half year- old daughter needs remedial classes on our 1991 constitution and indeed, the primary role of the military which is as clear as daylight, “protect the territorial integrity of the state particularly from external aggression.” So, who owns the responsibility of quelling internal strife? Need I mention the name of the police again?
Point is, it has never been and will never be the constitutional mandate of the military to play a role that is definitely not its own without the proper legislation to back that role. Maybe, Sulaiman may have skipped noticing that a major fall-out between the military and the Kamajors was when the latter took upon themselves roles that were meant for the military.
Sadly to mention though that there are still a lot of challenges for our military when one look at the various traces it had gone through.
Certainly, getting the military to deploy on elections day is not one that will be ‘sellable’ to this government. Unless we want to hide from the naked truth, the trial and execution of AK Sesay and colleagues, the Kamajor and Johnny Paul factors and indeed the special votes in our previous elections pose a major challenge for this recommendation to be accepted. As far as I am concerned, suggesting that the military should be deployed in full force on elections is not only an alarmist approach but an unnecessary grand- standing.
Such a precedent as bringing in the military out no mater what, I am not sure is the best. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying they don’t have a role to play. They can help the police with intelligence gathering where possible, assist the elections commissions with logistical needs if the need arises but should not and must not go beyond that. Have we quickly forgotten that a gun is not something we toy with? What if there are a few accidental discharges of weapons on that day? What if a friendly fire ensues? How do you justify the unnecessary trauma that may be reawakened if our people see the military guys parading with guns, bombs and tanks on elections day ?Have we quickly forgotten that we are still trying to do away with the scars of war? I am sure Sulaiman himself would prefer to buy a football for his child to play with as toy order than an AK-47 toy gun.
Yes, Momodu, there are better options. I’d rather prefer we got the leaders of these political parties to come out clean and commit themselves to a violence- free election. Let them eschew violence publicly and this should be backed by their individual efforts in reaching out to the oppositions.
Let Ernest Koroma, Vice President Solomon Berewa and Charles Margai put the interest of the nations first and rule out the possibility of this being a do or die affair; let them use the opportunity that the presidential debate affords to set the brightest of examples that afterwards, there is going to be one winner and that all of them have the interest of the nation at heart. Sulaiman, let journalists be responsible in their reportage, they must ensure that they publish stories that don’t spark tension and is it true that some radio stations have embarked on preaching ‘hate messages?’
Yet, time is still in our favour to change things drastically for the better and in a peaceful fashion but for the military to come in with a strong show of force, I beg to differ Sulaiman.
Photo credit: Awareness Times.
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