S/Leone presidential run-off: A dilemma for the National Grand Coalition
The presidential candidate of the National Grand Coalition, Kandeh Yumkella, recently announced that the party is engaged in consultations with its supporters on the position it should adopt for the presidential run-off election scheduled for March 27. If the results released by the National Electoral Commission are credible, the NGC posted a distant third, scoring […]
The presidential candidate of the National Grand Coalition, Kandeh Yumkella, recently announced that the party is engaged in consultations with its supporters on the position it should adopt for the presidential run-off election scheduled for March 27. If the results released by the National Electoral Commission are credible, the NGC posted a distant third, scoring 6.9% of the votes in the first round of elections.
Should the NGC endorse any of the two run-off parties, the All People’s Congress (APC) and the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP)? Or should it concentrate on building its young party and leave the choice to its voters when they cast their ballots on March 27? Any decision the party takes will not be risk-free and is likely to offend some of its voters, who are a very heterogeneous group.
APC versus SLPP: Is there a lesser evil?
Throughout the campaign, the NGC tagged the two run-off parties as outfits that have passed their sell-by dates-two sides of the same coin that has been flipped repeatedly for 56 years but producing the same results of bad governance, ethnocentrism, limited and truncated services, a weak and undiversified economy, poor living conditions, limited job opportunities and corruption. Should the NGC now choose between these two parties, which it has branded as unproductive and divisive?
Some argue that politics is about compromises and that the NGC cannot afford to stay on the side-lines as one of the parties is a ‘lesser evil’ than the other in the current political juncture. Those who make this argument identify the APC as a greater enemy to the NGC and the nation than the SLPP. From ‘a change at all cost’ perspective, a good case can be made that the NGC should not even consider endorsing the APC. The main issue should be whether an NGC endorsement of the SLPP will advance the NGC’s interests. The arguments can be summarised in five ways. The first is that the APC has been nasty to the NGC-it was very determined to disqualify Yumkella from the presidential race by challenging his citizenship rights, with the case still pending at the Supreme Court. Second, as an incumbent party, the APC is primarily responsible for most of the problems the NGC seeks to correct–corruption, nepotism, lack of justice, a blighted economy, poor services and deteriorating living conditions.
Third, Samura Kamara, the APC’s candidate, is likely to be President Koroma’s puppet since he was chosen by the former; Koroma retains the title of Chairman and Leader of the party and can end Kamara’s presidency by causing his expulsion from the party if he wins. Sierra Leoneans cannot afford to go through this constitutional crisis, which the SLPP has promised to fix by accepting the recommendations of the Constitutional Review Committee. Fourth, the APC has become too complacent, arrogant and indifferent to public demands after more than 10 years in power. This necessitates a change of government in order to move the country forward. If the NGC accepts these arguments as a basis for endorsing the SLPP, it will be rejecting its characterisation of the SLPP as unreformable or the flip side of the APC. Indeed, a fifth argument of those who want an endorsement of the SLPP is that Sierra Leone’s two party system is unlikely to change any time soon; so it is better for the NGC to enter into an alliance with the SLPP and influence its policies from within. Angling for jobs, resources and influence seems to be the motivating factor for many of those who advance this argument. And since the NGC grew out of the SLPP, there seems to be many within the NGC who want to return to the SLPP and enjoy the benefits of government.
Others take a different view. They argue that the SLPP is not very different from the APC. There are five equally compelling arguments that make the case for endorsing Julius Maada Bio and the SLPP problematic. The first is that it will confirm one of the APC’s campaign slogans that the NGC is an extension or Part II of the SLPP, which was created primarily to get the APC out of power. The second is that Bio’s faction that has taken over the SLPP was equally nasty to Yumkella and hounded him out of the SLPP during the struggle to determine the party’s standard bearer. And the SLPP adopted a very opportunistic posture when the APC was witch-hunting Yumkella by refusing to condemn the practice. In other words, both parties wanted Yumkella out of the race. Third, the APC is the mirror image of the SLPP in terms of the authoritarian way both parties are governed. Bio’s paopa faction, like Ernest Koroma in the APC, reigns supreme. It has used unsavoury and undemocratic practices to exclude competitors, and only accepts elections that it wins.
Fourth, Ahmad Tejan-Kabbah’s SLPP government and Bio’s NPRC were highly corrupt. During the presidential debate, the APC’s Samura Kamara, who was Financial Secretary under the NPRC, revealed that $18 million were illegally withdrawn from the treasury, for which Bio provided no rebuttal. Ex-president Kabbah also made serious corruption allegations against Bio in 1996. And fifth, the SLPP is just as ethno-regional as the APC. Indeed, the SLPP encouraged ethnic block voting in the six Mende-speaking districts where it scored 83% of the votes; the NGC could only manage 2%–its lowest in the country. Those who make these arguments believe that an NGC endorsement of the SLPP will be business as usual, with politicians angling for jobs and resources-in other words, it will not usher in a new kind of politics.
The limits of endorsement
The NGC campaigned on a change message with three important dimensions. The first is its articulation of a new type of politics, which rejected ethno-regionalism as the organising framework for winning elections and governing the state. The second is its commitment to a governance system that is not beholden to patronage and corruption, and which is grounded in transparency, justice and inclusion. And the third is its quest to create a jobs-generating and diversified economy, as well as improved services for everyone.
During the campaign, it was not always easy to differentiate most of the main parties on these three issues. But the NGC’s advantage in advancing trans-ethnic politics was evident in its lack of an ethno-regional base in contesting the March 7 elections. While the other parties shared the NGC’s vision on control of corruption, justice, job-creation, a diversified economy and service provision, it was clear that only the NGC’s leader, Yumkella, understood these issues very well and could discuss them with honesty, commitment and passion.
To be continued…
Mr. Bangura wrote this piece from Nyon, Switzerland. He could be reached at [email protected]