CoPPP Write International Community

 COPPP LETTER TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY.

THE PROVISIONAL RESULTS OF THE 2021 MID-TERM POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS AND OTHER MATTERS

An appeal to the Diplomatic Community in Sierra Leone for Urgent Intervention

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I write on behalf of the Consortium of Progressive Political Parties (CoPPP), a platform created by thirteen opposition parties in Sierra Leone that are committed to defending democracy, opposing, rejecting, and condemning bad governance, all violations of the Rule of Law, and of the rights of their fellow citizens by using democratic and lawful means.

We wish to recognize the tremendous role that foreign diplomatic missions and other international agencies have been playing for over decades now in maintaining the peace and security of a once broken nation through your robust support of the ongoing process of democratization and development in Sierra Leone. We also hope that our collective efforts as opposition parties in the past four years to remain peaceful and ensure the stability of the State have not gone unnoticed.

In spite of some very extremely challenging circumstances created by an increasingly repressive regime that continues to restrict the democratic space and crush the opposition using a variety of devices, opposition parties have tried to leverage the full complement of democratic channels to engage Government on critical issues of national importance. However, emboldened by the traditional support of partners to the country which they erroneously consider as an endorsement of governance, the ruling Government continues to pursue bad policies and plans with the sole purpose of consolidating their hold on power without any regard for the welfare of the citizens.

We approach you today to inform you that our constituencies which account for an excess of fifty percent of the population outrightly reject the provisional results of the 2021 Mid-Term Population and Housing census because they give a picture of the demography of our country that is completely false due to a multiplicity of factors such as a suspicious objective, a flawed, non-inclusive process and field operations that were marred by technical, financial and operational blunders. Details of these factors are supplied in supplementary documentation.

We deplore the plans by the Government to use the skewed figures of the census to carve out electoral boundaries and obtain undue advantage for the ruling party over the opposition in the 2023 general elections. The insistence of the Government to use these results to their electoral advantage may be considered as a threat to security in this country and we maintain that there is a need for a genuine conversation on a way out and not a way forward.

We, therefore, request the intervention of the International Community in this matter particularly as this is also a developmental issue with national security implications. It will indeed be a major setback to all the efforts and investments that have been contributed to rebuilding our nation, for the census results to be used to erode confidence among the people and transform the forthcoming general elections into a source of national conflict. A stitch in time, as they say, saves nine.

We value your work and hope that you will do all in your power to encourage the Government to consider the bigger picture and avoid decisions, especially at this time that may lead to instability and unrest.

One very worrying development today is the proliferation of audio and text messages that are openly tribalistic and hateful on the social media posted by Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad who in some cases seem to be beating drums of war. Even during the darkest days of our history when a civil war was prosecuted in Sierra Leone, the conflict was never of an ethnic nature. It is a symptom of failures in governance that some citizens are today being driven to regard themselves not as Sierra Leoneans but as members of an ethnic group that feels their identity or even existence is under threat. Sierra Leoneans have earned great admiration from the world as a resilient nation with excellent democratic credentials having twice peacefully transferred power from Government to opposition even after a decade-long brutal conflict and having fought together and survived at least two major pandemics. We cannot afford to descend now into the unknown waters of ethnic conflict.

We, therefore, call on diplomatic missions to intervene in a timely manner so that, rather than exacerbate the rising tensions, Government works in collaboration with the opposition and genuine civil society organizations to de-escalate the grave situation. One way to achieve this would be for Government, in the remaining months before the general elections, to avoid initiating controversial issues and introducing divisive laws that can only cause disquiet and insecurity in the country. The government’s plan to introduce the Proportional system of Representation is very untimely. The arguments in favour and against this system are so complex that there is a need for much debate not only in Parliament but by the wider public. This will obviously take time and it will be unfair for the people of Sierra Leone to be forced to decide on such a delicate matter so soon before a general election.

Finally, as members of the opposition, we are alarmed at the increasing number of human rights abuses committed by the Sierra Leone Police Force against ordinary citizens and opposition leaders. The frequent arrests, detention, and inhuman treatment of people in their custody have all combined to create strong anti-police sentiments among the general public and a perception of the force as a tool of oppression in a shrinking democratic space. It is even more disturbing to note that some new militarized groups that have recently been created appear to be pro-Government militia being mainstreamed into the security system for operations during the forthcoming elections. If these go unchecked, they will obviously be a recipe for conflict.

We wish to use this opportunity to thank you once again for your continued support and solidarity with the people of Sierra Leone, and particularly for your efforts in supporting democracy and the rule of law in our country. While we recognize that there are limits to your involvement in national issues, we are also certain that you would do all in your power to protect the considerable investment you have made in the peace and stability of this country. Your intervention at this critical point in time may well save Sierra Leone from disaster.  

Chairperson (CoPPP)