Global Policy Forum

Weeks after the May 14 presidential and legislative elections, people continue to make disturbing references to the pattern of voting across the country, and there seems to be a visible, but subdued fear among a section of the civil populace.

Of course, having gone through a terrible period in their lives, the people have every reason to be apprehensive. But the context in which these fears were being expressed is a cause for concern.

Firstly, concerns are generally being expressed over the special voting, a large chunk of which went to retired Lt. Col. Johnny Paul Koroma and his Peace and Liberation Party. There are those who think the issue must be down played, and people should not raise dust over it. After all, every one has the unquestionable right to vote for the candidate or party of his/her choice, and that the special vote was not meant for members of the forces alone.

But another more sensitive group of Sierra Leoneans thinks otherwise. For them the overwhelming vote that went to former junta leader from the special vote is an indictment on the Kabbah administration and a threat to our budding democracy. The issue therefore must not be rushed under the carpet.

Other members of the public have divergent views on the mater. Some saw the vote for Johnny Paul Koroma as a protest against the senior hierarchy in the army.

Indications are that the rank and file do not seem to be satisfied with the way and manner their supervisors handle their affairs. And when that happens the disgruntled soldiers can go any length to destroy the image of both the army as an institution and their commanders.

A clear example is the recent attempt to damage the image and credibility of the Chief of Defence Staff.

Rumour had circulated that Tom Carew had chopped money given to the soldiers by the National Electoral Commission for their role in the elections. The rumour even went further to say that Tom Carew had been placed under mess arrest.

When the press investigated, it found out that it was all lies, and that the soldiers in fact circulated the rumour. All these incidents (call it mischief making) are symptoms of disaffection among the rank and file in the military.

Other political analysts this writer spoke to said they were the least surprised by the manner the forces voted. According to these analysts a large number of the soldiers have remained disloyal to the Kabbah government ever since the May 25th 1997 coup d'etat of Johnny Paul.

What good can you expect from a bunch of soldiers, the analysts argue, that took up arms to overthrow a legitimate government and preside over the affairs of the State in the most terrible manner for nine agonizing months, a period most historians have recorded as the darkest in the life of this nation?

And when such disloyal soldiers were bulldozed out of power by the might of ECOMOG, they took to the bush and unleashed another round of terror on the masses.

So, one cannot expect such a group of people to vote for the return of a democratic government that fiercely resisted the spread of AFRC madness on the populace.

Even years after their rehabilitation through the help of the British and UNAMSIL, such soldiers will remain disloyal, the analysts opined.

Now President Kabbah has been all over the place to sort of appease the soldiers and find out what really is the matter with the army. But long before he took the tour of army positions in the country, some members of the public had recommended some solutions following the outcome of the May 14th elections.

That either the Kabbah administration set up a commission of enquiry to investigate the cause for the shift of loyalty, or take the drastic step to purge the army of disgruntled and/or disloyal elements.

This may be too hard for Kabbah to do, given his ambivalent approach to military matters. Beyond this demonstrated betrayal of confidence reposed in an army that was supposed to have been reformed, there is another interpretation given to the pattern of voting following the outcome of the recent polls.

There are those who interpreted the results to mean a marked ethnic division across the country. That is, the South and East voted massively for the SLPP because it is a Mende ethnic party and voted little for parties that have Northern affiliations. Similarly, the North voted largely for the APC, said to be dominated by Temnes and Limbas.

This type of voting is bound to divide the country on ethnic lines, one school of thought seems to suggest.

But many others do not wholly agree with such a claim. They argue that the just ended election did not indicate any ethnic divide, but rather a total rejection of certain political parties and their polices.

It is true that the composition of some political parties that contested the last elections had no strong regional or tribal balance. Take the APC, for example, where all the top contenders for the leadership of the party were from the same ethnic group. Take also the case of PLP, also dominated by one ethnic group.

This writer's contention is that the APC or PLP secured less votes in certain parts of the country not merely because of their ethnic character, but because these parties have image problems.

The APC's past record is nothing to write home about. If they are wise enough the party should now embark on an image cleansing exercise against the 2007 elections.

Also, if voting was on tribal lines, then Johnny Paul Koroma could not have scored the number in votes in a Mende heartland of the South and East. Neither would the SLPP, regarded as a Mende Party secure significant votes in a Temne strenghold of Port Loko and Tonkolili districts.

The fact of the matter is that most of these parties have image problems. The RUFP has an image problem. Other parties such as the UNPP and PDP fell from grace not because of tribal or regional consideration but that their popularity had waned largely due to the dying personalities of their leaders.

So, rather than saying the election results reveal an ethnic division, we must be honest enough to see that some of the parties had image problems long before the elections, and until they can redeem their shattered image, there is no way they will win votes from a more politically sensitive and concerned electorates.

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