By Ragan M. Conteh
Over the possible re-run of the 2023 general elections after the resolution from the Tripartite Committee, the All People’s Congress (APC) stalwarts and the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) continue to confuse one another and the public.
Some of the APC and SLPP stalwarts have almost lost hope for the possibility of a re-run of the elections in the coming months.
The Minister of Information, Chernor Bah, has informed Member of the Public that there will be no re-run of elections in Sierra Leone.
He said the Tripartite Committee will not even discuss a re-run but rather only seeks to know how electoral system can be strengthened for future elections.
He said the government is working and Julius Maada Bio is the President of Sierra Leone and he will serve till 2028.
And in that year another general election will be held, paving a path for a democratic transition.
In a similar doubtful moment, APC’s former presidential Spokesman, Mr Abdulai Baraytay, has lambasted his party politicians to stop lying to their gullible supporters that there’s going to be a re-run of the 2023 elections in six months.
Making his submission from Canada, Abdulai Baraytay, was discussing the burning issues currently affecting Sierra Leone including but not limited to, the on-going court martial trials and the tripartite negotiations between the APC and SLPP, and the international community.
Baraytay said, it’s disingenuous for politicians in the APC party to be going about fooling their supporters with the false narrative that there is going to be a re-run of the 2023 presidential election.
He said the purpose of the $1.5 Million given to the country by the US government has nothing to do with the re-run elections but will be used to look into the various reports coming out from the EU and NEW’s data, to look into the recommendations that [ tripartite committee] they’ve made and how will the country come together to stabilize the situation.
If the country will future elections, he said it has nothing to do with 2023 elections.
Meanwhile, most APC party supporters have little or no confidence in the participation of the party in the tripartite negotiations.
Other politicians have intimated this medium that if there are no re-run elections, a bad precedent then, has been set and any political party, in the future, may comfortably rig any elections and will go scot-free.
Many people say they look forward to hearing the recommendations of the tripartite committee.
The currently Committee would look into elections reports from the EU, NEW, NEC etc, concerning the 2023 elections.
“If rigged elections results are not properly investigated and nullified and a re-run is not allowed, Sierra Leoneans must be willingly ready to accept the one party state the SLPP is planning for” they said.
Meanwhile, both international and local observers continue to discredit the 2023 general elections’ result that declared president Bio the winner, and observers still call for a probe into it.
The Tripartite Committee will soon answer the many questions on either a re-run is expected or otherwise.