The Tripartite Committee: Communication Breakdown and Political Tensions in Sierra Leone
Write-Up by Hon. IB Kargbo
The activities of the much-trumpeted
Tripartite Committee are coming to an end amid misinformation and
confusion.
The deliberate efforts by
the committee to exclude the media from the hearings give the ugly impression
that the tripartite is a secret ‘Bondo bush’ affair as members of the public
remain in the dark. It is exactly because the Tripartite Committee itself does
not talk to the people, leading to the dangerous notion whereby the two
political parties, the APC and the SLPP, have decided that each party is at
liberty to draw its own conclusion as to what the tripartite is all about.
The majority of the APC
followership, which continues to hold the belief that the June 24 elections
were rigged, insists that the tripartite committee should recommend a rerun of
the elections. The implications of such an assertion have not yet been
explained.
The SLPP, which is in
power and which happens to be the main beneficiary of the June 24 elections,
insists that the elections are over and done with, an affirmation that angers
the youths of the APC.
If on the other hand, the
SLPP holds on its belief suggesting that Maada Bio won the June 2023 elections,
then there is no need for mediation.
The use of the word
mediation is deliberate because, in such a standoff that has witnessed the two
main political parties not Seeing eye to eye, the future of Sierra can only be
described as bleak. Reconciling the APC and SLPP does not merely suggest an
effort to make the parties exhibit a better sense of patriotism; but also, in a
country where the two political parties have grown over the years based on
tribal and regional lines, the Tripartite Committee should not ignore this
fact- the ethnic differences.
The most impatient people
in these whole tripartite discussions are the youths, mostly APC and SLPP
supporters who have used social media to hijack the leadership roles of their
two parties.
The APC leadership, for
example, is at the mercy of their social media bloggers, the APC and SLPP
information secretariats exist only in name as the SLPP and APC bloggers have
taken over the business of informing the public about sometimes very delicate
political matters and this is not good for our democracy.
The situation is not
helped by the activities of the extremely talkative American Ambassador to
Sierra Leone who has found fun in preempting the outcome of the tripartite
findings as his utterances continue to create tension within the political
houses.
The brewing political
tension in the country is as a result of the fact that the expectations of the
APC party supporters have not been managed by the APC leadership just as the
Tripartite Committee has not been able to talk to the people, to explain to the
populace about the deliberation of the committee which would have been a
beginning point of managing the expectations of the public.
The disastrous
possibility is that the Tripartite Committee will end its sittings on the sad
note that the APC and the SLPP would continue to hold the same original
position as they held before the committee was set up, which is also not good
for national peace and security. If the APC returns to square one, it would
easily mean that the APC would continue to hold the view that Dr. Samura Kamara
did not lose the elections.
The absence of any
knowledge as to how the Tripartite is going about its business and the whole
business of its operations has been reduced to a monologue as the Tripartite
Committee talks only to itself, leaving out the populace in such a very
critical matter affecting the general populace and the future of Sierra Leone.
The American Ambassador,
who has crowned himself as an expert who would babysit the people of Sierra
Leone and in the process educate the ‘natives’ as to what democracy entails,
should not forget that there are very experienced citizens of Sierra Leone who
have played major global roles of mediation in solving the problems of other
countries.
We should remember that
Sierra Leone, in the days of Siaka Stevens, settled the dispute between Sudan
and Ethiopia; and the Foreign Minister at the time, Abdulai Conteh, is still
alive.
The same Dr. Abdulai
Conteh was Foreign Minister of Sierra Leone when the dispute between Chad and
Libya was resolved at an OAU meeting.
The Ivory Coast political
crisis, after the election when Laurent Gbagbo hijacked power, was resolved by
ECOWAS with the Sierra Leone delegation
headed by Ernest Bai Koroma providing leadership.
In all of these examples
above, there were huge doses of excellent public relations to inform the public
about developments, preparing all parties for the outcome.
In the case of the Ivory
Coast crisis, Sierra Leone’s Information Minister was constantly on BBC, VOA,
and Radio France International.
The three Presidents of
Sierra Leone, Cape Verde, and Benin granted interviews to the public, and in the
end, when the decision to remove Laurent Gbagbo was taken, the public understood.
In the case of the Tripartite Committee, not only has the committee failed to
communicate with the public but the committee’s concept of stakeholders is also
most restrictive.
These are the elders who
possess the historical knowledge of their party and also play a mentorship
role.
The APC has elders, the SLPP has elders, the
Judiciary has elders, the journalist association has elders, the Labor Congress
has elders, yet the Tripartite Committee has simply decided to talk to
witnesses of their choice, leaving out the actual elders of either party.
True, the Tripartite
Committee would have been a good move to resolve the political problems in
Sierra Leone, but unfortunately, since the committee has decided to stay dumb,
both the APC and SLPP have now decided to interpret the Tripartite concept in
their own various ways, leaving more room for confusion and misunderstanding.
How many people wished
that the Tripartite Committee had communicated with the public on a
stage-by-stage basis.