SLPP’s double-speak is dangerous and undermines trust in Sierra Leone

Critics say the SLPP’s stance on external electoral oversight contradicts its public pro-democracy message, deepening worries over credibility and stability.

SLPP’S DOUBLE SPEAK IS DANGEROUS AND UNDERMINES PUBLIC TRUST, PEACE AND STABILITY IN SIERRA LEONE By Kabs Kanu The ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party is once again demonstrating the kind of political hypocrisy and double-speaking that has become one of the gravest threats to peace, stability and democratic credibility in Sierra Leone.. On one hand, the SLPP Chairman Batilo Songa reportedly vows that the party will not accept the recommendation of the international moral guarantors

for the creation of an external supervisory mechanism to monitor the deeply discredited Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone.. Yet this recommendation was part of the April agreement signed by both the SLPP and the opposition All People’s Congress under the watch of respected international partners.. On the other hand, Vice-President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh stood before the ECOWAS Judicial Council preaching lofty democratic principles, declaring that every citizen must exercise the right to vote without fear

and stressing that judicial cooperation is necessary to uphold the rule of law and ensure stability across West Africa.. This contradiction is glaring and it deeply disturbs every citizen of Sierra Leone .. It is dangerous and disturbing because what the SLPP tells the international community from prestigious podiums is completely different from what the party says and plans to do at home.. Before foreign dignitaries, they speak the language of democracy, transparency and rule

of law.. Back in Sierra Leone, however, their actions and pronouncements increasingly suggest resistance to accountability, resistance to electoral transparency and resistance to independent oversight.. This is wrong.. This behavior is precisely why many Sierra Leoneans now fear that the SLPP is attempting to fool both the nation and the international community.. The crisis facing Sierra Leone today is not merely political.. It is a crisis of credibility created by the SLPP who do not

seem ready to conduct any free, fair and credible elections in Sierra Leone.. Citizens are worried.. Investors are worried .. The international community is worried .. A government cannot continuously ask citizens and international partners to trust the electoral process while simultaneously rejecting mechanisms designed to restore confidence in that very process.. Such conduct sends a dangerous message that the ruling party fears accountability, transparency and scrutiny and prefers dictatorial control over transparency.. If the

SLPP truly believes in free, fair and peaceful elections, why fear external supervisory mechanisms?. Why sign agreements before international guarantors only to repudiate them later through party officials?. Why tell the world one thing while practicing another at home?. This dangerous inconsistency is poisoning the political atmosphere and creating a toxic nation too dangerous for peace because more than half of the nation wants the SLPP voted out in 2028.. Sierra Leone remains fragile.. The

wounds and controversies arising from the disputed 2023 elections have not healed.. Citizens remain polarized.. Public confidence in state institutions is dangerously low.. The SLPP has failed the nation.. Life has become very brutishly dangerous and short.. How Sierra Leoneans manage to survive is a mystery.. In such a climate, reckless political double-talk is not only irresponsible ; it is potentially explosive and could cause another war in Sierra Leone .. Peace and stability cannot

survive where trust has collapsed and citizens fear that the SLPP government does not want to conduct any democratic election.. The international moral guarantors did not emerge from nowhere.. Their involvement became necessary because Sierra Leone’s democratic institutions, especially the ECSL, suffered a severe crisis of public confidence after the last elections.. Rejecting external supervision now only deepens suspicion and further erodes faith in the electoral process.. The SLPP must understand that democracy is not

sustained by speeches abroad.. Democracy is sustained by conduct at home.. If the government genuinely desires peace, national cohesion and stability, it must stop the double-speaking immediately.. Sierra Leoneans deserve honesty.. They deserve consistency.. They deserve leaders whose actions match their promises.. Anything less will continue to inflame tensions, undermine national unity and endanger the fragile peace of our nation.

SLPP double-speak, Sierra Leone elections, external electoral oversight, Electoral Commission ECSL, ECOWAS Judicial Council, political credibility, public trust