DEMOCRACY DEAD?
By Ibrahim Alusine Kamara (Kamalo)
In June 2023, Sierra Leone held its general elections, an event meant to mark the strength of democracy in a nation still rebuilding its political institutions. But instead of progress, what unfolded has left deep scars on the conscience of a people whose hope in the democratic process now hangs by a thread.
Before the tallying process was completed, the incumbent president, Julius Maada Bio, declared victory. It was a move that stunned many observers both at home and abroad. Independent electoral missions, including those from internationally recognized bodies, flagged severe irregularities. Their reports cited a troubling absence of transparency, manipulation of results, and the marginalization of established electoral norms. Their damning conclusions were that the results were not credible.
The opposition presidential candidate, widely believed to have secured victory, outright rejected the outcome. He called it what many feared it was, a manipulated election designed to retain power at all costs, in defiance of the democratic will of the people.
But perhaps what is more alarming than the alleged theft of the people’s voice is the silence that followed. The international community, often quick to respond to electoral misconduct in emerging democracies, watched with restraint. Statements were made. Concerns were raised. But no decisive action followed. The same global partners who champion democratic principles seemed reluctant to confront the betrayal of those principles in Sierra Leone. The United States, through its Department of State, had promised to hold those accountable for undermining democracy. Yet to this day, no meaningful action has been seen.
Meanwhile, President Bio remains firmly in office. His grip on power is intact. He continues to declare, openly and without apology, that he will do everything possible to keep his party in power beyond 2028. For a people who witnessed what they believe was an electoral heist in 2023, such statements are not just provocative, they are incendiary.
Today, Sierra Leone is drifting once again toward a dangerous precipice. The failure to hold perpetrators of electoral misconduct accountable has normalized impunity, where those in power feel no obligation to respect the will of the people. The trust once placed in democratic institutions, and the global community as moral guarantors, is deteriorating. Citizens now question whether democracy, as promised, is still real. And as tensions simmer quietly beneath the surface, many fear that unresolved political grievances could erupt into conflict, as they have in times past.
Sierra Leone cannot afford another descent into chaos. The wounds of its civil war are still fresh in the memories of its people. The cost of political violence is too high, and the pain too deep. Yet history has shown that when people lose faith in peaceful change, they begin to seek it by other means.
This is a moment of reckoning, not only for Sierra Leone, but for the international community as well. If democracy is to survive in this small West African nation, then the silence must end. Impunity must not be allowed to reign. Those who undermined the 2023 electoral process must be held accountable, not just in words, but in actions.
Sierra Leoneans deserve more than rhetorical support. They deserve a system where elections mean something, where power is won and lost at the ballot box, not behind closed doors. They deserve to believe that their vote matters, that their voice counts, and that the world stands with them when those principles are violated.
As the country inches closer to another electoral cycle, the question is no longer whether the 2023 election was flawed, it is whether democracy still lives in Sierra Leone. And whether those with the power to protect it will finally choose to do so.
The international community’s inaction in response to Sierra Leone’s democratic crisis is striking. This seems to have emboldened President Bio to make those public vows of maintaining his party’s grip on power beyond the next national polls. With this, the road to 2028 is already being paved with troubling rhetoric and subtle threats. A vow to “do all it takes” to retain power for one’s party casts a long, dark shadow over the future of free and fair elections in Sierra Leone.
For many, President Bio’s words are not just political bravado – they are a warning! A warning that the machinery of state may once again be weaponized to subvert the popular will. A warning that institutions meant to safeguard democracy may once more be compromised. And a warning that the voices of the people, already suppressed and ignored, may soon be silenced altogether – another looming democratic breakdown!
If the international community fails to act, it risks becoming complicit in a future democratic crisis. Sierra Leone does not need more broken promises. It needs assurance that justice is not selective, and that democracy is not just a slogan, but a right that must be defended, even when it is inconvenient, and even if heaven falls!