The silent majority in Sierra Leone would not tolerate any outcome from the impending dialogue other than the immediate implementation of the peoples’ mandate of the June 24, 2023, general and presidential elections. “If the illegitimate SLPP regime of Julius Maada Bio is allowed a second term, may God forbid, there will be a devastating uprising far surpassing the eleven years of bloody civil war in the nineties. We will fight until victory is won. Only the restoration of the peoples’ mandate would stop a new upheaval,” citizens have warned. Most Sierra Leoneans are still visibly disappointed in the public thievery of the people’s votes that occurred on the June 24 elections by Maada Bio and his criminal SLPP cohorts. (Photo: Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland flanked by Dr Samura Kamara and Maada Bio, right).

“This is unacceptable,” citizens added. As for the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone ECSL, chaired by the corrupt Mohamed Kenewui Konneh, the voters are also fed up with the snail-paced attitude to restore democracy without delay. As the mediation commences between the main opposition APC party led by Dr Samura Kamara and the incumbent SLPP regime of Maada Bio, the ball is firmly in the court of the Mediating Team to make sure that democracy rather than dictatorship is implemented as soon as possible. The people are only interested in three things. First, the ECSL must make available the actual disaggregated results by districts as demanded by the international community and the main opposition APC party.

Secondly, if the stubborn ECSL fails to release the disaggregated data, then the Mediating Team has another alternative to inform the parties concerned that a re-run of the elections will take place as soon as possible. Thirdly, the real winner Dr Samura Kamara of the APC party must be declared victorious, nothing more and nothing less. The second and the third options are very popular among Sierra Leoneans who think that democracy must be upheld by any means necessary. If these popular demands are implemented, it would prevent a new uprising in Sierra Leone that would definitely threaten the peace and security in the country and the West African sub-region. (Photo: EU and others have serious concerns with transparency and accountability in the June elections).

Live coverage of the Dialogue on national television is also demanded by the people for transparency. Sierra Leone is officially the most unhappy and hungriest nation today in the world. Researchers made by renowned international organisations have come to these hurtful conclusions. On the ground, one could clearly see hunger, starvation, sickness, hopelessness, insecurity, lack of civil liberties, arbitrary arrests and detentions, extrajudicial killings of selected citizens based on tribes and partisanship, a bleak future, and other vices. All these problems are the creation of the SLPP regime led by Maada Bio since April 4, 2018, when he succeeded President Ernest Bai Koroma of the APC party. Yet, Maada Bio had the nerve to stand in front of the whole world at the United Nations General Assembly UNGA in New York on September 20, 2023, to lie that everything is bright and beautiful in Sierra Leone.

The shameless Maada Bio said employment is at a record high in Sierra Leone; that Food Security has been actualised: that medical facilities have been actualised: And that democracy, freedom, and justice have been achieved. All these are blatant lies. Many other misleading statements were made by Maada Bio, much to the chagrin of Sierra Leoneans in and outside the country. Even international partners who knew what was happening inside Sierra Leone were shocked to hear the illegal President Bio speak like that. Total lies told, rather than saying the truth that Sierra Leone is suffering and that the country needs urgent assistance to alleviate the ailing socio-economic situation among others. Maada Bio’s bluff at the UN clearly shows that he wants the majority of Sierra Leoneans to continue to suffer. Only the restoration of democracy by the Mediating Team would alleviate the hardship in Sierra Leone, otherwise, war is coming.