Sierra Leone would be in uncontrollable flames by now. Still, it was the decisive and timely intervention of the foreign partners, especially the foreign embassies in Freetown, that prevented an upheaval that would have surpassed even the eleven years of bloody war. (Photo: Visit of US diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield, 2nd right, as Dr Samura Kamara, UN Rep Seraphine Wakana, sellout Kaifala Marah, Bryan Hunt look on).

In response to the positive role of the global partners in resolving the electoral impasse, the 2023 Sierra Leone voters waited with bated patience, believing and hoping that the diplomats would be able to usher in the people’s mandate of the 2023 elections in the end.

Gradually, today, the 2023 voters are seeing success on the horizon, despite the untold suffering the majority of Sierra Leoneans are experiencing under the despotic and uncaring SLPP regime of the illegal President and cocaine leader Julius Maada Bio.

Special commendations must go to the foreign embassies in Freetown, especially in recognition of their invaluable role in the 2023 dialogue that gave birth to the Agreement of National Unity and, by extension, the resurgent 84 plus 1 Tripartite Recommendations.

Of course, many Sierra Leoneans still feel the international community is too slow in making sure the 2023 election results are realised by removing the illegal President Maada Bio, who did not win the elections but used Kamajor force to plant himself at State House. (Photos: Former EU boss Manuel Muller. And EU Ambassador Jacek Jankowski and Maada Bio).

For the enlightened, they are aware that diplomacy often takes time to solve problems, a bureaucracy that makes many observers impatient. Today, many Sierra Leoneans are understandably impatient as the delay continues to inflict more hardship daily.

However, it is frankly necessary to remind the doubters in the international community to remember the pivotal role played and continues to be played by the international moral guarantors, especially the foreign embassies and institutions in Freetown.

After the Bio regime and his collaborators in the APC leadership and other key internal stakeholders decided to steal the 2023 elections from the real winner, Dr Samura Kamara, it was the international partners that stepped in to say no to electoral fraud.

They immediately imposed economic and financial embargoes and sanctions on the fraudulent SLPP regime, a move that completely detonated and punctured the Bio regime to this day. The MCC cash was blocked. The World Bank, IMF, etc., stopped funding Bio.

The sanctions started biting the SLPP regime so much that it rendered it bankrupt, completely broke. The unbearable economic situation that ensued forced the Bio regime to resort to the production, distribution and sale of illicit and dangerous drugs to raise funds. (Photos: Former Commonwealth boss Patricia Scotland watched Dr Samura and Maada. And a Spanish ship that seized Bio’s drugs).

Today, everyone is seeing the nakedness of Maada Bio and his evil accomplices, who have been caught pants down smuggling cocaine and other dangerous drugs into West Africa and even beyond into Europe. Bio relies 100% on drug money to run his depleted regime.

There is no doubt that the embargo imposed by the international community has bitten the Bio regime into smithereens, an international embarrassment that saw Dutch drug barons like Jos Leijdekker, Maada Bio’s son-in-law, coming to the scene to play a central role.

Despite the imposition of other key sanctions such as travel and visa bans, the global partners are still subsidising vital projects in the medical and basic areas essential for the people. The cash is given to foreign NGOs to execute and not directly to the Bio regime.

They also financially sponsored the tripartite investigations from day one up to now, led by the United Nations, the European Union, the Commonwealth, the Irish Embassy, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Nigeria, Ghana, and so on.

Most importantly, the international community rightly refused to congratulate the illegal President Maada Bio post 2023 elections. They went on to refuse to recognise the legality of the Bio regime. These two significant snubs are enough to say ‘Thank you’ to the global partners.

Moreover, the timely protection given to the people’s choice, Dr Samura Kamara, by the embassies in Freetown was a trump card that saved the day. Everyone knows that the Bio regime wanted to assassinate Dr Samura Kamara many times. (Photos: Aja Fatoumatta and others. And UNOWAS Chief Dr Leonardo Santos-Simao).

The last attempt to eliminate the president-elect, Dr Samura Kamara, was when Maada Bio sent his Kamajor militias in police and military uniforms to surround his two premises in Freetown. The foreign envoys knew it was the right time to protect Dr Samura Kamara. Thank you.

It is understandable why certain quarters are sceptical of the slowness of the political transition, especially the double standard and deceptive role played by ECOWAS and the Gambian diplomat Aja Fatoumatta Jallow-Tambajang to reverse democracy in Sierra Leone.

Nevertheless, the diplomatic circle is generally doing a fantastic job standing by the people and defending the restoration. It is important to note that the international community is working 24/7 to make sure the people’s votes in the 2023 elections are realised.

The global partners are not perfect, but realistically, had it not been for their intervention, where would Sierra Leone be by now? There would have been no definitive hope for the restoration of democracy. But today, the citizens are seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

It is plausible to give deserved praise to our foreign friends who have stood and continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people to remove the virus among our midst so that democracy can be restored. But it takes time, and patience is needed now. Thank you.

As the people give deserving medals to the foreign partners, Sierra Leoneans are also appealing to them to hasten the political transition of power without delay, as the swearing-in of the president-elect, Dr Samura Kamara, is the only solution to solve the country’s woes.