03:12 GMT 8th November 2011
The SLPP quickly laid down a marker. On the campaign trail in the SLPP heartland of Bo in the Southern Province last month, Bio's supporters were reportedly attacked by stonethrowing APC supporters, injuring the new SLPP presidential candidate in the process. In retaliation, the APC's headquarters was razed to the ground. There have been heated arguments over who started the violence.
What was clear was that it was a veritable show of strength by the SLPP, which has always been on the receiving end of the APC's electoral venom over the years. The SLPP faithful are now saying that for once the party can match the APC's fire with fire. But is this what Sierra Leone wants after 10 years of a very savage civil war?
Bio himself had set the tone in his address to the nation. Although he said he eschewed political violence, he warned that the SLPP would not turn a blind eye to the APC's use of force in the upcoming election campaign. He first of all lambasted the APC for its 'shameful abuses of human rights' in the past, which he said were 'commonplace'
'These have been happening again and again since 2007 under the watch of the so-called new APC. The new APC has been severally accused of unabated vandalising, brutalising, intimidating and victimising of opposition supporters with deafening impunity,' Bio alleged.
'Against this backdrop, a question often asked is - if, like the old APC, the so-called new APC decides to lead the country in electoral violence in the run-up to 2012, should we in the SLPP follow suit? With respect, I say no. The strength of our party lies in our capacity, not in trading violence with the APC or any other party, but in upholding the sacred values for which our founding fathers had fought so hard and which today constitutes our cherished inheritance.
'Eschewing violence as an instrument of political change, however, should not be misunderstood or misconstrued as cowardice or timidity. We fear no party and we are ready to protect our supporters at all times,' he added.
The political furore that has attended the selection of Bio as the SLPP's candidate should not come as a surprise. There is no doubt that APC has been rattled by it because Koroma has remained equivocal about the inter-party violence that erupted last month there is bad blood between Bio and the party. As a brigadier in the Sierra Leonean army, he was one of the young Turks who overthrew the APC government in 1992.
Naturally, APC stalwarts are ready to do all they can to halt Bio's march to the presidency. They cannot abide a scenario in which the man who was part of the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) that ousted their government will have the chance to do so again in 2012 - this time, though, through the ballot box.
Indeed, last year there was talk of investigating controversial executions carried out during the period Sierra Leone was under NPRC. The matter was shelved, and the suspicion is that it could be revived in an attempt to forestall Bio's presidential ambitions. Although such a move now would not go down well among SLPP supporters, the APC has made great play of the executions and the NPRC era, with highly contentious newspaper reports that could only serve to inflame the situation.
This threat from the APC, naturally, has not been lost on the SLPP. They argue that although Bio was a member of the NPRC when the executions took place, he was not privy to the decision by senior members of the junta. In any case, the argument goes, the NPRC was recognised internationally as the de jure government in Sierra Leone and as such it could have acted within the law.
Bio is well prepared to deal with any such investigation. In his national address he said Sierra Leoneans welcomed the NPRC overwhelmingly after toppling 'the decade-andhalf long repressive and corrupt APC oneparty rule [which] was recognised by the entire international community'.
He pointed out that the NPRC 'has been held collectively responsible by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) for the extra-judicial executions of 26 persons during its administration. For my part, I had made it clear, in my testimony to the TRC, that I bear neither personal involvement nor personal responsibility for those executions nor was I in any position to prevent them from happening. I was neither the head nor the deputy head of the NPRC junta at the material time. I stand by that testimony'.
'Nevertheless, as a member of the former NPRC junta, I feel morally bound to express, on its behalf, deepest regret for the wrongs committed by the NPRC and to also express profound apology and sympathy to the families of the victims concerned. It is my sincere hope that we, as a nation, can now consign that regrettable incident to history and agree to move on.'
He also went on to say that he was responsible for returning Sierra Leone to civilian rule in 1996 when some of the NPRC's members were reluctant to do so. This, though, has been denied by some of his colleagues, especially Captain Valentine Strasser, who was head of the NPRC until he was replaced by Bio.
In all the debate, what is obvious is that Sierra Leoneans appear to have forgotten about the long years of a brutal civil war that was the direct outcome of political intolerance. Political leaders have been rather ambivalent when it comes to dealing with the issue of violence. President Ernest Koroma's reaction to APC strong-arm tactics have been non-committal and this has given the foot soldiers the impression that violence will be sanctioned when the campaign gets into full swing.
The problem facing both Bio and Koroma is that they could have their work cut out in trying to rein in their young supporters who tend to get restive during the husde and busde of the political campaign. Violence is always just beneath the surface when the paths of supporters of the SLPP and APC cross.
Last month, however, the four major parties came together to make a commitment to keeping the peace during and after the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections. This is a start and Sierra Leoneans are hoping that the parties will keep to their word.
If it is to achieved, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) itself has to create a level playing field, according to embittered SLPP supporters who are still smarting over the cancellation of votes in 477 polling stations mainly in SLPP strongholds during the 2007 elections. The SLPP claimed that this was responsible for the party losing the presidential election.
Bio brought this issue up in his national address. 'Despite strong protests, those cancellations were made to stand with the final result of the presidential election going against the SLPP. The Supreme Court is now seized of the litigation that that cancellation has engendered. Whatever the final verdict of the Court, we know its value would be essentially for the record,' he said.
But the party would not draw a line under the matter because the Electoral Commissioner, Christiana Thorpe 'is now asking for a new law to empower NEC to cancel ballots in future elections'. Bio went on: 'By inference she is admitting she didn't have that power when she cancelled the ballot of those 477 polling stations. Now, if she was not afraid to cancel when she didn't have the power, what if she is now given such a power? What safeguards do political parties have against the arbitrary use of such power?
'Perhaps it was time our international moral guarantors stepped in to ensure that any new rules for the electoral game are credible, fair and in consonance with universally accepted democratic principles and agreed to by all parties. Otherwise, NEC, as referee, will not enjoy the confidence of all the political players.'
Thorpe, on the other hand, explained that it was the Law Reform Committee spearheading changes in the legal framework for elections. Parliament was to have started discussing a draft document when it resumed last month. 'The NEC wants to consolidate all the laws relating to the electoral process into a single document which can act as a blueprint for all elections in Sierra Leone.' Thorpe said.
She has promised a better equipped and trained NEC to deal with the 2012 elections, which are scheduled to take place between October and December after the dissolution of parliament in September.
The leaders of both the APC and SLPP owe it to Sierra Leoneans to ensure that the country does not degenerate into chaos and thus derail hard-earned peace. As a start, at the end of September the police announced an indefinite ban on all public political activities to allow for a 'cooling off period'.
The announcement came after consultations among the police and various political party representatives. Until the ban is lifted, political activities of any sort in the country will be limited to the various party offices.
'All political rallies, processions and public meetings have been suspended until further notice,' the Inspector-General of Police, Francis Alieu Munu, said. 'We are going to allow a cooling off period, so that we can calm down ourselves.'
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