Bad losers or rotten system?

Primary elections or selections for the various political parties in Sierra Leone have ended, amid controversies. For the parliamentary symbols in the two major political parties, the ruling All People’s Congress (APC) party and opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), at least thirty former Members of Parliament (MPs) lost their symbols to new comers.

Fewer women were considered for symbols in the various political parties, thereby making a mockery of the gender policies of the political parties.

The number of youth that received parliamentary and council symbols is encouraging as compared to previous years when the elderly people were mostly considered for symbols. Whether or not this was deliberate or accidental remains unclear, but one cannot hide from the fact that more power is given to the youth this time round.

In the midst of the aforementioned, disgruntlement and grumblings as to the conduct of the primaries in the various political parties is currently the order of the day. While some prefer to suffer quietly, others are actually making their grievances public. The radio airwaves, television screens, newspapers, and town halls are currently inundated with disgruntle comments from losing aspirants and their supporters.

At least a former Member of Parliament (MP) representing the opposition SLPP, Robin Farley, has crossed over to the ruling APC, following the decision of the SLPP to deprive him of his desire to run for a second term in his Constituency 7. After abandoning his SLPP and pledging his allegiance to the APC, Farley was not only immediately accepted by the APC but was automatically given the APC symbol for Constituency 7 to contest against his former SLPP party.

The All Political Parties Women Association (APPWA) is the latest to have vent out its dissatisfaction over the decisions of the political parties to sideline the women in the symbol contests.

In summary, only a few of the losing candidates have agreed to support the winners in the various wards or constituencies, thus the loud noises of protests from all corners of the country.

A huge percentage of the losing candidates are claiming to be the people’s choice, while blaming their defeats on fraudulent conduct of the primaries.

During the conduct of the APC primaries, the move by President Ernest Bai Koroma to order the cancellation of the party’s electoral colleges in Freetown was a testament to the fact that certain politicians in the APC were desperately bent on giving symbols to their favored candidates. Notwithstanding the fact that the President attempted to personally supervise the process, the elections still ended in controversies with fingers pointing on certain ministers that were at the helm of organizing the primaries.

As all of this is happening, the question on the lips of many Sierra Leoneans is: are these aggrieved candidates mere bad losers determined to put their various political parties and leaders in bad light, or they were actually deprived of what they truly deserved?

This piece will not attempt to provide an answer to this question, at least not directly, but there is the saying that goes: “There is no smoke without fire”. If the grumbling aspirants were just a handful, it could have been easy to dismiss their concerns. But in this instance, wherein the grumbling aspirants are in the majority, there is an indication that some political manipulations took place to deprive certain people of their symbols.

If the noise of the losing aspirants across the country is anything to go by, it simply means the various political parties that engaged themselves in such manipulations have actually succeeded in doing harm to their chances of emerging victorious in the various wards or constituencies in the forthcoming elections. These disgruntled aspirants have their followings and the grievances of these supporters will always reflect on the votes. If the popular aspirant in a particular ward or constituency is wickedly deprived of his or her right to lead his or her party to the forthcoming election, his or her supporters will prefer either to stay off the election or cast their votes in favour of another aspirant in a different political party. The latter is called protest vote.

However, some of the political leaders have succeeded in pacifying a couple of losing candidates with promises of giving them other appointments in the case of a win for the party. But is this going to change the mindset of the electorates in the various wards and constituencies? The answer is definitely a big NO, because the minds of the people are already made up not to vote for certain aspirants, especially the incumbents. No amount of pacifying can change the fact that certain people will not vote for incumbent MPs and Councilors that had failed woefully in their wards and constituencies but were imposed on them for a second-term by political leaders.

At this juncture, let me state that it’s a shame on the various political parties, especially the APC and the SLPP, for their actions to neglect women in the symbol races. What about the gender policies? When are women getting their 30% quota? When will Sierra Leonean politicians allow free and fair elections?

The polls will surely teach certain politicians and political parties how to respect the will of the people.

With Abdul Fonti