By Mabinty M. Kamara
Following the outcome of the mediation exercise to resolve the political impasse between the All People’s Congress (APC) Party and President Julius Maada Bio-led government, the reelected Mayor of Freetown Yvonne Aki Sawyer has taken oath of office.
The Swearing in Ceremony which also included Chairperson for Western Area Rural and Councilors for Urban and Rural, was administered by the Minister of Local Government,Ambassador Tamba Lamina at the ministry’s conference room on 26th of October 2023.
Seventeen councilors,the Mayor and her deputy assumed office immediately at the Freetown City Council while twenty-one councilors and the Chairperson, Kasho Holland Cole, and his Deputy of Ward C, Western Area Rural did the same.
Inauguration for the North-West region at the Port Loko District Council is slated for today, the 27th of October, and the Northern Region at the Makeni City Council on the 28th of October while the South and the East shall be conducted by the Chief Administrator of the respective councils with no specific date set.
Elected Councilors, Mayors, and Chairpersons of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party have long taken oath of office.
After the June 2023 elections, the APC party rejected the presidential results announced by the Electoral Commission Sierra Leone, citing electoral irregularity. This led to a decision to boycott their participation in governance and called for external intervention in the outcome of the elections.
This decision attracted the just concluded mediationheaded by Gambia’s former Vice President Madam Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang during which a resolution was reached calling on the APC Parliamentarians and Council Representatives to take their seats in Parliament and Local Councils, respectively, ending the boycott.
The President in consultation with the APC agreed to constitute a cross party committee on electoral systems and management bodies review with a three way leadership nominated by the government, the APC and development partners.
Both parties agreed to institutionalization of interparty dialogue framework between the APC , SLPP and other Political parties which will be facilitated by the government.
Both parties committed to reengineer and rekindle the relationship between the national socio -political eco-system such as the president and former political leaders (former president and Vice president), the APC and SLPP leadership.
Government and the APC are to condemn all citizens at home and abroad who incite violence, spread hate speech and disrupt national cohesion both online and offline, and that parties commit and act to implement the agreement reached during the dialogue for which an independent committee shall be created.
Discontinuation of any politically- motivated cases against the APC and other parties and their supporters, release of any persons arrested, detained or imprisoned for alleged elections and civil protests informed by a list to be submitted by the APC and other political parties considered by the government, were among other issues agreed upon.
President Bio in a nationwide address on the 25 October 2023 committed to the outcome of the mediation. “The provisions in this mediated Dialogue Agreement will receive the highest consideration from my Government,” he said adding that “The Government will work with the main opposition party and all other political parties to ensure that it is fully implemented while at the same time respecting and upholding the rule of law which is vital to our young democracy.”
However, he urged the opposition to demonstrate leadership and, in clear conscience, speak out frankly to their supporters that “we must embrace each other and ensure peace and stability in Sierra Leone,” adding that compromise is the indispensable hallmark of governance.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (27/10/23)
