By Kef Dukulay
In democracy, national election outcomes for the presidency can only be determined by the people’s acceptance based on who commands or meets the threshold of national appeal. Even though the National Constitution provides that only political parties can present candidates for presidential elections, the parties do not normally decide the fate of delegates’ choices but rather how appealing is a chosen candidate to the general public, both the enfranchised and non-voting population.
Since the re-introduction of democracy in Sierra Leone in 1996, the country has witnessed 6 (six) General Elections (Presidential and Parliamentary) -three prime and three incumbency polls. The three primes were in 1996 with Alhaji Ahmed Tejan Kabbah; 2007 with Ernest Bai Koroma and 2018 with Julius Maada Bio emerging the respective winners for the presidency. And in each of those elections, the losers would always cry foul over irregularities; claiming their candidate was being robbed of legitimate winning ballots cast. But the reality has always been the refusal of a losing party to acknowledge the national dynamics which makes it quite impossible for a candidate to rely solely on his/her party strength or popularity to win a national election. So they either quickly ran to the courts or sought public sympathy or judgment.
The reality has been that if ever those prime elections were ever manipulated in favour of a candidate, they were done in the interest of the greater Sierra Leone population, as either by coincidence or not, such candidates turned out to be the more appealing for electability at the time,” And of course once a candidate had passed the national appeal test heralding his first inning, he is likely to survive second term election with much ease.
Now coming back to prime elections. Incumbent political party leaderships under whose watch they are conducted tend to ignore the national appeal dynamics and rather rely on the popularity or financial and material might of their candidate or party. Winning comes through national appeal; and nobody sways the minds of the people from that! Once the result is pronounced, even the courts have to be mindful of arbitrating in matters of rigged results brought before them by the losing party.
Normally, the issue of national appeal or preference emerges when it comes to run-off elections where smaller parties are expected to pitch tents in line with the anticipation of the people. In 1996, the battle was between Dr. John Karefa Smart of the United National People’s Party (UNPP) and Dr. Ahmed Tejan Kabbah of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP). Both candidates were popular by their academic standing; and their parties garnered huge support on ethno-regional lines.
But when put on national scale, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah was more appealing to the populace than Karefa Smart. He had a UN service record and in addition, he served on the Advisory Board of the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) whereas Karefa Smart had spent all his working days in the United States as a medical doctor and returned with a white skinned wife; little known to the people.
In presidential elections, a candidate’s party, tribe, ethnic and regional votes alone cannot help him go to State House. So since Tejan Kabbah was nationally more appealing, he got the winning votes in the second round. His national appeal was boosted when the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the party that came third, pitched tents with the SLPP; thereby destroying the chances of Dr. Karefa Smart’s UNPP.
The PDP and the UNPP had the same northwestern support base, comprising mostly of voters who did not vote for Tejan Kabbah in the first round. So Karefa Lost to Tejan not because people did not vote for the former, but because his appeal did not match that of his rival. On to today, supporters of Dr. Karefa Smart hold on to the belief that the election was rigged in favour of Dr. Ahmed Tejan Kabbah. But the loud concurring silence of the populace overshadowed any thought of election rigging because simply the man they wanted won.
Then came another prime election in 2007 conducted by the SLPP government. The second round was between APC’s Ernest Bai Koroma and Solomon Ekuma Berewa who was serving as Vice President at the time. Both received massive votes in the first round by regional, ethnic and party standards but Ernest earned national appeal for the run off polls when the PMDC, an offshoot of the SLPP, pitched tents with the All People’s Congress (APC). It is worthy of note that for whatever reason in 2005, the SLPP failed to give a candidate with national appeal the presidential ticket in the person of Charles Francis Margai. He therefore, defected and formed the People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC). So when the line was drawn between the more youthful Ernest Bai Koroma and the aged, tiring Solomon Berewa, people saw vitality in the former which gained him an automatic national appeal. In fact Charles Margai personally held the hands of Ernest Koroma and introduced him right across SLPP strongholds; which increased his standing exponentially.
Amidst fierce battle and heightened anticipation, SLPP’s Solomon Berewa could not make it; especially as most of the Kailahun stronghold votes were cancelled by the NEC. The cancellation of about 479 polling station results drew a rope of controversy but it got nowhere because the candidate pronounced winner by the NEC was the national choice against his older rival and a legal practitioner with a history of high handedness in matters of law. The 1996 pattern of pitching tents simply repeated itself in 2007.
In 2018, two strange bedfellows came into the limelight – a young, former junta leader who had long had the quest to become a democratic president; and a little known, senile septuagenarian. In Bio’s case, the APC already had shot itself in the leg with the choice in Dr. Samura Kamara as their presidential candidate and smelt defeat even before the election. But for the ethno-regional voting pattern, Samura Kamara secured massive votes to qualify him for the run-off. The APC clearly knew that with such youth-charged national appeal in favour of Maada Bio, Samura would not see the day. So when they cried foul after pronouncing Bio the winner, nobody took the APC seriously. The senile Samura Kamara was simply not a match for the exuberant Bio. And certainly, the APC choice in an unpopular candidate was a repeat of SLPP’s mistake in 2005. As Berewa was a mismatch to Ernest, so was Samura, even grossly, a mismatch to the ebullient retired military officer who had once led the country and already got the trust of many nationally.
Also, in that 2018 run-off election, the shift in allegiance by the third party, the National Grand Coalition (NGC) was different from that of 1996 and 2007. Unlike the PDP and PMDC that pitched tents with strange parties, the NGC decided to go back home. Being an offshoot of the SLPP, its leader Kandeh Kolleh Yumkellah saw the compelling national appeal for Bio and accordingly budged.
So in three prime elections (1996, 2007 and 2018), all decisions taken by the national electoral body NEC in pronouncing candidates as winners were done in the name of national appeal. In 2007, the National Returning Officer and Chief Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Christiana Thorpe wouldn’t have dared to pronounce Ernest Bai Koroma president but sensing the overwhelming national appeal, she defied all odds So in as much as a lot of controversies surrounded that decision, following her sarcastic remarks against the SLPP after the unwarranted cancellation of results in their South-East strongholds, Ernest’s win became accepted nationality because in spite of what happened, the national appeal had tilted in his favour, overshadowing legality.
In 1996, it was reported that Dr. Karefa Smart was approached but refused to take the SLPP leadership and rather settled on forming his own party. His southeastern appeal got dented for that so even though his UNPP appealed to the North-West stronghold voters, the southeastern snob and the PDP northwestern pitch prevailed in favour of Dr. Ahmed Tejan Kabbah in the second round.
The 2007 and 2018 scenarios were unlike that of 1996. In 2007, Ernest Koroma’s national appeal came on the back of the unpopularity of Solomon Berewa, not the strength of the APC because even when Charles Margai broke off and formed the PMDC, the SLPP did extremely well in the polls. Also, in 2018, APC’s might as the party in power could not bring Samura Kamara to clinch the presidency because he lacked national appeal.
So to choose the next president who will be both competent and popular to meet the national appeal threshold is the question. Already ahead of the 2028 elections the two traditional parties are in search of a presidential candidate. And by 2027 both the APC and SLPP shall have elected or chosen their respective flagbearers.
Several names and personalities are coming up for the topmost position. But amongst the numerous contenders the one with national appeal will ultimately have to win, regardless of which political party he or she is representing. At times however, a national appeal for a candidate can emanate from his or her popularity at political party level; hence manipulating a delegates’ conference against a candidate with a grassroots party base can cost any party dearly. But generally, national appeal for a presidential candidate comes about through historical track record of the individual. In 1996, it was difficult to decide on one of the two candidates, Karefa Smart and Tejan Kabbah in the first round-because both had strong historical records at national and international levels. But Tejan Kabbah’s appeal became stronger with his service records in the UN and with the NPRC regime which conducted the elections.
On Charles Margai’s part, he had a national following; cutting across party and ethnic lines from his track record as a vibrant lawyer, and his southeast popularity which he leveraged on in throwing his weight behind the then little known Ernest Bai Koroma that earned the latter spontaneous popularity.
In positioning candidates for the presidency therefore, political parties have to be very mindful of the national appeal dynamics. The Constitution limits an individual to two terms’ tenure, not political parties; and national appeals are not normally limited to party popularity but national and international track records.
The Greek philosopher Plato’s ‘Philosopher-King’ Concept questioned how leaders are chosen: whether because they are politically powerful or wise; popular or competent, or whether chosen by loyalty above capacity. The concept talks about “the ideal leader who combines political power with philosophical wisdom” which national appeal looks for.
For a candidate to attract national appeal he or she must be an embodiment of wisdom, competence and capacity, not necessarily party loyalty or popularity. Money does not buy national appeal. A candidate can be accepted nationally based on those considerations mentioned above. If those qualities are ignored for money, ethnic or regional whims, then a nation heads for the fear held by Plato of settling for “incompetence disguised as leadership;” and we must be ready to bear the consequences as a nation.
