By Amara Thoronka
“According to Section 46(1) of the 1991 Constitution (Act No.6 of 1991), no person shall hold office as President for more than two terms of five years each whether or not the terms are consecutive.
The 1991 Constitution is the highest and most powerful law of Sierra Leone and its dictates take precedence in the domestic affairs of the country. The aforementioned constitutional citation states unequivocally that no person is allowed to go beyond a two-term of five-year mandate. In other words, the maximum tenure of office for a person to occupy the Office of the President is ten years, two terms of five years each.
The Constitution in that right has been respected since the first multiparty election in 1996, President Ahmad Tejan Kabba (1996-2007); President Ernest Bai Koroma (2007-2018). Incumbent President Julius Maada Bio won the 2018 and 2023 presidential elections, with his mandate ending in 2028.
In the build up to 2028 when President Bio is expected to bid farewell to the presidency just like his predecessors, there are reportedly quiet but strategic campaigns by some members of the governing Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) to succeed the President as the party’s presidential candidate in the supposed 2028 elections. Let me hasten to say that expressing such interest is one’s democratic or political right; however, taking certain realities into consideration, the implied or expressed ambition is premature.
On a first consideration, President Bio was re-elected in June 2023; meaning he is still in the first year of his second and final term as President of the Republic of Sierra Leone. Why the breakneck speed to succeed him as SLPP’s presidential candidate and leader?
Also, we should not lose sight of the fact that the country experiences hard economic challenges, especially with the steady hike in prices of essential food and non-food commodities which is a result of the Leone experiencing a free fall. And that is the stark reality known and experienced by all. What we should be talking about at this time are remedies to these burdens and not rumoured and expressed intentions to be president in 2028 under the ticket of the incumbent SLPP. This early quest to take after the President is somehow insensitive to the economic agonies people are faced with and the challenging efforts of government in remedying the situation by alleviating poverty for the down trodden masses.
Just like his first term presidency, the second term of President Bio has a development plan, a trajectory institutions and individuals are expected to complement for a transformed and developed Sierra Leone. The current national development plan of the President Bio led administration is termed, “The Big Five”. Big Five because it prioritizes five crucial areas of intervention: FEED SALONE – an initiative to boost agricultural productivity to ensure food security and inclusive economic growth; HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT – nurturing skills for the 21st century; YOUTH EMPOWERMENT SCHEME – an initiative to create 500,000 jobs for young people in five years; REVAMPING THE PUBLIC SERVICE ARCHITECTURE – to realize quality delivery, efficiency and professionalism; and finally TECHNOLOGY AND INFRASTRUCTURE – pathways for sustained economic growth. Achieving such an ambitious national development agenda requires a whole lot ranging from social and political stability to requisite human, logistical and financial supports. It is now obvious that those who are impliedly or expressly making such succession moves hold critical capacity in both the governing party and the governance of the country. This has the tendency to distract and divert attention from achieving the Big Five to heated early succession discussions, campaigns and upheavals.
Moreover, one needs not to be a soothsayer to state that, if these succession moves are not carefully handled at this embryonic stage, it can be a recipe for early intra-party rancour in the SLPP, a situation that may not only jeopardize national development but would also see the party skating on thin ice as almost all presidential appointees are members of the SLPP.
At this stage of national economic hardship coupled with acute global challenges, Sierra Leoneans, the leadership of the ruling SLPP and chiefly President Bio should not allow pre 2028 elections politics to divert the attention, commitment and monitoring to fully achieve the Big Five Game Changers development agenda for the good of all and the nation. There is time for everything.
Copy right –Printed in the Expo Magazine on Monday, April 19th, 2024 (ExpoTimes News – Expo Media Group (expomediasl.com)
