Political transitions in Africa had always presented the continent with new phenomena for consideration by political analysts as well as development practitioners. There is at present vast collection of literature and analyses to support studies on transition from military regimes and civilian dictatorships on the African continent. These studies have built volumes of suggestions and recommendations on moral and expedient tracks that support sustained democratic governance as well as erasing the urge for a return to military and civilian dictatorial systems of governance.

As with the old economic models, transitions from one political leadership on the continent and even beyond, was inter alia geared towards fair economic redistribution and deepen access to resources in ways that enhance minimal economic balance and equity. Eventually, these deliverables are desirous to impact an optimal resource distribution and essentially stabilise access to income. The goal then is to experience a lasting peace and enhance development and growth.

This is however not the theory to hold in recent trends of political transitions in Sierra Leone. Here, deep-sitted stalemate between the oldest political cleavages on the continent continue to unleash semblance of animosity in asserted and iterative policies each time they substituted each other in the state premiership of Sierra Leone.

The chronicles of animosity and reprisals between the All Peoples Congress (APC) with large North and West regions support base, and the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) with corresponding south and east support base interpret a tirade and decades of witch hunt, fierce elimination tendencies and divisiveness. The APCs Siaka Stevens is on record for unleashing tyranny not only on his opponents from the South and east of the country, but as well on the media, student groups and workers’ unions. His activities were incredibly offensive but were backed, at the time by an environment of draconian legal frameworks that were in dissonance with democratic governance.

Reforms that followed this era were therefore not ignorant of the country’s context, history, predisposition and aspirations to democracy. The evacuation instrument was therefore the country’s 1991 Constitution, setting the stage for multiparty democracy and as well criminalising series of military coups that had previously represented an APC-SLPP or can we render it as north versus south/east military rancour.

But the trend continues as it turned out that APC and the SLPP are the two parties the Sierra Leonean populace can settle for in governance deliverables. The ascension to power therefore, of one hade since the late 1950s to recent elections of 2018 presented the other’s teeth on edge. Without intentions to trash the rationale for stated actions, the bottomline depicts semblance of political persecution of persons on the other side of the political divide. APC’s Siaka Stevens was known to have chased out of Sierra Leone, scores of students from Fourah Bay College in the 1970s for unionism actions that his party interpreted detrimental to its longevity. Tales show that hundreds of those students hailed from the opposition heartland but as it turned out, the students returned from asylum or their cocoons to become associates of the military junta that overthrew the APC. At the time, the successor to Siaka Stevens had also found reason within the narratives at the time to convict series of persons, chiefly southern and easterners, said to have planned a coup against President Joseph S. Momoh.

The conviction then by the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) on key persons hailing from the APC heartland of the North and west of the country and the subsequent conviction of mostly persons with northern and western descent by the Sierra Leone Peoples Part of Ahmed Tejan Kabba is open to interpretation and or judgement. In the main, there is every reason to assert that a clear line is drawn between the parties on regional line and that opposition should have reason to set teeth on edge when they are in these positions.

The actions, outlined above have been as outcomes of both political transitions and also of military takeovers favouring one region and post-election mechanisms aimed at accountability purposes. No doubt, the mention of the Beoku-Betts, Lynton Nylender, Laura Marcus-Jones and Beccles-Davies commissions all present narratives that lay more premiums on witch-hunt than on their sincere deliverables for good governance.

There could not be any other significant time marker on the rivalry between the APC and the SLPP and their mechanism to disdain each other than it illustrated and heightened in the 2018 election, where the SLPP presented as candidate a southerner, ex NPRC leader and a military general that can best be described as a summit of south/east politics. His personality would be a subject worth discussion in a separate article. This piece intends to assess the immediate events leading to his ascension to power and also the immediate impact of his policies to the opposition APC and northern and westerners.

Hardly believing that they would lose grip on the leadership of the country, with political representation in almost all districts and essentially all regions of the country, the APC having propagated it flagship road construction more than sustaining the economic growth that it initially achieved, felt disdained that their presidential candidate was becoming a casualty. They therefore opted for last ditch actions of persecution on rivals from the east and south ahead of the election runoff resulting in almost ethnic row. Is the stalemate ended? The new president stated he was running an inclusive government, a topic for yet another article.

APCers in well-functioning vehicles attacked end beat up dissenting political groups not only in their north of western lands but also on competitive hotspots like Kono, east of Sierra Leone.
In Bombali, the district of the APC regional headquarters, records show that APC operatives and supporters attacked not only supporters but also state functionaries perceived to be opponents. Popular political activists like Ibrahim Sanda Kamara, Mohamed Bangura, Joseph Sorie Turay, Alimamy Sesay, Brima Foday Kamara and cohorts were also forced into hiding as their group was notorious for fomenting politically motivated incidences on opposition and SLPP supporters in Gbanti Kamaranka Chiefdom, in their Bombali stronghold. A group was also known to have been hired by a former APC

Deputy Minister in Freetown called Ibrahim Washinguy Mansaray, and a well-known business man, called Sanusi Bruski, who persecuted rivals in the rural west areas.
We are told of events and seen social media messages, photos and videos depicting political violence and resistance, often represented by destruction of homes and vehicles by arson and on persons by hostage taking. The police and apparently entire security apparatus was handicapped as they were in between a very stiff competition, with leaders possibly tools of the APC and with an ambition to pursue. The international elections observers were however commendable as records show that former Ghanaian President John D. Mahama swiftly quelled what would have exploded the molten magma.

Now comes the new president, SLPP in power, Southern and Eastern descendants in power again, after losing to Ernest Bai Koroma in 2007 and another reason to continue their human development programmes as different from the APC infrastructure development programmes. Many reprisals followed the announcing of the results and resulted in massive exodus of APCers. The transition report was set to inform the smooth continuation of governance. The transition team clearly presented a forthcoming composition of the new government and comprises chiefly southern/easterners. Their report therefore instructed the setting up of a commission of inquiry, having identified reasons to investigate corrupt activities of APC. Many more political figures fled the land feeling the process was deliberately meant to hunt political figures.

But the action was endorsed by groups of civil society activists who even urged that the inquiries be set within a fixed timeline, shorter than the estimated government plans. The official executive of the APC, however despised the intent, and in a press conference in early July this year. Aconsortium of CSOs on Service Delivery insists on the immediate establishment of an inquiry and described the APC governance as reckless and racketeering. The opposition APC and its leadership also bemoaned continued reprisals on its membership both officially and unofficially. The APC mayor of the city had suffered double assaults from SLPP supporters in the vicinity of her office, political row was seen in the first session of parliament where all APC MPs elect (the majority) were forcefully pushed out of parliament and we are told of a government official who was sent out of his/her vehicle.

In the face of these, and quite interesting is the support we are told given by the international community towards the setting up of the commission and the donor sponsored sole commissioner from Nigeria. This situation is however interlaced with on-going heightening of anticorruption overtures where most arrests and charges had been on persons linked to the APC. Whether an asserted Interpol instrument would be effective, is subject to future development. We have however seen the invocation of one such request. If this goes as requested, there is all reason then that some escapees would be brought back for action. In any case of these circumstances, we must register that there is Disparaging political persecution and opposition nightmare.