By Mustapha Vandi
One of the main opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) party agents for the June 24th, 2023, presidential, parliamentary, and local council elections in Kenema District, the eastern region of Sierra Leone, Yusif Kamara, is reportedly on the run for his life since after the elections.
Yusif Kamara was one of the APC party agents recruited to observe and monitor the electoral process in the strongholds of the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) by Madam Mbalu Kamara, chair lady of the APC party to ensure transparency, free and fair elections.
It was reported that on the 21st of June 2023, the APC party decided to deploy their party agent and representatives to different polling stations across the country, one of which is the Ahmadiyyah Secondary School station, alongside other political party’s representatives, including the incumbent Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) where Yusif Kamara was assigned.
The report intimated that while all the different political parties’ agents and representatives assemble at the Ahmadiya polling center waiting to verify the ballot boxes and also to take a record of the serial number according to the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) electoral laws which state that before the ballot boxes be allowed into the polling stations they should be verified and confirmed by polling agent that they were sealed on arrival.
This process and procedure, according to the report, were not followed, which caused Yusif and other opposition parties’ agents to raise concerns.
They were, however, prevented from examining ballot boxes, and while they insisted that the electoral commission staff shouldn’t be allowed to enter the hall to start the voting process until the verification was carried out, they were confronted with insults and attacks by supporters of the ruling party agents.
This led to a standoff and a serious fight between the party agents and police. The police who came didn’t even bother to investigate the matter as they started shooting guns and beating all the opposition party representatives because the police officers themselves were in support of the ruling government.
During the heavy fighting, a lot of destruction took place; ballot boxes were destroyed, including the ballot paper, and the lives of many civilians, including some voters who had lined up in a queue waiting to cast their votes came under attack.
The voting center was burnt down, including ballots, papers, and voting materials, while Yusif Kamara and other opposition party agents were hunted and declared wanted by the government.
Yusif Kamara, according to the report, was lucky to have escaped to the Republic of Guinea.
Since the incident, Yusif’s family emerged concerned over their son and his family’s safety as both the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) and the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) continue to hunt him over a wide range of allegations regarding electoral violence, obstruction of police duty and attacks on ECSL officials.
The main opposition leader, Dr Samura Kamara, has expressed concern over the growing political intimidation and harassment of the opposition members by the ruling government while calling on the international community to intervene to save the country’s democracy.
He revealed that a lot of their members and supporters continue to face political intimidation and harassment after the elections, adding that the ruling SLPP government is fueling war for a country that has had a devastating experience of war that claimed the lives of thousands of its citizens.