Our Democracy is at stake!
Democracy can be said to be a dynamic political concept embracing the social, economic and cultural fabric of a people, striving for their welfare and the enhancement of their rights.
It allows for plural participation in the political space without coercion and discrimination, following due processes and procedures as stipulated by law. A hallmark of democracy is fair and credible multi-stakeholder electoral process.
Sierra Leone suffered a long period of undemocratic one-party rule, which culminated in a brutal civil conflict that claimed hundreds of thousands of the citizenry and callous destruction of property with impunity.
The restoration of multi-party democracy in the late 90s was therefore a welcome relief, which we applaud as a step in the right direction, even though the civil conflict continued unabated.
In the aftermath of the war, the incumbent Government of former President Kabbah embarked on the process of building governance institutions to strength and consolidate democracy and service delivery.
It is against this background that we are worried with the current trend of happenings which tend to put our hard-earned democracy at stake.
The brutal removal of ten elected opposition members of Parliament by gun-toting security state agents and the automatic swearing-in of their defeated opponents from the ruling party; the subsequent controversial election of a Speaker of Parliament and the use of maximum force to quell protests rights resulting in killing of protesters are indicators that our democracy is heading for doom.
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