Women and the 2023 Elections

By Edwina Sia Janga

Women in Sierra Leone have braced up for active, but peaceful political participation in June, 2023 elections.The forthcoming polls will be hotly contested between the main opposition, All People’s Congress (APC) and the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP).

The ruling party has ruled for a term, and certainly needs another five years to continue the governance project. Opposition parties however do not seem to countenance the move as they strive to launch a strong campaign to take over state governance next year.

In such political situation, women will be caught in the crossfire, making political orientation, public education, awareness raising certainly necessary for them.

To ensure that women positively contribute to peace before, during and after elections, an organisation known as Media Matters for Women Sierra Leone (MMWSL) will engage women groups in the Western rural districts on information-sharing sessions. Resistance to exploitation, incitement, hate speech are few topics women would be taken through to get them prepared ahead of time.

An MMWSL official told this press that the topics were important in that women had fallen victim of political exploitation for too long.They are often incited to perpetrate conflict against each other so that they could not see themselves as friends but enemies during elections.

Women in different political parties, most times, do not see-to-eye on issues of national importance. Once they consider themselves as rival groups in politics, it is difficult for them to speak with one voice on issues that affect their welfare.

They also could not interact cooperatively, speak out frankly and consult among themselves on which way to go. Suffice it to say, their political life is conditioned by men. To get them back on track, women will also be educated on how to resist incitement so that they could not fall foul of the law.

They will be educated that they are free to criticise or speak out against social conditions with which they are dissatisfied, but they must do so within legal confines. They must not stray outside the law.

The memory of July 4, 2022 scenario in which women were incited to take to the streets is still in the minds of Sierra Leoneans

The women said they protested against high cost of living without obtaining permission from the police, a move that landed many in police and prison cells.

They were released only when rights campaigners and sub-regional bodies: the Mano River Union and ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) called for their release. They were reportedly provided with little incomes and stipends to go back homes.

History still keeps alive about the treatment meted to women when they were incited to protest in the August 10 demonstrations also over economic hardship. Out of the 500 persons reportedly arrested in the aftermath of the protest, women form significant number although most have been released. Many have lost their livelihoods as their stalls and tables on Abacha Street have been destroyed.

They no longer have sites where to sell and solve their domestic problems. Those who managed to sell do so under the hot-burning sun rays, and sometimes in the rain just to make ends meet. Others have lost their businesses, a situation that has weighed them down.

Situation is terrible for those who obtained loans from micro-credit institutions to do business. What a hard life for women in Sierra Leone? It is the product of violence.

Amie Kalokoh is one those traders who was picked up at the scene of the riot in August 10. She spent 11 days in a police cell at Central Police Station before she was produced in a magistrate court in Freetown.

She has however always maintained her innocence.

“I went there only to sell, and not to protest. On that day, I was in my stall on Abacha Street when police officers arrested me. I do not really know the crime for which I was arrested, ” she informed this press with tears rolling down her cheeks. Police account was however different.

 They had consistently maintained that all women arrested were rioters.

Regardless of the direction the argument took, women are on the wrong end.

During the engagement, women will be taught to refrain from hate speeches that can undermine the country’s peace and security.  Instead of fomenting violence, women will be prepared and encouraged to present themselves as candidates for elections so that they could be voted for.

Women’s political participation does not only end in voting for men but men should also be voting for women.It is also asserted that women can take leadership roles only when they embrace and preserve peace.

During elections, a safe and secure atmosphere will be created for women to exercise their franchise. Women’s potentials could be realised only when peace and security is maintained.

Political leaders and security stakeholders must ensure a zero-tolerance strategy on violence for active women’s political participation.After voting, women must go home, and listen to the announcement of the election result.

If they are dissatisfied with the outcome of the electoral process, they should seek redress in the law courts.Violence should not be used to address issues of national importance. Politics does not stop at the polls, but after it.

In the post-election period when a new administration will have been installed, women are expected to work with and cooperate with whatever government to ensure that national development goals are achieved.

Women can also protect their welfare issues and interest through lobbying with government.Some women groups   have also volunteered to educate their peers on women’s participation  ahead of 2023 elections. Politics, for a long time is seen as a male domain as women played only the roles of ‘Mammy Queens’ and singers to welcome and praise men, but times have changed that notion.

Women can now take the roles of ministers, Vice President and even President where situation permits.Now, women groups are fighting hard to ensure that every political party nominates a woman as a running mate.

The enactment of the gender empowerment law is a bold step in the right direction. Women will therefore seize the moment in the same manner Ella Koblo Gulama ventured into national politics at a time of male dominance and became prominent.

Her political achievement still lingers in the sands of time. Women of today will also make such history if they choose positive political participation and peace, and forgo violence, incitement, exploitation and hate speeches.