The National Security Coordinator Assures Peaceful Elections in Sierra Leone
At a press conference on April 19th, 2023, the National Security Coordinator of Sierra Leone, Abdulai Caulker, assured the public that the forthcoming general elections in June would be peaceful. Caulker stated that his department had put in place all the necessary measures to ensure that the elections would be conducted without violence or intimidation.
Speaking at the security sector conference, Caulker addressed the issue of social media posts and messages that have been creating fear and panic among the population. He warned citizens against heeding incitements of bad citizens on social media whose desperation for political power could blind them to the benefits of stability and peaceful co-existence. Caulker emphasized that the security sector would strongly resist violence and intimidation during the elections, and use all its powers to ensure the safety of citizens' lives and properties.
Caulker listed several violent incidents that occurred in recent years, including the OSD Coordinator's brutal killing in Makeni, which were all incited by social media trolls and their clandestine political godfathers. He stated that if the security sector had failed to act during those incidents, Sierra Leone could have become a potential hotbed of anarchy.
Caulker called for an inclusive approach to ensuring stability and peaceful democratic elections, and urged political party leaders, moral guarantors, traditional and religious leaders, press and media houses, women's forums, peace networks, teachers, parents, guardians, youth groups, civil society organizations, and members of the international community to support nonviolent elections in Sierra Leone.
In conclusion, Caulker reassured Sierra Leoneans that the security sector is ready and determined to ensure peaceful elections, and that the MACP would be robustly enforced during and after the elections. He called on everyone to stay away from violence and to follow due process, warning that the security sector would not shy away from its constitutional responsibility to maintain law and order in the country.