Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06FREETOWN681
2006-08-18 15:51:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Freetown
Cable title:  

RIGGED CHIEFDOM ELECTIONS: A WORRYING SIGN FOR 2007

Tags:  PGOV KDEM SL 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO4603
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ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 181551Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY FREETOWN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0179
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0193
RUCNFB/FBI WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 FREETOWN 000681 

SIPDIS

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STATE FOR AF/W, DRL, INR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/17/2016
TAGS: PGOV KDEM SL
SUBJECT: RIGGED CHIEFDOM ELECTIONS: A WORRYING SIGN FOR 2007


Classified By: Ambassador Thomas N. Hull, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

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Summary
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 FREETOWN 000681

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/W, DRL, INR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/17/2016
TAGS: PGOV KDEM SL
SUBJECT: RIGGED CHIEFDOM ELECTIONS: A WORRYING SIGN FOR 2007


Classified By: Ambassador Thomas N. Hull, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (C) On August 12, a new Mandingo paramount chief was
crowned in the predominantly Limba Biriwa Chiefdom. The
election was preceded by a dispute over eligible electors, a
court injunction, a refusal by the National Electoral
Commission (NEC) to oversee the elections, and Limba-Mandingo
violence. The Government asserted its authority to hold
elections without NEC oversight. The letter of the law may
be on government's side, but the political manipulation of
ethnic tensions is a worrying sign. Although the Government
asserts that it is trying to make the chiefdom election
system fair, its intervention to ensure the election of a
politically supportive paramount chief makes their motives
suspect and shows how the Government is using its incumbency
to ensure re-election in 2007. End Summary.

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Paramount Chiefs: Ruling House Descendents
Reflect Ethnic, Political Affinities
--------------


2. (U) Biriwa chiefdom, in the northern part of Sierra Leone
(Bombali District),is predominantly (85 percent) Limba,
Christian, and affiliated with the opposition All People's
Congress (APC) Party. The other 15 percent of Biriwa's
inhabitants are Mandingo and Fullah, both predominantly
Muslim. President Kabbah, of the ruling Sierra Leone
People's Party (SLPP),is Mandingo. Limbas are Sierra
Leone's third largest ethnic group and enjoyed prominence
when Siaka Stevens' APC party was in power. Current APC
parliamentary minority leader and presidential hopeful Ernest
Bai Koroma's mother, a Limba, hails from Biriwa Limba
chiefdom, and there are no Limbas in the current SLPP
cabinet.


3. (U) There are two ruling houses in Biriwa Limba Chiefdom
that the Limbas recognize -- the Contehs and the Kalawahs,
both Limba families. Paramount chiefs are elected for a life
term, and when a chief dies, elections for his replacement
are preceded by a Declaration of Rights ceremony. Anyone
declaring their right to run for paramount chief needs to
trace his lineage to one of the chiefdom's ruling houses.

All previous paramount chiefs have been Limbas, although
Mandingoes contested elections in the past. (Note: Women are
not permitted to become paramount chiefs in the northern part
of Sierra Leone, although they occasionally do so in the
south. End Note.)

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Something Smells Rotten in Makeni
--------------


4. (U) The Biriwa Chiefdom elections have been a point of
contention between the Limba and Mandingo communities ever
since March, when the Ministry of Local Government released a
revised chiefdom councilors' list (i.e., list of eligible
voters for chiefdom elections) just ahead of the elections.
The new list omitted 36 ceremonial chiefs, 33 of whom were
ethnic Limba, and added 22 names, all of whom were Mandingo.
The additional Mandingo names were added in the Bombali
district capital of Makeni without the knowledge of the
majority Limbas. (Note: Tribal Authorities -- people who are
able to collect taxes from at least 20 taxpayers -- are
chiefdom councilors. Tribal Authorities do not have to be
from ruling houses. We were told that ceremonial chiefs
(women leaders, opinion leaders, etc.),have also been
included on the Biriwa Limba chiefdom councilors' lists since
the 1960's even though they are not Tribal Authorities, but
the Government disputes this. End Note.)

--------------
Limbas Protest, Elections Postponed
--------------


5. (U) The Limbas were not happy when they saw the revised
chiefdom councilors' list, and they were furious when Dr.
Issa M. Sheriff, a Mandingo, declared his right to run in the
paramount chieftaincy election by tracing his eligibility
through the Sheriff ruling house, which the Limbas do not
recognize. The Limbas assert that in order to be eligible to
run, he would have to claim his eligibility to do so under
his maternal lineage, which is tied to the Conteh (Limba)

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ruling house.


6. (U) Disapproval of Sheriff's candidacy caused angry Limbas
to violently disrupt attempts to hold Declaration of Rights
ceremonies in May and June. During the third ceremony, six
Limba aspirants refused to participate, leaving Sheriff as
the sole candidate.


7. (U) Elections were first scheduled for July 14 and then
rescheduled for July 28. On July 26, the High Court granted
an injunction to postpone the elections until the dispute was
cleared up. The elections may have gone ahead anyway, but on
July 28, a Limba women's demonstration forced a postponement
of the elections. On August 2, the High Court set aside the
injunction, citing a 1961 law that prohibits interference
with chiefdom elections.

-------------- --------------
Government Wants to Move Forward, but NEC Refuses
-------------- --------------


8. (U) On August 2, NEC Chairman Christiana Thorpe sent a
team of women to Biriwa chiefdom to hear the Limba women's
grievances, which included inconsistency in procedures and
process, unclear information, the imposition of a new ruling
house on the chiefdom, and the marginalization of women.
(Note: Women who were on the chiefdom councilors' list as
ceremonial chiefs -- most likely representatives of the
women's secret society, were among those removed from the
list. End Note.) On August 7, Minister of Local Government
Sidique Brima traveled to Biriwa Chiefdom with Thorpe in an
attempt to clarify some of the issues raised. At the
meeting, it was agreed that the elections would be postponed
until the the issues were resolved; however, on August 9,
Brima announced on the radio that the elections would be held
on August 11.


9. (U) After work hours on August 9, the NEC received a
letter from the Ministry of Local Government requesting that
the NEC conduct elections on August 11, but the NEC refused,
citing the court injunction, the controversy over the
chiefdom councilors' list, and the risk of violence.
President Kabbah's office then sent Southern Provincial
Secretary Salia Magona to the NEC in person to request that

SIPDIS
the NEC hand over voting materials so that the Ministry of
Local Government could conduct the election without the NEC.
Thorpe refused and held a press conference on August 11,
announcing the NEC's refusal and justifying it with excerpts
from the 1991 National Constitution that grant NEC the
authority to conduct and supervise local elections
independently.

--------------
Preceded by Violence, Elections Go Ahead
--------------


10. (U) On August 11, there was confusion in Biriwa chiefdom
over whether the elections would actually take place, and
both Mandingos and Limbas were prepared for confrontation.
The press reported that five truckloads of police deployed to
Kamabai, where the elections were supposed to be held. UN
Military Observers saw 150 Mandingoes assembled in Karina (a
predominantly Limba village) preparing to march toward
Kamabai. They also observed some Limba youths waiting
further down the road to attack them. By the time police
were notified and reacted, the two groups had already met and
were stoning and stabbing one another. The Mandingos set a
Limba house on fire and a nearby church was looted and
damaged. Reports vary, but as many as 14 people were injured
during the fighting. The Mandingos finished their march to
Kamabai under police escort, but no election took place.


11. (U) On August 12, Magona reportedly used paper cards
instead of ballots to hold a hastily-organized election
without NEC oversight. Sheriff won with 139 of 140 votes,
but 333 other councilors who were on the list did not vote.
News reports say that the chiefdom councilors who voted were
predominantly from Karina, and Magona did not inform
councilors from the other sections of the chiefdom about the
change in election dates.

--------------
It Ain't Over Till It's Over
--------------


12. (C) The situation in Biriwa has been tense but quiet
since the elections. The Limbas plan to hold their own

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elections on August 18 to contest the legitimacy of Sheriff's
victory, but there are no indications that violence will take
place again. Rumors that 1,000 Limba women are coming to
Freetown to demonstrate naked in the streets have not been
confirmed, but it is clear that the controversy is not yet
over.


13. (U) President Kabbah's office issued a press release on
August 15 asserting its right to oversee chiefdom elections
through the Ministry of Local Government, defending the
legitimacy of the Sheriff ruling house, and appealing to
Sierra Leoneans to look past ethnic differences and realize
that intermarriages have made it impossible to really
determine tribal affiliations.

--------------
Political Manipulation of Chiefs:
The Past is Prologue
--------------


14. (C) The Government appears to be within its right to hold
paramount chieftaincy elections according to the Protectorate
law (which dates back to 1933). However, the NEC has a
strong precedent for its case, since it has been running
chiefdom elections since 2002 at the written request of Vice
President Berewa. The institution of the paramount
chieftaincy has always been a political tool for the
government of the day to influence voters, and the SLPP
government is following the tradition in fine form by using
its incumbency to press for a sympathetic paramount chief in
the north -- traditionally APC territory. The Biriwa
chiefdom election came right after Vice President Berewa
arranged a meeting with 60 paramount chiefs from the north to
allow them the "opportunity" to declare their support for his
candidacy in 2007.


15. (C) The Paramount Chiefs understand their role vis a vis
the government in power. Kandeh Luseni, paramount chief of
Sella Limba Chiefdom in northern Sierra Leone, told PolOff
that chiefs understand that if they support the government,
then they will receive benefits in the form of development
projects. If they are seen showing support for or even
allowing access to opposition parties, they are punished.
One paramount chief, he said, was harrassed because one of
his family members had joined the SLPP breakaway party,
Charles Margai's People's Movement for Democratic Change
(PMDC). There was so much pressure on the family, the
chief's family member saw the error of his ways and returned
to the SLPP fold.


16. (C) Luseni told PolOff that he is hopeful that the
Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC) will soon
release its code of conduct for the election that will
require the paramount chiefs to play a neutral role in the
elections and give them a chance to defend themselves against
charges of disloyalty to the SLPP. (Comment: Unfortunately,
the Chairman of the newly constituted PPRC has been out of
the country on extended medical leave, and the body has not
been as active as expected. This will hopefully change now
that he has resigned. End Comment.)
--------------
Comment
--------------


17. (C) The Limba anger over the Biriwa elections is not only
over the Government's manipulation of the chiefdom
councilors' list, but a broader feeling of marginalization in
the current political environment. The SLPP's manipulation
of the Biriwa Chiefdom elections is disappointing but comes
as no surprise given the country's history. Sierra Leone's
peace is still fragile, though, and it can ill afford the
inflammation of ethnic tensions at this stage in its recovery
from war. It is a hopeful sign that the NEC stood up to the
government's pressure to hold elections. If the 2007
presidential and parliamentary elections are to be even
remotely free and fair, the NEC and the international
community must keep a close eye on the SLPP to limit its use
of the incumbency to manipulate the political landscape. One
idea that has been floated among the international community
is to put a moratorium on all chiefdom elections until after
the 2007. USAID-funded civic education will be an important
component of keeping the government honest, but changing
voters' understanding of their power as citizens is a
long-term process. In the near term, it is critical that the
PPRC become more active so that the NEC is not the only body
attempting to hold the SLPP government accountable for its
actions.

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HULL