The quest for sustainable development and peace: the 2007 Sierra Leone elections, edited by A.B. Zack-Williams, Uppsala, The Nordic Africa Institute, 2008, 86 pp., £10.95 (paperback), ISBN 9789171066190
Sierra Leone has suffered decades of military dictatorship, prebendalism and the informalisation of the economy, processes which have severely undermined the necessary conditions for building peace and a genuine democratic social order. The elections of 2007, the third since the start of civil war in 1991, were widely viewed as ‘important not just for consolidating peace, but also for nurturing and sustaining a fledgling democracy’ (p. 67). This collection of three essays by members of the Sierra Leone Research Network explores the legacy of Sierra Leone's centralised, rent-seeking and historically conflict-prone post-colonial state for the present democratic transition, which remains fragile and unconsolidated. The authors bring to the fore the popular struggles for sustainable development and peace, as well examining the efforts of the international community and regional bodies.
The introduction by Zack-Williams traces the origin of the tortuous democratic path in Sierra Leone. He provides a summary account of the prolonged series of military incursions into Sierra Leone politics, arguing that the military intervention against Siaka Stevens in 1967 ‘marked the beginning of the political instability and economic decline of the country’ (p. 9) and the emergence and endurance of one-party centralised dictatorship from Brigadier Andrew Terence Juxon-Smith to Siaka Stevens to Joseph Saidu Momoh. In the first chapter, Zack-Williams offers a detailed analysis of the background of the Sierra Leone civil war, which lasted from 1991 to 2002. Since the 1960s the so-called ‘Athens of West Africa’ was politically dis-configured and disjointed by the chronic politics of decline, more particularly under the All People's Congress (APC) regime, in power from 1968–92. The APC institutionalised political violence, recklessly mismanaged the state economy and destabilised any concrete attempt for robust democratic experiment in Sierra Leone. He then explores the role of the international community in conflict resolution and peace keeping, including the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), the UN Peace-building Commission, the EU, the International Development Association, the UK-funded International Military Advisory and Training Team (IMATT) and the UK Independent Anti-Corruption Commission. The activities of these international actors are examined in relation to vibrant segments of Sierra Leone civil society in the struggle for democracy, peace and development during and after the 2007 general elections. The involvement of the international community in the post-war transition period in Sierra Leone was manifest in two forms. First, donors embarked on strategies of ‘stamping out’ the entrenched undemocratic tendencies, including clamping down on corruption and strengthening the rule of law. Second, there was a strong initiative to develop a solid institutional capacity for the entrenchment of genuine democratic social order and consolidation of the fragile transition process. A key sector that preoccupied the donors was the transformation of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) to ensure credible and efficient conduct of elections that matched international standards.
In the second chapter, Zubairu Wai analyses the role of youths and the Sierra Leone diaspora in the current democratic and social transformation of Sierra Leone's political space. Wai argues that the youth, ostracised by socio-economic malaise, widely regarded the 2007 election as a path to sustainable peace and development, as did the Sierra Leoneans in diaspora (p. 39). This perception informed the currently rekindled political consciousness of this segment of civil society. Hence, both transnational politicking exhibited by Sierra Leoneans in the diaspora, articulating political reawakening tactics aided by the technologies of globalisation (Internet sites, newspapers and so on), and the struggles of the youth for transformative social change leading up to the 2007 elections proved crucial to the outcomes of the election. The struggles of the people of Sierra Leone to overcome the legacy of the traumatic past by using their votes to condemn bad governance were manifest in the outcome of the election, which marked the beginning of an end to prolonged years of conflict, and new hopes for democracy and social justice.
The third chapter, by Zack-Williams and Osman Gbla, looks at the nature of the electoral process, and identifies the fundamental challenges of peace-building in post-conflict Sierra Leone. Teething problems such as the ‘youth question’, high levels of corruption, youth unemployment, a fragile economy, the issue of social citizenship, the struggle for survival, a weakened educational system, and quasi-national security policy are key obstacles that hinder the prospects of entrenching a sustainable democratic social order in Sierra Leone (p. 80). They underline that the integration of effective security mechanisms at both national and regional levels is a prerequisite for good governance and the consolidation of democracy in insecurity-prone Sierra Leone. Domestically, there is the need for a strategic national security policy that will contain general insecurity by ensuring the protection of lives and property. This can be achieved through efficient and effective policing, strengthening the rule of law and stimulating social justice and development policies. However, alongside domestic security policy, post-conflict Sierra Leone needs to foster a strategic and cooperative regional policy that engages with regional security bodies within the West African sub-region on matters crucial to regional security such as the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration Programme (DDRP).
The three contributors explore the multifaceted dimensions of Sierra Leone's attempt at post-war transformations through democratic transitions and peace-building initiatives. The essays postulate that despite the efforts of civil society in Sierra Leone and the diaspora, and the activities of international actors and regional bodies, the consolidation of peace and development in Sierra Leone remains elusive. The 2007 elections served as a ‘testing ground’ for consolidating post-conflict peace-building and a recipe for sustaining the nascent democracy. The quest for sustainable development and peace largely depends on endurable democratisation of society through entrenching a culture of political inclusiveness, social justice and effective peace-building strategies. The pre-2007 election Kabba-led government was marred by intractable ‘politics of spoil’, electoral violence, and a lack of restorative justice and popular participation in the process of governance (p. 70). This festering sore in the democratisation process spilled over into the 2007 elections, and remains a key challenge to peace-building and viable democracy.