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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) 
 
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Summary 
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¶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. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
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.) 
 
--------------------------------- 
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) 
 
FREETOWN 00000681  002 OF 004 
 
 
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 
 
FREETOWN 00000681  003 OF 004 
 
 
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.) 
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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. 
 
FREETOWN 00000681  004 OF 004 
 
 
 
HULL