can a nation be built in one day? sierra leone nearly 25 years after civil war
Outlining and justifying a sequence of reforms most likely to guarantee sustainable peace.
By Chloé Jarrett-Bell
There are several reasons scholars disagree on the best measures to rebuild states after civil war. Firstly, civil wars are not identical so measures that may work for rebuilding some states will not work for others (Kaufman, 1996, p.138). Secondly, peacekeeping and state-building often contradict, causing more disagreement over measures (Van Brabant, 2010, p.8). This essay argues that, for Sierra Leone, sustainable peace is only guaranteed when the underlying causes of the civil war, which continue to affect the nation, are dealt with through reforms rooted in effective state-building. By improving security, capacity, and legitimacy—pillars of state-building— (Call, 2008, p.66; Wesley, 2008, p.378), Sierra Leone can guarantee sustainable peace nearly twenty five years after the civil war.
Sierra Leone was ravaged by civil war from 1991 until 2002. It resulted in over 50,000 casualties, half the country displaced, and millions left with deep psychological trauma from forced amputations, child soldiers, rape, sexual abuse, and crushing poverty (Le Bras, 2021). The Sierra Leonean government undertook peacebuilding measures to guarantee sustainable peace immediately after the civil war. These included multiple Community Driven Reconstruction projects (CDRs), transnational justice mechanisms, and retraining the military. It is argued that, in comparison to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia, Sierra Leone is a success story of a post-civil war state as it has been ‘relatively peaceful in the two decades since the war’ (Mammone, 2023). Relative is the operative word in that claim. The current ‘peace’ in Sierra Leone is fragile at best and failing at worst, as recent violent protests about the cost of living and national blackouts have shown (Amnesty International, 2023: Winter, 2024). Twenty years on, sustainable peace is not only the absence of war, but the presence of well-functioning institutions, an accountable government, and legitimacy driven by ‘state-society’ relations (Van Brabant, 2010, p.6). Sustainable peace can, therefore, only be achieved through effective state building.
Recently, scholars have found that certain society-focused elements of state-building and peacebuilding are not mutually exclusive, but align (Menocal, 2011, p.1719: Van Brabant, 2010, p.6). By implementing a series of socio-political reforms regarding security personnel, community-driven infrastructure, the judicial system, and the electoral process, the three pillars of state-building would be refortified, guaranteeing sustainable peace. As a result of effective state-building, state capture would erode and youth and regional communities would be empowered, decreasing tensions between citizens and elites thereby further guaranteeing sustainable peace.
SECURITY
Deficiencies in the government’s capacity and legitimacy are the greatest spark for another civil war in Sierra Leone as they are linked to failures in infrastructure and industry which affect citizens’ daily lives. However, for capacity and legitimacy to be built, there must be security as without it nothing can be optimally achieved (Call, 2008, p.66). Samuel Makinda (1998, p.282) defines national security as the capacity of legitimate institutions to ensure the protection of individuals’ rights and property from both internal and external; ‘military and non-military threats.’ His definition reflects the widening of what constitutes ‘security’ which took place in the 1990s after various human rights catastrophes (Stan, 2004, p.2). Since these reforms are for Sierra Leone twenty years after the civil war, the aim of security reform is not to ensure immediate stability or secure international funding but to ‘[...] prevent, reduce, [and] resolve violent conflicts’ where the threat originates from ‘structural socioeconomic conditions’ (Stan, 2004, p.2). These security reforms are necessary as recently, citizens’ contempt for elites has grown and even broken out into coup attempts and the murder of soldiers and police (Chibelushi, 2023). Sierra Leone’s army and police force need to be reformed so that, in the eyes of its citizens, they are seen as legitimate state institutions with the capacity necessary to ensure protection in both preventative and responsive ways, thus creating sustainable peace between citizens and security networks.
When UN peacekeepers were leaving Sierra Leone, a senior local army officer said that Sierra Leoneans must ‘maintain the peace we want — whether U.N. peacekeepers are here or not,’ (NBC News, 2005). Third-party intervention was necessary for security reform in Sierra Leone directly after the civil war. However, twenty years later, security reform must be internally led. Intervention by UN peacekeepers in Global South nations has often failed due to their exploitation of the people they are meant to aid, i.e. the sexual abuse of women in Haiti amid political and environmental turbulence, to the abandoning of states before peace is secured in places like Mali (Jeffries, 2017: Wheeler, 2023). Local communities' needs must be at the forefront of reform to guarantee sustainable peace in Sierra Leone and reduce dependency on the physical presence of foreign army personnel.
A big part of the localisation of the security forces is championing tribal inclusivity. Ethnic identity is not as hardened in Sierra Leone as in a nation that has experienced an ethnic civil war. However, the histories of the nation’s eighteen tribes are complex; from tensions between tribes caused by British colonisation to the tactical use of ethnicity by the government during election time. For example, former president Major General Joseph Saidu Momoh undemocratically marginalised parliament and his cabinet by turning to the Akutay, ‘an ethnic cabal’ as the fountain of authority in government in the late 1980s (Zack-Williams, 2008, p.10). Another example is during the civil war when the incumbent president, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, needed a new army and enlisted the Kamajors, the Mende tribe traditional hunters ‘who were soon transformed into the core of a national civil defence force’ (Zack-Williams, 2008, p.11). This favouritism of people from the Mende tribe being put in strategic positions of power is still ongoing in the army and security sector. Localising security forces by ensuring that each province has a dedicated, well-equipped police precinct decentralises power from the capital city Freetown, which is necessary to reduce state capture. A simple inclusion-focused reform could be introducing quotas for people of every tribe to be represented in all ranks, from top to bottom. Moreover, this inclusion should be reflected in the army and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) as well as regional police forces across the nation. By balancing the localisation of and inclusion of the police and army in Sierra Leone, the nation’s security would quell tensions caused by the exclusion or unequal treatment of certain ethnic groups, and the privileging of security networks in Freetown over rural provinces. Thus, legitimacy would increase in the eyes of Sierra Leoneans across tribal lines, guaranteeing sustainable peace for the nation.
Security networks must not only be reformed in their structure but also their aesthetics, as a symbol of the state's commitment to improving the capacity of Sierra Leone's security forces. An aesthetic reform would be changing the uniform of the newly trained army to set them apart from previous sects and factions. According to the phenomenon of enclothed cognition, uniforms not only boost professionalism but also give wearers and those they protect a sense of purpose and accountability. This is critical for security forces to gain the people's trust so that sustainable peace can be achieved in the nation (Adam and Galinsky, 2012, p.919: Hester et al., 2023).
Aesthetic changes mean nothing if security networks do not have the capacity to protect and serve citizens. The lack of capacity of security networks in Sierra Leone is a deep-rooted issue. As Zack Williams purports, the ‘hapless,’ undisciplined, and fragmented state of Sierra Leone’s security forces (2008, p.10) was an underlying cause for civil war, as various security bodies were in complete state capture. State capture is ‘a type of systematic corruption’ where elites ‘take control of the institutions and processes through which public policy is made’ for their interests (Dávid-Barrett, 2023, p.1). Both the army and police forces had been politicised by the 1980s, thus ‘losing their efficiency and professionalism’ (Zack-Williams, 2008, p.10). Twenty years on, corrupt and disorderly security services are still a blockage for sustainable peace. For example, lack of police training resulted in a live firing of the opposition’s, the All People’s Congress (APC), headquarters and the near killing of the mayor of Freetown, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, and Dr Samura Kamara, the presidential candidate of the APC amid the 2023 general election (Al Jazeera, 2023). Lack of discipline in security services makes civil war more violent, and this was certainly the case in Sierra Leone (UCD College of Arts and Humanities, 2018). Indiscipline also made citizens view security personnel as incapable of enforcing the law, fuelling Sierra Leonean citizens’ distrust of security networks, with less than 31% of citizens trusting the police (Afrobarometer, 2023). To combat this indiscipline, security reform should include an appraisal of all security networks and a requirement for all personnel to undergo rigorous mental and physical aptitude tests, to ensure that all employees have the individual capacity to protect and serve these institutions.
As well as structural and aesthetic reforms, there must be changes to the public activities of police forces in Sierra Leone. Numerous checkpoints and armed soldiers are a common sight, provoking fear and memories of the civil war. Replacing soldiers with police officers in the city and surrounding provinces could alleviate the apprehension citizens feel about security personnel. Moreover, if soldiers participated in public drills instead of stationary checkpoint duty, citizens would see their tax contributions as directly benefiting military training, helping them to associate soldiers with protection and competency, rather than with unease and unprofessionalism. Through these reforms to the presence and activities of security forces in Freetown, citizens’ trust in the police and army would increase, preventing conflict between citizens and security forces even when protests and demonstrations occur.
Security reforms thus far have focused on social relationships within security networks and between them and citizens, but for the legitimacy of security forces to improve there must be economic incentives to avoid state-capture, a large reason for police corruption in Sierra Leone (Afrobarometer, 2023). Though barracks exist for security personnel to live in with their families, standardised incentives like family health packages and fixed pay cheques would aid in eliminating state capture, as personnel would not need to break protocol for bribes to supplement meagre salaries. As well as incentives for excellent work, if police officers and army personnel alike are subject to reviews before formal bodies such as a panel made up of members from the ACC, security forces could be financially sanctioned for bad behaviour. This mix of threat and reward would promote adherence to rules, increasing the possibility of sustainable peace among security personnel.
Security reforms being first in the sequence of measures means that violent conflicts which are happening more regularly in Sierra Leone (Amnesty International, 2023) can be combatted before they morph into civil war. Moreover, security being first in the sequence of reforms does not mean that it is being privileged above capacity and legitimacy. The reforms to the operation and appearance of security networks mentioned above simultaneously build capacity and legitimacy. Finally, reforms to security need not be fixated on quelling violence twenty years after the civil war. Instead, if security reforms address issues like historical ethnic grievances because of exclusion or favouritism, and intimidation tactics, then efficient and affordable changes to structure and aesthetics can lead to long-term peace between security networks and citizens.
CAPACITY
After security, capacity should be privileged above legitimacy in the sequence of reforms to guarantee sustainable peace. Hoddie and Hartzell argue that in many states emerging from civil war, cares surrounding formal legitimacy like electoral reform are unfamiliar (2010, p.10). Reforms that foster peace are reforms that impact citizens' bread and butter issues such as education and employment, rather than electoral reform which recently happened in Sierra Leone last year, producing nothing more than tension among elites. Capacity relates to the ability of government and its institutions to function optimally. The government’s unwillingness to deploy enough resources to ensure adequate capacity in the functioning of government and state institutions is what compromises capacity in post-civil war states like Sierra Leone. In addition to the lack of willingness to deploy adequate resources, corruption also hinders the government’s capacity.
Immediately after the civil war, peace-building efforts were focused on justice. With the two-pronged approach used in Sierra Leone; the installation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which focused on reconciliatory justice, and the Special Court, which focused on retributive justice, two opposing styles of justice were put in place and did not effectively show citizens the state’s capacity to function optimally (Mammone, 2022). The TRC and Special Court revealed the disorganisation of the government, not because of their lack of findings but because TRC recommendations were not implemented by the government to improve the capacity of institutions. ‘[G]rassroots level’ reconciliation programs like Fambul Tok were also initially beneficial in ensuring societal healing, leading to victims and offenders living side by side much like those in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide (Mammone, 2022: Fambul Tok, 2004). However, Fambul Tok was also flawed in that its randomised structure skipped thousands of people who needed help (Cole, 2012), and its format also reduced psychological health among Sierra Leonean citizens (Cilliers et al., 2016).
The TRC acknowledged that socio-economic injustices, which were problems before the civil war, persisted through ‘youth disenfranchisement and underdevelopment,’ yet nothing was done to solve this (Mammone, 2023). Mammone’s analysis of failures in justice reform is compounded by the views of average Sierra Leoneans. There is widespread agreement across ages that ‘economic management, food shortages, health services, infrastructure and education are the most pressing issues’ in Sierra Leone in 2023 (Afrobarometer, 2023). Therefore, instead of a focus on justice through the TRCs, the second measure that should be put in place to guarantee sustainable peace in Sierra Leone is building capacity through community-focused infrastructure and industry.
The infrastructure of health clinics and training of psychiatrists is vital to capacity building reforms for Sierra Leone. Along with intense poverty and disempowerment of the youth, mental health services are dangerously lacking, and the few facilities that exist are centralised in Freetown. In a nation with over eight million people, there are less than five psychiatrists (Partners in Health, 2022). Mental health has been neglected by the state and this is another reason for the high number of young people taking kush.
The proliferation of kush, a new addictive drug that is predominant among youths in the country, is due to the poor economy which experienced a 45% inflation rate in July 2023 (Fallon, 2024). Due to the correlation between kush, youth, and poverty, it is hoped that educational reforms and more employment opportunities would clamp down on drug use in the country. Along with education, local health clinics need to be built in rural provinces and other cities besides Freetown. As the incumbent president Maada Bio stated, the spread of kush is an
‘emergency’ which could ruin Sierra Leone’s aims to become a middle-income economy by 2039 (Hoije, 2024). Kush increases the risk of the youth being easy recruits in banditry and militias thereby jeopardizing the fragile post-war peace that Sierra Leone enjoys. During the civil war, youths were easily recruited into the RUF (Revolutionary United Front) with a promise that they would be paid once the leader of the RUF took over the reins of government, as well as drugged with cocaine and amphetamines (Farah, 2024). The youth became easy prey as they did not have an alternative form of employment. Their current vulnerability is a cause for concern in the fragile peace environment. With more psychiatrists trained and employed, along with integrating and standardising traditional treatments for mental health, Sierra Leoneans could deal with the trauma of civil war memories and promote recovery from kush addiction; as well as employing youth, thus demonstrating the capacity of government institutions to operate optimally. Running medical clinics and Fambul Tok touring facilities in every province would provide job opportunities and mental health assistance for thousands of Sierra Leoneans. This would demonstrate the government's capacity to function optimally with legitimate institutions, thus building trust between elites and citizens and guaranteeing sustainable peace.
After the civil war Community Driven Reconstruction projects (CDR) were put in place in Sierra Leone. Glennerster notes that CDR efforts attempted to ‘rebuild physical infrastructure and repair community relations at the same time’ (Glennerster, 2021). Sierra Leone built some infrastructure but failed to foster community. A reason for this failure could be a lack of standardised decentralisation of resources and initiatives. As Glennerster writes in another report, CDRs and reconciliation programmes like Fambul Tok are implemented randomly, skipping villages or towns full of people who need help and do not see the functionality of the government in their personal lives (Casey et al., 2012). In Nigeria, a ‘bottom-up’ approach is used in which Community and Social Development Projects (CSDP) are tailored to specific community needs in 29 of Nigeria’s 36 states. CSDP ‘supports the empowerment of communities and vulnerable groups within them to develop, implement and monitor micro-social infrastructure projects’ (World Bank Group, 2022). Taking inspiration from Nigeria’s successful program, benefiting over 23 million Nigerians, new versions of CDRs should be implemented across Sierra Leone with tangible results for citizens to boost the government’s perception of having institutions which operate optimally.
Sierra Leone has beautiful scenery from white sandy beaches to lively market stalls; however, getting to these attractions is difficult as 8% of the roads are paved (Brima, 2019: Dorpinghaus, 2010). Half of Sierra Leoneans believe the government was bad at managing roads in 2022 (Afrobarometer, 2023). Up until 2024, multiple small communities come together to ask tourists and locals alike for money to pave their roads through private vendors. In some cases, access to beaches like Bai Bureh is blocked until money is given for self-governed community development projects. This creates frustration in Sierra Leonean citizens at home and abroad at the lack of capacity the government shows towards infrastructure (Zack-Williams, 2008, p.5, p.35). As psychologists have determined, what one’s environment looks like, especially what infrastructure is in it, can impact mental health; as can poverty, poor housing, and unemployment (Mental Health and Town Planning, 2020, pp.3-5). By pouring funding into hiring local contractors across the country to systematically pave all main roads in Sierra Leone within a few years, the government would provide a tangible symbol of their capacity to care for their citizens and operate as a functional state. This type of community-focused infrastructure would guarantee sustainable peace because it would easily solve an issue that has plagued Sierra Leone before and after the civil war. Better roads would connect communities, enabling them to interact through travel and trade (Mallows, 2021), increasing the prosperity of local businesspeople and restoring trust in the government’s capacity to help their citizens, thus guaranteeing sustainable peace.
Another issue mentioned increasingly in the literature about post-civil war Sierra Leone is the youth problem (Mammone, 2023: Zack-Williams, 2008, p.37). The country has a young population; the median age is 19 and the youth (aged 35 and under) constitute 60% of the voting population (Worldometer, 2023). As shown by the 2007 election, this demographic came out in hoards to vote. The youth have immense voting power, and yet they are disempowered by a lack of employment opportunities. The Sierra Leonean government needs to implement youth-centred reforms in education and medical industries to build capacity and guarantee sustainable peace. Sierra Leone was once viewed as the ‘Athens of West Africa’ due to its plethora of prestigious educational institutions like Fourah Bay College (Paracka, 2003). However, an over-subscribing of students and lack of resources has left the youth of Sierra Leone graduated yet unemployed and bitterly discontent with the government. As a capacity-building reform, the government should make national campaigns to draw attention to subjects that have ample space for employability such as Communications for tourism, Government and Politics, Psychiatry and Medicine, and Agriculture. Of course, these degrees will only appeal to young people if they have job prospects which the government must provide to prove their capacity. If the largest voting demographic, the youth, experience educational and employment benefits from the state, then they will have fewer grievances against the government leading to less protesting and sustainable peace between elites and citizens.
Considering the oversubscription of academic degrees, government reforms could include promoting vocational careers. Sierra Leone, among many West African nations, has a history of apprenticeship (Teal, 2016). If funding is provided for youth to get paid whilst studying a trade under experts, employment would rise. Moreover, the promotion of new industries, or at the very least new ways of doing traditional industries, could cut out the rampant nepotism and gerontocracy that is present in the corporate world in Sierra Leone. Through new industries such as tourism and apprenticeship grants from the government, the youth population’s trust in the government would increase. Moreover, if these educational and industry reforms were presented as mutually beneficial to the youth and the economy, it would undoubtedly guarantee sustainable peace in the nation as the largest demographic in Sierra Leone would be provided for.
Mimicking Nigeria’s CSDP by homing in on community-focused infrastructure, the final capacity-building reform would be the revamping of the Siaka Stevens National Stadium and promotion of the Sierra Leone National Football League. Sports bring people together and promote peace (Clarke et al., 2021). Football is popular in Sierra Leone and with proper government funding, ready-built infrastructure can be developed to increase community through friendly competition. Not only would this community-focused reform create jobs, but it would also lessen political tensions. There has been an ongoing battle between the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and the APC for years, and this tense and often violent political rivalry has only increased after the civil war (Zack-Williams, 2008, p.13). Political competition dominates the hearts and minds of Sierra Leoneans both at home and in the diaspora (Zack Williams, 2008, pp.51-52). It is not only the unhealthy political competition that hardens ethnic identities, but this rivalry also highlights the lack of capacity of the government and causes grievances in the people. If this competitive attitude is transferred to sport; from weekly matches in local provinces to intra-secondary school leagues and national matches with prizes at stake, rivalries would play out in a different arena of competition; one which demonstrates the government's capacity to give resources to Sierra Leonean communities and increases peace rather than hinder it.
The rebuilding of community-centred infrastructure, decentralisation of resources and implementation of vocational and medical institutions, helps to empower local communities. The assurance that the Sierra Leonean government is concerned about multiple aspects of their citizens’ lives, from education to entertainment, and proof that its institutions can function optimally, reduce citizens’ grievances, and guarantee sustainable peace. Justice is not universal in its application after a civil war conflict and takes a long time to enact. If reforms focused on TRCs again this would hinder prospects of sustainable peace (Call, 2008, p.69). Instead, capacity-building efforts empower citizens to take an active role in governing their affairs according to their communities’ specific needs like the Nigerian CSDP yet doing so with guidance from the government. Investing in education, healthcare, and community development at the local level are reforms which demonstrate a community-focused approach to capacity building that helps bridge the gap between the state and its citizens, creating sustainable peace and legitimacy over time. By prioritising capacity-building after security but before legitimacy, post-conflict states like Sierra Leone can reduce tensions between the state and civilians whilst promoting local ownership and participation in the peacebuilding process. This balanced approach addresses both the immediate needs for conflict reduction and the longer-term goals of building sustainable peace and legitimacy through tangible community-focused infrastructure.
LEGITIMACY
'Legitimacy' refers to the normative belief that a political community should obey its institutions, rules, and laws; states are legitimate when they are recognized by the public and key political elites as proper and binding (Menocal, 2011, p.1721). Legitimacy is the last reform in the sequence, not because it is the least important, but because it is both a means and an end to state building (State Building in Situations of Fragility, 2008). Legitimacy is often built on the backs of capacity and security (Zaum, 2015: Lake, 2010). For example, reforms to security bolsters the legitimacy of the institutions that protect the people. Additionally, there may always be discord among elites, but promoting capacity creates sustainable peace between elites and citizens, which is crucial for a post-civil war nation. Moreover, in Sierra Leone, issues such as corruption and state capture, though important, are not the major concern (Afrobarometer, 2023). In a state where election results are regularly disputed, citizens perceive government institutions as more legitimate when they experience the direct impact of reforms like improvements in education and community-focused infrastructure than changes to formal legitimacy. However, a state being legitimate not only in perception but in action is vital for the sustainability of peace (Call, 2008, p.68, p.71: Zaum, 2015). Therefore, as a final set of reforms, judicial and electoral changes will aid in eradicating state capture. This would increase the legitimacy of the Sierra Leonean government, which in turn builds a state that is well-functioning in the eyes of the people and, because of this, guarantees sustainable peace.
Twenty years after the civil war, state capture is still a threat to sustainable peace in Sierra Leone. After independence, the judiciary was a well-functioning independent body, but by the time Siaka Stevens left office in 1984, ‘civil society had been silenced; the independent judiciary inherited from the departing colonial ruler had been transformed into an adjunct of the ruling party’ (Zack-Williams, 2008, p.10). If the third arm of government’s purpose is to protect the interest of the incumbent government and not to protect justice, then the executive is not held to account and state capture is inevitable. Lake (2010, p.32) argues that a state is only legitimate when a ruler’s directives and laws are understood by subordinates as binding. By altering the powers given to the chief justice in the Sierra Leonean constitution, one can increase the independence and accountability of the judiciary, thus reducing state capture, and building true legitimacy. This would strengthen the operation of the state, as well as its perception among Sierra Leonean citizens, guaranteeing sustainable peace among elites and between elites and citizens.
Military governments and instability caused by the civil war were the few occasions where Sierra Leone used the Proportional Representation (PR) electoral system. In 2007 the country went back to First Past the Post (FPTP) and people voted for individuals representing political parties, not the parties themselves. The same can be said for the general elections in 2012 and 2018. However, in 2023, the executive deciphered that if they continued with constituents-based voting the SLPP would be unable to get a majority in parliament. The government, therefore, reintroduced PR, which they had no constitutional reason to do as the country was not in a time of war. In a politically volatile state like Sierra Leone, PR replicates existing ethnic divisions and does nothing to foster peace across party lines (Horowitz, 2002, p.18). The executive’s move was deemed unconstitutional by the opposition and the government was taken to court. The Sierra Leonean constitution gives the chief justice the power to choose judges and not the permanent members of the Supreme Court, a convention which allows state capture. This was the case in Sierra Leone and the judges justified the executive’s change to the PR system. In terms of judicial reform, inspiration should be taken from Kenya’s judiciary which promoted transparency and independence from the executive. In Sierra Leone, chief justices are nominated by the president subject to approval by parliament, which is also an institution under state capture. Hence, the executive’s nomination of judges is rubber-stamped by parliament. In Kenya on the other hand, as per the 2010 constitution, persons interested in becoming judges including the chief justice, must submit applications when vacancies for such positions are published by the Judicial Service Commission and go through a thorough recruitment process leading to their appointments. The interview process is aired live on national television services. This could be the reason the Kenyan judiciary invalidated a presidential election result in 2017 due to the relative independence it enjoys compared to the Sierra Leonean judiciary (Pal Ghai and Ghai, no date). If this same system is applied to the Sierra Leonean judiciary for judges and permanent member selections then the independence of the judicial branch of government would increase, reducing state capture. This reform would lead to sustainable peace among elites across party lines.
As well as the judiciary, the electoral system is also affected by state capture. Recent shootings (Al Jazeera 2023) and accusations of treason (Al Jazeera, 2024), demonstrate that Sierra Leonean elections are not as peaceful as suggested by scholars (Afrobarometer, 2023). 88% of Sierra Leoneans view their national identity as just as strong as their ethnic identity, and yet the verbal and often physical violence between the SLPP and APC would suggest otherwise (Afrobarometer, 2023). The APC is regarded as a northwestern political outfit while the SLPP is a southeastern political outfit, hence the political tension between the northwest and the southeast areas in Sierra Leone. A move from FPTP and PR to a preferential voting system of Alternative Vote (AV) would allow for a third progressive political force in the politics of the country. This should be more inclusive and made up of people from a cross-section of Sierra Leone and of all tribes and regions. This will dilute the political tension and have a moderating influence on the country’s political landscape, fostering peace between the two biggest political parties and their supporters.
The AV is a preferential electoral system in which voters rank-order their choices among different parties or candidates on the ballot paper. AV encourages cooperation and accommodation among rival groups. Horowitz (2002, p.23) argues that AV allows for ‘vote pooling’ in which there is a high possibility of cross-ethnic voting in divided societies. This system would work well in Sierra Leone as it has ethnic divides among the two largest parties SLPP and ACP, but rather than one tribe versus another, multiple tribal groups often band together during election time. AV encourages elites to reciprocally depend on votes from groups other than their own, giving them an incentive to campaign on manifestos that benefit multiple ethnic groups of Sierra Leoneans, lessening tensions during election time. AV also produces winners that a larger number of voters can agree on, which is important in a post-civil war state like Sierra Leone where chaos at election time poses one of the biggest threats to sustainable peace. Not only can Sierra Leonean citizens support and grow minority parties they agree with, but AV also has no spoiler effect, in which less preferred candidates could win an election due to the redistribution of votes, avoiding a “winner takes it all” situation that is the current practice in the country.
Reforming the electoral system to AV would curb accusations of governments switching back and forth between FPTP and PR for their gain. If there is no legitimacy, reforms will be slow and the changes will not last; at worst, infrastructure projects can be stopped in their tracks as a political tactic to harm different political parties' strongholds, as has been done in Sierra Leone in the past. There is a legitimacy-capacity trade-off with each electoral system, and with AV more layers of government are included. This puts more constraints on the executive which is necessary to eradicate state capture in Sierra Leone. A switch to AV could also reduce the state’s already low capacity but this can be supplemented by third-party intervention groups partnering with local leaders to implement capacity-building reforms until a substantial reduction in state capture occurs within the government.
Judicial reform would increase the independence of judges from the executive and switching from the PR to the AV electoral system would harbour cross-party and cross-ethnic cooperation. This two-pronged approach to building legitimacy helps to eradicate state capture, increasing the government’s legitimacy. Thus, guaranteeing sustainable peace among elites, as well as between elites and citizens.
For Sierra Leone, sustainable peace is contingent upon addressing the root causes of the civil war, which remain serious issues twenty years later. Once security and community-focused capacity-building reforms which tackle disciplining security networks, championing inclusion among ranks, reducing youth unemployment and promoting mental health services are enacted then attention can shift towards building formal legitimacy. Increasing legitimacy through judicial and electoral reform is vital if Sierra Leone is to function optimally through promoting accountable and cooperative governance. These socially conscious reforms require significant funding as well as appropriate third-party intervention that can provide financial aid while allowing the local leaders and communities to have a say in reforms. Further research would be needed to accurately identify the resources and needs of rural communities in the nation. Despite limitations, by acknowledging the unique challenges Sierra Leone faces and tailoring interventions accordingly, policymakers can pave the way for lasting peace and prosperity for all Sierra Leoneans.
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