Freetown. Ecowas election observer team at work.

A 15-member ecowas election observer group is in Sierra Leone to discharge its mandate. Ghanaian koku anyidoho is part of the long-term observer mission.

Sierra Leoneons go to the polls on June 24 to elect a president and parliamentarians. It is reported that incumbent Julius maada bio and leading opposition figure samura kamara are frontrunners.

Sierra Leone was a beacon of stability before it descended into military interjections of the democratic order, chaos, and outright civil war for most of the 1990s and early 2000s.

The cessation followed the death of Foday Sankoh, one of the citizen protagonists of the mayhem, and the arrest of Liberia’s warlord, later the president, Charles Taylor, who was accused of meddling in the affairs of neighboring Sierra Leone.

The pause in the war towards enduring stability under democratic rule, saw the rise of Ahmed Tejan kabbah, Bai Koroma, and former military junta leader, Julius maada bio, as the new hands-on levers of power at stages in the post-conflict period.

Sierra Leone gained independence from colonial rule in 1961 with Siaka Stevens as its first leader.

See the full Press Release below;