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Sierra Leone: Tight race expected in Saturday’s Presidential election
Sierra Leone readied Friday for a high-stakes election in which incumbent Ernest Koroma is seeking a second term in what is billed as a tight race with his main rival Julius Maada Bio.
Saturday’s election is the third since the end of the 11-year civil war which ended in 2002. It will provide a crucial yardstick of the west African nation’s recovery and put the victors in charge of a lucrative mining boom.
In the capital Freetown, a city undergoing a construction boom and newly paved roads, the stakes are equally high for citizens for whom life is still a daily struggle.
President Ernest Koroma of the All People’s Congress (APC) has been praised for the infrastructure boom, although his detractors say it has been marred by corruption. He hopes to use the impending windfall from mineral resources to finish his governments projects. The country is rich in diamonds, iron-ore, gold and the mineral rutile.
“We are seeing a lot of infrastructure, roads are being built, nice buildings — the country is moving and we keep on going forward — and for that I am going to vote for him (Koroma),” said Santos Kamara, 39, who sells cellphones on the street.
But supporters of the former military leader Julius Maada Bio argue that they cannot eat roads, electricity and fancy new buildings.
Ibrahima Ba, 28, said the improvements under Koroma were “just cosmetic things … to get food for a day is a burden for us.”
