By Alusine Sesay
Zainab Bangura
Femi Claudius Cole
Dr.Sylvia Blyden
Kamala Harris had dreamed of being the first female president of the United States after Hillary Clinton. Both candidates of the Democratic Party were defeated by Donald Trump. Unlike Hilary Clinton who won the popular votes and lost the Electoral College, Kamala Harris lost everything to Donald Trump who secured a landslide victory in the just concluded November elections.
While Donald Trump was taunted as a convicted felon during the campaign by the Democrat candidate, his strength lied in the fact that the Democrat government failed woefully in the area of the economy. Being the Vice President of a government that had performed woefully poor in the area of the economy, with unemployment sky high in the United States, Harris had a little to convince the American voters, who, through the ballot box, preferred Donald Trump to the Democrat candidate.
Twice now, the American voters have refused to vote in a female candidate as a president. Despite the economic crisis leading to the November elections, the United States plays a critical role in the governance of the world. Considering the war in Ukraine and the genocide in Gaza perpetuated by Israel, the United States as the Super Power, is expected to play a lead role in those conflicts, therefore electing a female president for now is not on the table.
When it comes to Sierra Leone and other West African countries, the case is different.Neigbouring Liberia had had a female President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who served for two consecutive terms and peacefully handed over power to George Weah. Despite being a female president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf remains celebrated in Liberia and beyond for an exemplary leadership.
The question now is that, is Sierra Leone really ready for a female President? After the eleven-year civil war, Sierra Leone ushered in a multi-party democracy in 1996 when late President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was elected under the ticket of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP).Since 1996,Sierra Leone has not elected a female president despite contesting elections as flagbearers. With 2028 fastly approaching, a few names of Sierra Leone female politicians including Zainab Hawa Bangura, Dr.Sylvia Blyden, and Femi Claudius Cole, come to mind. When it comes Sierra Leone politics the above names are very much familiar and all of them have played pivotal role in the governance of the country.
Zainab Hawa Bangura rose from being a female activist who fought tooth and nail to usher in democracy, to a vibrant female politician that a majority of Sierra Leoneans are proud. She was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2007 by former President Ernest Bai Koroma and later appointment Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict at the level of Under-Secretary-General on September 4, 2012. In that capacity, she served as Chair of the interagency network, UN Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict (UN Action).Zainab Bangura has carved herself a distinguished personality as one of the finest Sierra Leone female politicians.
Dr. Sylvia Byden, despite being a controversial figure, she has also carved herself a distinguished personality, both as a media practitioner and a politician. She has served in government, first as Special Executive Assistant to President Ernest Bai Koroma and later Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs. Although she has not come out openly about her political ambition, but it is glaring that she is interested in becoming president in the future. To polish her political ambition, however, she has to avoid being into fight with everybody. No doubt she is a fine female politician Sierra Leone should be proud of.
Femi Claudius Cole is a new kid on the block when it comes to Sierra Leone politics. But, within the shortest time of her arrival, she has made a significant in roads, registering the Unity Party and contesting the 2018 elections. Since 2018, she has remained vocal, advocating the welfare of citizens and putting the government on it toes. Her party was not allowed to participate in the 2023 elections on the grounds that the party has no registered office.
If only the two major political parties, the ruling SLPP and the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) can allow a female candidate to contest, then the country would probably witness a new paradigm shift in political dispensation.
