Opposition leader Ernest Bai Koroma was sworn in as Sierra Leone president within hours of being declared the winner of a tense run-off vote and vowed to adopt zero tolerance on corruption.
In choosing Koroma, the citizens of the West African country voted against the party that ushered them out of a devastating war in 2002 and for the promise of a better peace with less corruption and more jobs.
Within hours of Koroma's swearing in, hundreds of looters descended on the ruling party headquarters, ransacking every room. They could be seen carrying out desks and chairs, computer monitors and printers, posters and coat racks before police blanketed the neighborhood in tear gas.
Police shot live rounds into the air and arrested numerous looters before setting up a police cordon and regaining control of the area. At least one person was killed.
Koroma won 55 percent of 1.7 million valid ballots, compared with 45 percent for the ruling party candidate, vice president Solomon Berewa, election commission chief Christiana Thorpe said on Monday.
Koroma was sworn in during an afternoon ceremony in Freetown in the presence of outgoing president Ahmed Tejan Kabbah and Berewa. Kabbah had been barred by term limits from running for a third five-year term.
"I inherited a bankrupt, war-torn and failing state. Today, I am handing over to you a fully stable and functional state," Kabbah told Koroma in front of a crowd of cheering and clapping supporters.
Thousands wearing red T-shirts and hats in support of Koroma clogged the streets of Freetown. They sang and danced throughout a heavy downpour.
Though ruling party officials had earlier decried the outcome on local radio, Berewa said he called Koroma with congratulations soon after the release of results.
The election, the first presidential vote since UN peacekeepers withdrew two years ago, has been seen as a test of whether the West African country has emerged from the chaos wrought by a decade-long war.
Peace was re-established with the help of UN forces in 2002, but most of its citizens remain poor and unemployed, and corruption is rampant.
Koroma had run on a platform of change and promised to rout out corruption and create more economic opportunity.
A former insurance company executive, he also promised to run the government with the efficiency of a business -- promising to quickly rebuild roads and war-battered infrastructure.
"My government will spare no effort to adopt zero tolerance on corruption and mismanagement of state resources. We know how high your expectations are and that you have suffered for too long," Koroma told the crowd of military officials, dignitaries and supporters.
His upset victory is a rarity in a region dominated by strong ruling parties.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the
RSS