The word of a President should be sacred, not just a declaration, but a binding social contract with the people. President Julius Maada Bio, through his Minister of Information and Civic Education, publicly reassured Sierra Leoneans that he has no intentions of seeking a third term or extending his presidency. But as we observe the unfolding events along the Sierra Leone/Guinea border, particularly in the contested area of Yenga, it becomes increasingly clear that this assurance may have been nothing more than a tactical statement, devoid of sincerity.

Yenga is not just a borderland issue, it is fast becoming the nucleus of a greater constitutional and political crisis. Based on current trends, the deliberate mishandling of the Yenga conflict appears to be a calculated move to manufacture a state of war, giving President Bio the perfect pretext for a term extension without a referendum, sanctioned by our very own Constitution.

Let us examine the legal foundations. The 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone, under Section 49(2)(c), states: 

“Where the Republic is at war, the President may, by proclamation published in the Gazette, postpone the holding of any election… and the President shall remain in office until the holding of such an election.”

This provision, originally intended to provide continuity of governance during real national emergencies, now risks becoming a dangerous loophole,  one that can be exploited to prolong incumbency without the will of the people.

If the President successfully invokes this clause due to a contrived or prolonged conflict in Yenga, Sierra Leone could see a suspension of elections, and a de facto extension of his term,  potentially by two or more years, without consulting the citizens through a referendum or parliamentary debate. This would mark a significant and dangerous departure from constitutional democracy.

The territorial dispute over Yenga is not new. It dates back to the days of our civil war, when Guinean forces crossed into Sierra Leone to assist in combating the RUF insurgency. After the war, successive governments,

including that of President Koroma, engaged in negotiations and agreements for Guinean troops to withdraw. Yet today, the conflict lingers.

What has changed is the political timing and the new players involved. Colonel Mamady Doumbouya of Guinea,  a military leader who overthrew President Alpha Condé,  promised a transitional path to civilian rule but now eyes the presidency himself. Like President Bio, he stands at a political crossroads, searching for legitimacy. The two leaders, one democratic and the other a junta leader, now seem engaged in a “Help me, I help you” dynamic. They are leveraging Yenga for their mutual political survival.

And now, President Bio is testing the waters. Public discourse is heating up. Security rhetoric is rising. Controlled tension is being sustained. And frighteningly, it appears to be working to his advantage.

Within the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), this creeping development has caught many off guard. While the President keeps assuring the public of his clean intentions, no SLPP official has dared to question the early signs of extension politics. This silence is either a sign of complicity or fear,  neither of which bodes well for democratic governance.

It is alarming that SLPP stalwarts are being outmanoeuvred by the very man they helped install in power. Their own party structures have become passive spectators to a game of high-stakes constitutional manipulation. The rank and file of the SLPP have every right to ask questions, and President Bio must come out clean to address those concerns. The future of their party and the country is at stake.

The Parliament of Sierra Leone, as the elected voice of the people, must now rise to the occasion. It is their constitutional and moral duty to forestall any attempt by the President to misuse the war clause in Section 49(2)(c). Parliament must demand clarity on the status of the Yenga issue and summon the Foreign Affairs Minister and the Minister of Defence to explain the true nature of the border developments.

If war is being manufactured for political gain, Parliament must expose it. They must ensure that no artificial war is used as an excuse to suspend democracy, disrupt elections, or impose hardship on the people.

While the opposition All People’s Congress (APC) continues to mobilize ahead of the next electoral cycle, the SLPP government is quietly tightening its grip on political space. Numerous new political parties are waiting to be registered, yet the Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC) remains suspiciously slow, if not altogether complicit, in freezing them out.

These actions are not incidental. They are part of a broader architecture to ensure that when the President eventually announces an extension, there will be no credible or organized political opposition strong enough to resist. It’s a tactic borrowed from authoritarian playbooks: weaken the opposition, control the narrative, and build a climate of fear.

Let us not forget: there is no full-scale war in Yenga. Not yet. There are diplomatic avenues that remain unexplored. There are regional mechanisms through ECOWAS and the African Union that can be activated. There are treaties and memoranda of understanding that bind both Guinea and Sierra Leone to peaceful resolutions. But these paths are being neglected, perhaps intentionally.

If President Bio truly wanted peace, he would engage Guinea robustly through transparent, verifiable diplomatic processes. He would update the nation through Parliament. He would invite civil society into the conversation. He would ensure that the public is aware of every move, and that no step is taken behind closed doors. Instead, there is ambiguity. And in politics, ambiguity is the fog in which authoritarianism thrives.

Because the President has found that the likelihood of term extension from five years to seven years wouldn't be acceptable in the constitutional review of the 1991 Constitution, now Yenga appears the shortcut to a further two years without any hiccups. Sierra Leoneans must be vigilant, and every civil society institution and community must be aware and let the President know that we are not ready and will not go  into a fabricated war in order to gain credence for an extension.

If Sierra Leone allows this gambit to succeed, we are writing a tragic script for our democracy. Future leaders will look at Yenga and learn that power can be extended by simply creating or delaying conflict. They will understand that the Constitution can be used not to defend democracy, but to destroy it.

This cannot be the legacy we leave for our children. Our nation, still recovering from war, cannot afford to play games with peace. The economic hardship is already unbearable. Public trust is at an all-time low. And if elections are suspended under the guise of a war that could have been avoided, the social contract will be broken beyond repair.

President Bio must speak to the people  plainly and truthfully. He must clarify his intentions regarding 2028. He must explain why Yenga remains unresolved. He must order the PPRC to expedite registration of political parties. He must enforce intra-party discipline within the SLPP to avoid premature campaigning. And most importantly, he must assure the nation that the Constitution will not be used to extend his rule through manufactured conflict.

As for Parliament, the time to act is now. The people are watching. History is recording. If they fail to protect the democratic order, they too will be complicit in the betrayal of Sierra Leone’s future.

And to civil society, religious leaders, and the media, your silence is not neutrality; it is surrender. We must speak up before it's too late.

So again, we ask: Is Yenga a border dispute, or a presidential extension strategy? And will our nation allow history to be rewritten in the bloodless ink of manipulation?

By Alpha Amadu Jalloh

Author of “Monopoly of Happiness: Unveiling Sierra Leone’s Social Imbalance” and recipient of the Africa Renaissance Leadership Award 2025.