FREETOWN: On stage, Julius Maada Bio dances to a hit song, pacing with a slightly off-rhythm bounce as workers in his party’s token green cheer. Like others captured in widely shared videos from election campaign rallies, the scene appears unnatural for the quite ex-putschist, now leading the West African nation Sierra Leone as an elected civilian.
But Bio, 59, who on Saturday contests a second tenure as president of the West African country, has worked hard to rebrand himself since his military days as a family man who cares deeply about women and education issues.
Supporters appreciate his record as bringing some of the most progressive policies in the region over his five-year term.
From abolishing a criminal libel law and death penalty to increasing women’s representation in the public and private spheres and reducing school fees to improve access to education, all were recommendations by the country’s post-civil war Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Around the capital city of Freetown, his face adorns big billboards advertising free sanitary pads for students, and he has introduced steps to keep vulnerable kids, including pregnant girls in school.
Widening access to education accounts for about a quarter of the national budget.
In a recent interview with AFP, he said he would prioritize agriculture in a second tenure and decrease reliance on imported food staples like rice, as the country was battling a cost-of-living crisis.
He said that what Sierra Leone wanted was not only to produce the staple and other goods, but also to use agriculture to stimulate fiscal growth.
However, his opponents say the civic space has shrunk under his rule.
Sierra Leone’s Ranking on Democracy Advocacy Group Index
Sierra Leone’s ranking on the annual index of US-based democracy advocacy group Freedom House has dropped.
The country slipped 28 places on the Reporters Without Borders (RWB) World Press Freedom Index for 2023.
Following deadly riots in August 2022, Amnesty International said it had collected testimonies alleging excessive use of force and criticized internet restrictions.
Bio’s main rival, Samura Kamara, is on trial for corruption charges in a case that restarted directly after his election as the opposition’s presidential candidate.
Bio hails from the south, a hub of the Sierra Leone People’s Party he now leads.
His father, a local chief, died when he was 4, and he was raised by an uneducated mother whom he credits for instilling in him a respect for females and an understanding of the value of education.
In 1992, he took part in a coup with a group whose leader, Valentine Strasser, became the youngest head of state in the world at age twenty-five.
Bio served as chief of the defence staff and deputy to Valentine Strasser before overthrowing him in 1996 and briefly replacing him.
He agreed to resign three months later for an elected civilian leader and apologized for his role in the junta. Bio retired from the army and went to study in the United States.
