Supporters of opposition candidate Julius Maada Bio wave from a rooftop as Bio's campaign convoy passes en route to his final rally in Freetown, Sierra Leone Thursday. Ten years after the end of a devastating civil war, Sierra Leone will go to the polls on Saturday to choose between candidates including Bio and incumbent President Ernest Bai Koroma. — AP
IT was 9 a.m. on May 25, 1998. Borboh Jeff Kamara, 14, was walking to school with classmates when rebels grabbed him, held him down and cut off his fingers, leaving only his thumbs. Fourteen years later, he and other voters go to the polls Saturday to choose a leader they hope will assure continued peace and finally bring some measure of prosperity to this war-ravaged country that remains among the world's poorest. “Life is very, very rough. Poverty is always at our door,” Kamara says. “That's my prayer each day: God help me to survive and make a good future for my children.” After his horrible run-in with the rebels in the jungles of northern Sierra Leone in 1998, Kamara survived for days without medical attention. After years of rehabilitation, he learned to write again and became the most educated member of his family. Now the married father of two young children works as a receptionist in the capital, but many of those wounded during Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 civil war have not been as successful. Saturday's vote — the country's third presidential election since the end of the war — hinges on which candidate can best uplift this West African country trying to shed its past and benefit from its diamond riches. A decade after the war's end, Sierra Leone remains one of the world's poorest countries. Most of the country's nearly 6 million people live on less than $1.25 a day, according to the World Bank, and it remains among the deadliest places in the world for women to give birth. An estimated 2,000 people suffered amputations or were seriously maimed during the war depicted in the film “Blood Diamond.” Many survivors face discrimination and few job prospects, and must resort to begging on the streets of the capital. Incumbent Ernest Bai Koroma is pointing to his accomplishments during his first term, promising in his campaign signs that “I Will Do More.” It's unclear, though, whether the leader of the All Peoples Congress (APC) party can garner the 55 percent of ballots needed to avert a runoff. He faces eight opponents including leading opposition figure Julius Maada Bio, a retired brigadier general from the Sierra Leone Peoples Party, or SLPP. He calls himself the “father of democracy” after his brief three-month tenure at the country's helm in 1996. Among the smaller party candidates is Joshua Carew, who spent nearly four decades in the American state of Iowa before deciding to make a run for national office in his native Sierra Leone. Koroma was elected in 2007 on a ticket of change, and says he has visibly improved the country's quality of life. His supporters point to newly paved roads and a government health care reform program that has provided free medical treatment although there are serious concerns about its sustainability. “There are those who in spite of the progress we are experiencing continue to preach sermons of doom,” he said. “I am asking to be elected again so that I can scale up the gains we have made in just five years and bring prosperity to all Sierra Leoneans.” In addition to its diamond riches, Sierrra Leone also has had three offshore oil discoveries between 2009 and 2012 though the government says appraisals are still under way to determine their viability. Koroma said that “the prospects for Sierra Leone becoming an oil-exporting nation are very great,” and is pledging that the country will develop its resources in a sustainable way that benefits the impoverished country's citizens. — AP
