Sierra Leone’s Emmerson supports no political parties

Emmerson, who has been critical of several governments, was speaking to the AFP in Freetown. “I stand with the people; I am with the country. It makes no sense for me to belong to a political party,” he said ahead of his country’s elections.

Sierra Leone has alternated between the All Peoples’ Congress (APC) and Sierra Leone Peoples’ Party (SLPP) since the country’s independence in the early 1960s. Born some three decades later, Emmerson has spent a large portion of his career criticising both parties.

Years after releasing his debut single, Emmerson criticised the SLPP on his 2007 album Borboh Belleh. The APC through President Ernest Bai Koroma later expressed gratitude to the popstar for his consciousness. The relationship between the two broke down when Emmerson turned his sights against the APPC. “The president referred to me as a fly, that he would just blow me off,” Emmerson said.

Koroma spent a decade in power. During that time his country was affected by the Ebola breakout. Koroma and Emmerson exchanged heated words after the musician accused the politician of corruption. Koroma is ineligible to contest this year’s election.

Instead the APC has fielded Samura Kamara who lost narrowly in the first phase of the elections to SLPP candidate Julius Maada Bio. As neither candidate secured the required 55% of votes, runoff elections were expected but were then temporary stopped, to Bio’s irritation.

“We have put in place measures like the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC),” he said to German publication Deutsche Welle. “We have the necessary laws. What is lacking is the political will to support them. The NEC has been doing its best. I can say they have been 110% in my personal estimation of their work. We have had issues with them, we’ve expressed our concerns to them, and they’ve always addressed them.”

Part of Emmerson’s appeal, says Sierra Leonean journalist Esther Kamara, is related to the education of the citizens.

“As the literacy rate of the country is low, many Sierra Leoneans rely on information through auditory sources, sometimes hearing political commentary only through radio or pirated CDs played on public speakers,” she told Music In Africa.

“His hefty commentary articulated in Krio expressions – referring to politicians as two-foot arata, translated as human rats, or standing rats – is well-received by Sierra Leoneans, especially as he combines it with simple, joyful background beats.”

Prior to the election this year, Emmerson embarked on a tour of 10 cities to educate his fellow citizens about the impending elections. The project was initiated by Action Aid with assistance from the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).

Sierra Leone’s runoff elections will now take place on 31 March.