During the courtesy call on him, the main opposition leader said that: “Mr President, I am very pleased for your being here given your vast experience in elections and political matters. Having been an opposition leader and president, I know that I have someone in you who understands my situation”.

In a separate meeting, the incumbent leader expressed similar sentiments saying that having served as two term president, he believes that the AU Head of Mission understands the complexities of the process and that he was sure that his experience will help to enrich the November 27 electoral process. The incumbent candidate even urged president Koroma to make recommendations to the AU that would help to strengthen democracy in Africa.

“This level of trust in the head of an elections observer mission is unprecedented”, said Samuel Mondays Atuobi, a senior technical AU official coordinating the Mission. Mr. Atuobi who has been part of several elections observation missions including in Sierra Leone, said President Koroma’s leadership of the Mission made their participation much credible which therefore made the work of the Mission less stressful.

Ambassador Albert Chimbindi, the Zimbabwean Permanent Representative to the AU and the United Nations Economic Community for Africa, who is part of the Mission’s coordinating team was even more direct about how the credibility of President Koroma added value to the Mission. “Everywhere we went, you can see that the stakeholders received him in reverence and that’s very helpful for the Mission”, said the ambassador.

The Head of the AU Mission and his team have been out and about the capital Windhoek and its environs observing the process.

“It pleases me to contribute to the deepening of democracy in Africa. I believe in the end, it’s the Namibian people who would emerge as winners and so I commend them for being calm, orderly and peaceful and I urge them to sustain this admirable disposition throughout the process”, said former President Koroma.

The Mission has this morning hosted a post elections observation briefing of all international observer missions at the AUEOM Secretariat at the Sahara Hotel in Windhoek. Chaired by Former President Koroma, the international observers exchanged views on the conduct of the 27 November Polls and agreed to release their individual preliminary reports starting tomorrow.