Freetown Mayor, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr has predicted that the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) will lose the 2028 general elections.
Speaking in an interview on Liberty Online TV, Aki-Sawyerr said she is confident that voters will remove the government from power when the country next goes to the polls.
“In 2028, SLPP people will not be here because SLPP will be voted out,” she said.
The Mayor said the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) still faces internal political challenges and ongoing legal battles, but that would not stop an opposition victory.
She attributed her confidence to the current economic hardship facing citizens, arguing that public dissatisfaction would translate into political change.
“The power of the people is greater than the people in power,” she said, adding that Sierra Leoneans have experienced suffering and regression.
Aki-Sawyerr also spoke about her record at the Freetown City Council, particularly on revenue mobilization. She said reforms introduced under her leadership were recognized internationally and featured in The Economist magazine.
“The Economist is in everybody’s Bible. It is used across boardrooms. It’s used across political spaces,” she said, recalling that she read the magazine as an economics student and during her career in financial services in the United Kingdom.
“I’m proud to say when I bring in more tax, that was actually featured in The Economist as a revolutionary, innovative, sort of record-breaking new approach for revenue generation and collection at local council level,” she added.
Mayor Aki-Sawyerr, first elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2023, has been one of the most prominent opposition figures since the disputed 2023 elections. She has not declared whether she will contest for the APC flagbearer position ahead of 2028, though she remains widely mentioned as a potential contender.
