By Saio Marrah
Sierra Leone’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice (AG), Mohamed Lamin Tarawally says the Public Election Bill of 2022 that seeks to repeal the 2012 version if passed into law will be for the good of all Sierra Leoneans.
The AG said this while responding to concerns raised by members of parliament during debate of the second reading of the bill at the house of Parliament on Monday 18th July 2022.
He said the reason for the repeal was to make good laws whilst in office so that one will have no regret later in life.
He assured that the Proportional Representation (PR) system which caters for independent and smaller political parties will be on quota. He said people will have to contest as a Group or as individuals with a list presented to the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) and that there will be a threshold. He said before the election, it will be on the percentage of registered voters and after the election, the percentage will be based on the vote casts. He said the ECSL will come up with necessary regulations for the PR system without explaining how it will happen.
He was responding to an independent Member of Parliament, Musa Shiaka Sama representing constituency 104 in Pujehun District on concerns that the law does not make any provision for independent candidates. Sama noted that independent candidates represent over 150 thousand people in the country.
The Attorney General, however, noted that as a government, they are not before the house of parliament to amend the constitution by “ambush.”
He said the bill is a result of continuous recommendations from development partners and not by the government of President Julius Maada Bio.
On the issue of the 30% quota for women’s representation in the house of parliament, he said women have been marginalized in every sphere of life. The AG noted that Sierra Leone is a signatory to the prevention of all forms of violence against women and for that reason, appealed to the lawmakers to domesticate laws that seek to promote women.
On the clause of the bill that calls for a fixed date for the elections, he said it will avoid nepotism in governance by autocratic leaders in the future.
The Leader of the main opposition, Chernor Maju Bah said while the bill makes it mandatory for the National Identification Number (NIN) for voter registration, he said the constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, does not.
Bah noted that even though the United States of America has NIN in their voter registration as compulsory, it took them so long to be able to come to that stage.
He added that even though he is in support of promoting women, it should not affect the constitution.
In his intervention, the Leader of Government business in parliament, Mathew Sahr Nyuma said the government should protect and make it flexible for voter registration and that it should also be within the ambit of the constitution. He said the issue of NIN will be expunged from the bill when it gets to the committee stage.
He said the aim of the government is to make radical reforms in the electoral systems and quoted the 2021 EU Election Observer Mission report that recommended a fixed date for a presidential election that will prevent unnecessary extension by a sitting president.
He also pointed out that the PR system was a popular recommendation by various stakeholders including Civil Society Organisations in the country.
The PR system is left with the President to decide as to whether it will hold or not, according to the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Sengehpoh Solomon Thomas, representing constituency 089 in Bonthe District.
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