By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
Ahead of the submission of the tripartite report to President Julius Maada Bio, the Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL) led a nation-wide regional stakeholder engagement in Bo, Kenema, Makeni and PortLoko during which citizens called for an inclusive, participatory and accountable implementation of the recommendations of the tripartite committee’s report.
The stakeholder engagement primarily aimed at ascertaining people's level of awareness and/or knowledge about the Committee's work and their perspectives about the mandate and composition of the Committee.
A press statement issued by CARL and read by the organization’s Head of Programs in Freetown on the 4th July, 2024 stated that everyone expressed hope that the recommendations of the Committee would be implemented in a timely and cooperative manner in line with the bipartisan spirit that produced the report. Jeremy Ben Simbo urged the government, main opposition APC and other political parties, Parliament and development partners to work together in implementing the recommendations.
Citizens expressed hope that non-state actors, including civic groups, will accompany/monitor the implementation process and ensure that both the government and the opposition are held to account with regard to their obligations under the Agreement for National Unity as well as the recommendations of the Committee.
The Statement indicated that citizens expressed hope that development partners will continue providing technical and financial support throughout the implementation process. They recognized the responsibility of the government in implementing the recommendations and they also urged the government to demonstrate political will and provide much needed resources to implement the recommendations.
They also urged the leadership of political parties, especially the ruling SLPP and the main opposition APC, to simplify the report and correctly disseminate the recommendations to their membership and supporters across the country.
The citizens also felt that much of the electoral reforms needed would depend on a comprehensive and forward-looking review of the Constitution of Sierra Leone. They also urged government to speed-up the Constitutional review process to address all the grey areas.
Sierra Leoneans, according the advocacy group want a peaceful conduct of public elections that is free, fair, and transparent, as they don't want to be gripped by fear, after elections every five years. “Citizens fear that systems to conduct our elections are still porous, and can be manipulated by politicians and political parties at various levels of the electoral process," part of the statement read.
According to CARL's findings from the field, many people said the Tripartite Committee was a good idea, and may have helped in restoring calm and giving hope about the quality of elections moving forward. They recommended the willingness of the ruling party and main opposition APC to work together in producing an outcome that they hope will help improve citizens' trust in elections, pointing out that the outcome of each Presidential election has been challenged since 2007.
"Although many of the participants had heard about the Tripartite Committee, their knowledge level about the mandate or terms of reference was incredibly low, amidst widespread misinformation and dis-information. For example, many people thought the mandate of the Tripartite Committee included facilitating a re-run of the 2023 Presidential election," according to the CARL statement.
The statement pointed out that, the Committee was very poor at keeping citizens informed and engaged on a regular basis, which is even why there was misinformation and dis-information about the process. Many people thought the report was rushed in order to meet the "unrealistic timeline that had been agreed upon by the key actors.
According to CARL, most of the 80 recommendations made by the Tripartite Committee go towards producing an enabling environment for free, fair, transparent and accountable elections with an outcome that is acceptable to all.
"Effective implementation is key though, as with many brilliant laws, policies and development plans, we have not always had a great experience with implementation," CARL said in their statement.
CARL urged all actors - the Government of Sierra Leone, main opposition APC, development partners and citizens to work cooperatively in implementing the recommendations so as to strengthen the integrity of elections.
Copyright © 2024 Politico (10/07/24)
