By Mohamed T. Massaquoi
The Sierra Leone Bar Association (SLBA) has added its voice to the debate over the legality of the decision to cancel last month’s by-election in Constituency 110.
The Association said the move by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) was unconstitutional.
The August 24 by-election, which was marred by violence, was contested by four parties: the governing Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), the main opposition All people’s Congress (APC), the National Grand Coalition (NGC), and Unity Party (UP). It turned out to be more like a two-horse race, between main rivals SLPP and APC, both of whom eventually claimed victory in spite of the cancelation.
There were condemnation of the NEC’s decision, notably by the APC and the National Elections Watch. Another group of civil society organization, the Citizen’s Advocacy Network, is reported to be planning to take the matter to the ECOWAS. The Network is doing this in a joint bid with Legal Link, a law firm that serves as a pressure group.
Robert B. Kowa, President of the Bar Association, said the decision of the NEC amounted to an extension of its powers, and he likened it to the cancellation of votes in 2012 by the then Chief Electoral Commissioner, Dr Christiana Thorpe.
“The provisions of the electoral laws and section 87(1) is poorly interpreted. But as an association, we are not here to interpret those provisions. The court is open and I believe the National Electoral Commission should be properly guided,” Kowa stated at a press conference on Tuesday.
Held in the conference hall of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists offices in Freetown, the press conference was the first to have been organised by the association under Kowa’s leadership, elected into office last July.
SLBA is one of the oldest Bar Associations in the sub-Sahara, and it has been at the forefront of Sierra Leone’s political and democratic journey, from independence to the civil war to date.
But in the last decade it has suffered image issues as it fights division along party political lines, to the extent that it has been seen by critics as a disservice to the masses.
In the past, the association has released two separate statements on contentious national issues, often with political implications.
The Kowa administration was notably criticized for maintaining a tight lip over the last month by-election.
At Tuesday’s press conference was NEC’s Chief of Media and External Relations, Christopher Jones, who reiterated what the Commission has always said since the incident, that they have the legal mandate to cancel public elections that are marred by violence.
“Section 32 of the 1991 constitution gives us the mandate to conduct elections,” said Mr Jones.
He added: “As long as we have the mandate to conduct elections, we also have the mandate to set regulations, and [in] setting regulations we can cancel elections.”
Jones said the Commission cannot give account of any election that was marred by chaos, citing the May 31 High Court ruling that led to the Commission been ordered to rerun three parliamentary elections. The Constituency 110 election was one of those.
Last Saturday, 14 September, the second by election was conducted in Falaba, which was won by the SLPP.
The third rerun is slated for this Saturday, 21st September in Constituency 043.
Jones said the Constituency 110 election was so tight that it was hard to tell who would win it, and that because the violence affected a whole polling center, comprising a total of 10 polling stations, they had to do the inevitable by cancelling it to avoid further worsening of the conflict. He there was a difference of just 174 votes between the two leading candidates.
“If it is chaotic in such a way that we have to leave the polling stations, you know the answer,” Jones explained.
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