By Kemo Cham
The head of Sierra Leone’s Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) has expressed shock at the conduct of the governing party which has refused to sign a draft report, effectively delaying the conclusion of ongoing review of the current Constitution.
Justice Edmund Cowan said the All People Congress (APC) party’s action is likely to delay the conclusion of the process which has so far lasted for three years. He told Politico that the excuse the party forwarded for its move was untenable.
The review of the 1991 constitution is expected to reset Sierra Leone on a new democratic pedestal, coming about 15 years after the end of the eleven years brutal civil war that was blamed on factors occasioned by some of the deficiencies of the current constitution which was written under the watch of an APC-led government.
The 80-member committee charged with reviewing the constitution held what was supposed to be its last plenary at the end of last month, after which it was expected to present the report to cabinet for onward submission to parliament and eventual convening of the much anticipated referendum.
But last week the APC shocked the nation when it announced its refusal to sign the draft report. Its officials forwarded a number of reasons for the decision. A major concern was that they have not seen the full report and therefore could not sign what they hadn’t a complete detail of.
The party also expressed opposition to three key changes they say have been made on the current constitution.
Osman Yanssaneh, APC’s Secretary General, told state broadcaster, SLBC, that they were opposed to the removal of a provision given the power of appointment of the Chief Justice to the President. He said they were also opposed to a provision which seeks to de-politicize election of local council authorities. And their third, and perhaps most controversial point, is their opposition to the removal of the phrase: ‘Supreme Executive Authority’ as attributed to the powers of the President, and replacing it with ‘Chief Executive Authority.’
Critics say the term ‘Supreme Executive Authority’ conferred too much power on the President so that he/she is effectively more powerful than the constitution itself.
It could be recalled that this was the provision cited by President Ernest Bai Koroma to justify his controversial decision removing his former Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana. Despite a subsequent Supreme Court ruling upholding the President’s decision, many Sierra Leoneans, including staunch APC supporters, have expressed disapproval of the provision.
Alpha Kanu, APC’s Publicity Secretary, however told Politico that their most important concern was the alleged refusal of the CRC Secretariat to publish the full draft report to committee members.
“It’s a simple logic. If I am going to sign something, let me see what it is that I am signing,” he said on a telephone interview.
Kanu, who is also a presidential adviser, is one of six people that represent the APC at the CRC. He insisted that their intention is to accelerate the process, denying charges that APC was holding the process to ransom with its demands.
The move by the ruling party has angered civil society and some opposition political parties.
The main opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) described the APC’s action as a show of dishonesty.
According to the CRC Chairman, three of the APC’s representatives signed the report during the last plenary, only for them to write letters later asking to withdraw their signatures, apparently on the orders of their party. He said only a handful of people from the smaller political parties of PDP and NDA failed to sign. And he said the excuse they gave was that the document was too huge and they had to read and revert.
The representative of the National Union of Sierra Leone Students also wrote asking to withdraw their signature after the APC’s decision.
Justice Cowan, who is also currently the Ombudsman of Sierra Leone, said everybody in the committee knows what’s in the report as they have all been part of the discussion throughout the process. He said all committee members had ample time to go through the report and make recommendations accordingly.
Cowan said they couldn’t produced the full report for now because it had been sent to the printers. He however noted that the bulky nature of the over 800-page report meant that they had to extract the most important aspects of it, including all changes made, which were contained in the draft report and presented as Executive Summary.
Cowan said the APC’s concern over the appointment of CJ and Local council elections showed that they weren’t paying attention because the changes had since been reversed in their favor after a change of mind in the public.
“I am surprised… At every stage [of the process] the members were informed about what was going on,” he lamented, explaining in detail the process involved in reaching the final report.
In its protest letter to the Secretariat, APC cited allegations by its representatives that they were coerced into signing the draft. Cowan dismissed this as untrue, saying the Committee comprised men and women of distinguished characters who couldn’t possibly be forced to do what they didn’t want to do.
Former Information Minister and currently Member of Parliament, Ibrahim Ben Kargbo; Cabinet Minister, Elizabeth Mans; and Dawda Kamara, a former cabinet minister, were the three APC representatives who signed the report before been ordered to withdraw their signature, according to Cowan.
Other members of the committee who signed the report included university professors and Supreme Court justices.
In all 55 people signed it, Cowan said, noting that that constituted a majority and enough for the document to be presented to cabinet.
A referendum for the approval of the new constitution by the public is expected early next year, ahead of general elections expected the year after. But this delay in the conclusion of the constitutional review process has casted doubt on the prospect of holding the referendum in time.
According to Cowan, the CRC secretariat was only waiting for an appointment to present the draft report to President Ernest Bai Koromna when this development ensued. The retired High Court Judge said they would now have to convene one more plenary for the committee to decide the next move.
“It is for them to take a decision, not me,” he said.
Copyright (c) Politico 2016
