By Saio Marrah
The Chief Electoral Commissioner of Sierra Leone has in its situational update reported incidents of violence against its staff and properties in the electioneering process across the country.
A report read out by the Chief Electoral Commissioner, Mohamed Kenewui Konneh at the Freetown International Conference Centre on Sunday 25th June 2023, indicated that in Bombali district, elections Coordinator, Abdulai Jalloh and was beaten along Magburaka Road in Makeni City.
In Bombali he said Hassan Karim, Office Assistant at the Bombali district office was reportedly beaten and seriously injured on his way to deliver supplementary ballots to a polling station that was running low on ballots. Konneh said the ballot papers were all retrieved intact.
“At Polling Centre code 10271, RC Primary School Mabeseneh in Lunsar town, Port Loko district, a Presiding Officer was beaten for simply carrying out his duty,” he said.
Also in Lunsar, Port Loko district Konneh noted that two Election Coordinators, N'fah A. S. Bangura and Alex Sorie were also beaten with one of their rented vehicles with the number APA 731 vandalised.
A female Election Coordinator Mashiatu Conteh also in Port Loko, was also reportedly beaten and sustained serious injuries at Kagbathama.
At 6058, DEC Primary School Heremakono also in Koinadugu district, serious fighting was said to have taken place which led to the burning of a hired motorbike. “This fighting initially reportedly disrupted the counting save for the prompt intervention of RSLAF that ensured counting continued,” he stated.
He also noted that in Koinadugu district at 6087, DEC Primary school Kamokalia, “our staff were attacked and parliamentary ballot box broken and ballots destroyed all for simply working for the ECSL.”
More so, he said James Borbor Fullah, the Polling Centre Manager at centre code 7082 Baptist Primary School in Magubraka, Tonkolili district who happened to be the headmaster of the school, was seriously manhandled on allegation of ballot stuffing.
The commission also noted that in Tonkolili district, at Bendugu, in Sambaia Bendugu chiefdom, youths allegedly poured fuel on Election Coordinator Ibrahim Conteh in a ploy to set him ablaze, but that he was rescued by some community elders.
The ECSL boss also confirmed that voting took place in all polling stations nationwide on 24th June 2023 and that in some polling stations where polls did not open on time, voting continued beyond 5:00 pm by ensuring that all those in the queue voted.
According to him, at polling centre code 16148, St. Anns School in Freetown for instance, voting went on till 11:30 pm and counting was done in the presence of political agents and observers. “Similarly, at polling centre code 16140, Amaria School in Eastern Freetown, polling continued till around 10:30 pm in the presence of party agents and observers,” Konneh noted.
He also pointed out that Result Reconciliation Forms (RRFs) were being received at district offices and that some of the RRFs earlier received had been taken to the respective regional tally centres for processing.
Konneh said the rest would be transported to the regional tally centres.
“Counting of early voting ballots did not take place in Western Urban, Western Rural and Bombali districts due to violence and high-level tension,” he said.
In Western Area Rural, a delta police officer stationed at centre code 15012 R.E.C Primary School, Waterloo prevented the counting of early voting. This caused huge tension and the ECSL Assistant Director had to be whisked away from the Commanding Officer at Tombo police station. The Commission will make a decision on the next step in line with this,” he pointed out.
At the time of the press conference, he said the tally had commenced in all regional tally centres since Sunday morning.
Copyright © 2023 (Politico (26/06/23)
