By Saio Marrah
The parliamentary leader of the opposition National Grand Coalition (NGC), Dr. Kandeh Yumkella, has called for a truly independent National Peace and Cohesion Commission.
Yumkella, who is popularly known as KKY, made this call in the Well of Parliament on Tuesday, 17th November. He was speaking during the debate on the bill designed to establish the commission, titled: “The Independent Commission for Peace and National Cohesion Act 2020.”
The bill was presented to the House by Chief Minister Professor David J. Francis. Besides the establishment of the Commission, the bill is intended to give the institution the power to take measures to prevent, manage and resolve conflicts, and to build, promote and maintain sustainable peace in Sierra Leone, among other related matters.
KKY, who represents Constituency 062, said that his party believed in peace, noting that that is why they attended the Bintumani III conference, a national dialogue session on peace and cohesion. He added that for the commission to work properly, it has to be truly independent, pointing out issues in the bill that he believes question such potential independence.
The Constituency 062 lawmaker pointed a provision in the bill that allows for a minister to supervise the Commission and the chairman and other commissioners to be appointed by the President. These, he said, opens door for politicization.
“For this commission to work, it has to be independent. We have seen that whenever a minister is appointed to supervise such an entity, politics come in,” he said, while calling on Chief Minister, Prof. Francis to clarify why the minister was mentioned in the provision.
Dr. Yumkella also said that for peace to prevail, there should be an ‘ethnic audit’, which means one ethnic group must not have more than 30% of government appointments.
Sahr Emmerson Lamin, MP of Constituency 030 in Kono District, a Member of the Coalition for Change (C4C) party, expressed similar concerns, noting that the issue of tribal lens and winner takes all are all causes of war and should be avoided.
In response to KKY’s comment on the appointment of the chairman and other members of the commission, Dr. Roland F. Kargbo, opposition All People’s Congress (APC) MP, noted that even in the United States the president could do such an appointment, pointing out that the provision posed no threat to the independence of the Commission.
Other MPs who spoke during the debate suggested that key sectors, like the women’s forum, disables, the inter-religious council, among many other representative groups, be represented in the Commission.
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