By Crispina Lois Taylor
The newly appointed chief electoral commissioner of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) in Sierra Leone, N’fa Alie Conteh, has yesterday told the country’s parliamentary appointment committee that he would consider himself 95 percent fair, if he was to evaluate himself.
Responding to questions from committee members in parliament, Conteh said that he had worked with NEC for well over 20 years but had never had any confrontation with any political party in the country. He said none of the parties had anything strong against him.
Asked whether or not he too would refer opposition party members to the police like his predecessor as most opposition members looked at things differently, the new NEC boss responded that “anything that has to do with the police would be handled by the police but I am not sure that I would have a cause to make such statements.”
As he had been working with political parties over the years, Conteh said that he had learnt to not be angry with anyone, stating that his vision was to make the commission more consultative with its staff. He said he would employ more team work and improve on the professionalism of staff.
Asked how much involvement he would have with the Diaspora in voting and registration, he responded that that had always been difficult in the past because voting and registration were different and that the problem had always been about how to target Sierra Leoneans all over the world. He said the cost involved was also a big challenge as election processes were very expensive.
© Politico 04/02/15
