By Mustapha Kamara & Allieu Sahid Tunkara
Outgoing chairperson and chief electoral commissioner of the National Electoral Commission, Christian Thorpe, on Monday bade farewell and officially wrapped up her duties at their headquarters on Tower Hill in Freetown after ten years at the helm.
Before handing over her keys she thanked staff of the commission for their support over the years and praised them for enabling her carry out her mandate of conducting elections in the country.
“Ten years of work at the commission is not a short time but I am very happy that I was able to restructure the commission. I am happy to be leaving behind a commission that is of international standard”, she said, adding that she did what was right, and that those decisions at elections made Sierra Leone enjoy peace and tranquility.
She explained that in the conduct of elections, the winners would be happy and losers would always not be happy but that the most important thing was that she did the right thing and her conscience was clear.
“I came in a chaotic situation when there was no structure, no commission. But now I have left a legacy. A commission with a structure and system that are at par with any international electoral system in the world if not even better than other countries,” Dr. Thorpe said.
She said Sierra Leoneans still needed to learn a lot about governance system and democracy so that they would be able to know how valuable their votes were.“When every Sierra Leonean understands this, then everybody will be able to enjoy democracy in Sierra Leone,” she advised, and disclosed that she was returning to civil society activism and would be working directly to promote girls’ education in the country.
(C) Politico 19/08/14
