By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
Communications Manager at the National Commission for Democracy has said that they will translate relevant portions of Sierra Leone’s 1991 constitution into five local languages to ensure active participation of citizens in the review process.
In an interview with Politico, Gibrilla Kargbo, disclosed that they developed the translation initiative to empower the local people to actively participate in the on-going constitutional review process in the country.
“We chose the five main local languages, Mende, Themne, Krio, Limba and Kono, because we believe that these languages can have much impact on our work since the languages are taught in schools,” he stated.
He said majority of Sierra Leoneans could neither read nor understand the constitution because of the many legal jargons in the document, adding that they wanted to bridge that gap.
With support from UNDP, he went on, the NCD would work very hard to provide the public with enough information on the constitutional review process. He said they were also working in close partnership with key civil society organisations like Campaign for Good Governance.
“If everyone participates in the constitutional review process, we can have a final document that the whole country can take ownership of,” Kargbo said.
CRC’s Executive Director, Samuel Coker, described NCD’s initiative as “a bold step in the right direction,” noting that the move would create a huge significant impact on the constitutional review process. He observed that as a greater majority of the population would be empowered, the work of reviewing the constitution would be made easier.
“We want everyone to come on board so that we can have many voices in our work,” Coker said. He however disclosed that their work had been greatly hindered by the present Ebola crisis in the country “considering that many districts in the country have been isolated.”
He said their work was limited to the Western Area, adding that they were also engaged in institutional consultations.
Meanwhile, head of Campaign for Good Governance, Valnora Edwin, told Politico that translating relevant portions of the constitution into local languages would produce little result as most Sierra Leoneans were not literate enough to read the local languages.
Edwin however expressed hope that someday the move would be successful “when the conducive environment would have been created. Although the project will produce little result in the short term, it will have significant impact on the country in the long term,” she said.
© Politico 07/11/14
