Sierra Leone under the dictatorial leadership of Julius Maada Bio’s ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) has been put on the spotlight by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), for his constant impositions of illegality on Sierra Leoneans and breaches of laws, rules, regulations and procedures since he took up office on 4th April 2018 to date.
The trending situation keeps exposing bag governance and the Bio’s absolute disregard for law and order, international treaties, constitutionality and democratic values among others he has already failed in delivering on as promised five years ago.
This time around the ruling class misconduct has to do with desperate and unapt SLPP Members of Parliament, who without due considerations, on Thursday 8th December 2022, succeeded in imposing the unlawful Proportional Representation and District Block system on Sierra Leoneans, for the conduct of the June 24th 2023 multi -tier elections.
The illegitimate and controversial legislation which directly mandate the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) to conduct the 2023 elections, using PR and District Block system, forcefully made it way in exactly six months to the elections, with the support of self-centred and thoughtless SLPP MPs. SLPP MPs discountenanced the withdrawal of a private member motion proposed by Hon Musa Fofanah and Brima Mansaray to annul the two statutory instruments, in respect of the PR and District Block system. The main opposition majority All People’s Congress (APC) MPs who are currently at the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone, awaiting constitutional interpretations on the matter, abstained from voting. So the ruling minority SLPP MPs however pushed the instruments into instantly legitimizing the ECSL to use of the PR and District Block for the conduct of the June 24th 2023 elections.
As such undemocratic development unfold under the hegemony of the Bio led SLPP administration, and lawyer Dr. Abass Chernor Bundu as the Speaker of the House of Parliament of Sierra Leone, the international system who are major sponsors of the electoral and democratic process, appear furiously unhappy with the Government of Sierra Leone and President Bio in particular for reversing democratic gains that have been made in the last two decades. ECOWAS in particular firmly believe that much should have been done by Bio and his SLPP administration rather than they keep undermining efforts being made in the consolidation of democracy in Sierra Leone.
The imposition of the PR and the District Block system on the nation by the Bio continues to receive wide condemnations from across the world, on diverse grounds ranging from its untimeliness to its appropriateness, moreover where there are already established constituency boundaries are reachable. Thus the imposition of the PR system electoral laws are not legal and do not serve best interest of the electorate, democratic good governance, peace, unity and national development.
It could be brilliantly recalled that the last time PR and District Block system were used was during the civil, when electoral and constituency boundaries were not in existence and most places in the country were not accessible by then as a result of the war.
Hitherto the imposition of the PR and District Block system, Government of Sierra Leone and the ruling SLPP have already started receiving heavy international affronts and condemnations especially from the ECOWAS Parliament, whose MPs upon receiving and properly digesting the Sierra Leone Country Report 2022, tabled by the country’s delegation, charged seriously urging the leadership of the regional block/ECOWAS to deploy a fact finding mission to Sierra Leone. And having listened to the report from Freetown, ECOWAS looks very much sympathetic with Sierra Leoneans, and remains unhappy with the Bio led government, though they are being blamed for what many called ‘late intervention’, but it is never too late than never.
Reacting to the Sierra Leone 2022 Country Report, the ECOWAS MP-Senator representing the Republic of Liberia proposed that: “After the August 10th incident there is need for ECOWAS to send a fact finding mission to Sierra Leone. The government is trying to change the electoral laws. Less than a year to the elections the government wants to change the laws which will in turn affect the system”. The Senator said that the PR and the District Block systems are done where there are no electoral boundaries. “How do you impose a PR system where there are electoral boundaries clearly establishing constituencies? The last time a PR system was used in Sierra Leone was during the war”.
In his contributory reactions to the same document, the ECOWAS MPs representing the Federal Republic of Nigeria, observed with deep sense of concerns saying that there is a major dispute between the two major political actors in Sierra Leone’s democratic process, regarding representations and how June 24th 2023 elections should be conducted. Nigerian lawmaker described the political situation in Sierra Leone towards the elections as ‘unstable’ pointing out that: “There is no need for us to hide anything from each other here. If we Nigerians discover that there will be no free and fair elections in Sierra Leone, of course we will say it out then ECOWAS will intervene and address the problems. But if we know that there is something that will cause problem in the country then we come here and sit down if anything happens then we will be blamed”.
The ECOWAS MP representing the Republic of Senegal said that in a situation where in armed police always stormed the well of parliament to maintain decorum, then there is instability in that country.
ECOWAS lawmakers have therefore described the changing of the electoral laws among other improprieties being done by Bio led SLPP administration as illegal and have tendencies of destroying the country’s weak democratic process, caused political instability and the lack good governance.
Back home in Freetown and elsewhere across the country, the brutal and dishonest imposition of the PR and District Block system is certainly not a good news for well–meaning Sierra Leonean democrats. And most people FORUM engaged on the burning political issue consider the unlawful replacement of the electoral laws as complete violations of their democratic rights to choose their choice of political representatives at local government and at parliamentary levels.
“It is interesting for a ruling political party playing all sorts of mischievous games to win elections, especially at the eleventh hours to the elections. To me I consider the imposition of the PR and District Block system on us as an overall reversal of Sierra Leone’s democratic process, after over twenty years of conducting constituency based elections. This kind of law will definitely disenfranchise us in electing our choice of representatives at city, district councils and as well as legislative levels. That is why I believe people in governance, especially duty bearers like president Bio and his team of MPs ministers should have taken their jobs more seriously in the last five years instead of going after their political rivals in the name of fighting corruption, when they cannot defeat the graft even under their feet, said Belmond Smith an information technology entrepreneur, who trades in different brands of ITC wares at central Freetown.
Similar sentiments are also being expressed respondents across the country regarding the replacement of the electoral laws on the eve of the elections but government seems to be careless about concerns raised by the public, especially those projected by ECOWAS MPs, which actually placed president Bio, government and the country on the spotlight.
