The Government of Sierra Leone and the All People’s Congress Party at the end of a Mediated dialogue in October 2023 signed the “Agreement for National Unity with the objective of fostering peace, unity, and National cohesion focussing on electoral justice, accountability and transparency especially after the 2023 General elections in the Country In Resolution “3” It was resolved by the Parties to the Agreement that a Cross-party committee on the review of electoral management systems and bodies be established. The Committee was constituted by His Excellency the President and inaugurated in a public ceremony at State house. The ceremony was attended by government officials, leaders of the APC, SUPP, other political parties, public institutions including the Independent Commission for Peace and National Cohesion, members of the fourth estate, Civil society organisations and our Development partners.
The Committee worked for six months albeit with challenges of negotiating over often contentious issues. A Report as the at the end of the review exercise will be submitted by the Tripartite committee to His Excellency the President today consistent with the Committee’s Terms of Reference
The Review of the Electoral systems and Management bodies is deemed critical for the strengthening of the Country’s democracy. The joint effort by the Government of Sierra Leone and the All-People’s Congress Party is an incredible opportunity to provide Sierra Leone with the right types, fit for purpose institutions with attendant progressive legislations, systems, and processes. The path to reaching the much-needed consensus had been onerous and sometimes challenging. There have been instances of outright disagreement. The Chief Negotiators, Co-Chairs and Committee members at various times referred to “for the good of the country’ which Indicated that in all that is being done Sierra Leone is in mind.
The Report is a mixed bag of issues that evolve around elections from 2007, 2012, 2018 and 2023 being the most recently concluded General elections. There are split views on the outcome from the Government of Sierra Leone and the All-People’s Congress Party over the outcome. The Report has areas of general agreement by the Parties (GoSL and APC) as well as areas of marked disagreement. In the spirit of for the good of the country”, the Parties agreed and on issues that they disagreed, the information has been captured in the report and its annexes and readers would have an opportunity to read and make their conclusions.
This in itself is part of democracy, agreeing to disagree and not always agreeing on everything
The Report is ready and will be submitted today to His Excellency the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone in this session. The task ahead dealing with the implementation of the recommendations is one that would determine the degree of commitment and sincerity of the Parties. The implementation is what would justify the investment of time and financial resources. It is the implementation that many Sierra Leoneans are eagerly looking forward to and so are our partners. As Parties to the Report, we must strive to do everything possible within the law and our conscience to ensure that implementation is timely and impactful. This would ensure that as a country we are assessed as being committed to legal and institutional reforms that will not only improve but also bring our electoral system up to date and meeting international/Global standards.
The journey had been bumpy and at times almost leading to a breakup. It has been a source of hope and motivation that we were on this journey with the full and demonstrated commitment of our partners. We thank them and also kindly ask that they stay engaged as much as they could as we initiate actions to move into implementation phase.
Dr. David M. Sengeh
Chief Negotiator
Government of Sierra Leone
Signature:
Date: 1st July, 2024
Dr. Samura M.W. Kamara Chief Negotiator
All People’s Congress Party
Signature:
Date: 1st July, 2424
