By: Hassan Osman Kargbo
The Deputy Minister of Information and Civic Education, Abdul Abedel Aziz Bawoh, says the Tripartite Committee recommendations won’t remove President Julius Maada Bio from office.
He Tuesday 4 June 2024 made the reaffirmation whiles addressing journalists during Government weekly press conference held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation conference room Tawer Hill Freetown.
According to Bawoh, they didn’t set up the Tripartite Committee to remove the President from office, so irrespective of the Tripartite Committee recommendations, President Julius Maada Bio will continue in office until 2028. He therefore cautioned those spreading fake and misleading information about the recommendations of the Tripartite Committee to stop.
The Minister emphasised that the mandate of the Tripartite Committee does not include conducting a re-run of election, so as a result of that the Tripartite Committee recommendations do not have anything to do with President Bio’s presidency. He noted that there is no connection between the ECOWAS stabilization force and the Tripartite Committee. Bawoh added that the primary role of the committee is to review the country’s electoral systems and provide recommendations for future improvements on elections.
“The mandate of the Tripartite Committee does not include conducting a re-run of the June 24 2023 presidential election, so as a result, that the Tripartite Committee recommendations do not have anything to do with President Bio’s presidency. People should stop spreading misleading and fake information to the public,” he sternly warned.
Making her statement during the conference, the Executive Secretary of the Independent Commission for Peace and National Cohesion, Hawa Samai, explained that the involvement of international mediators in the peace process was approved by President Bio, reflecting on Sierra Leone’s sovereignty. She emphasized that the Unity Agreement, which includes the Tripartite Committee as one of its eight resolutions, is guided by the country’s constitution.
Samai encouraged citizens to read the Unity Agreement in full and noted that the Joint Press Release signed on Monday 3 June 2024, by national secretary generals of the governing Sierra Leone People’s Party and the main opposition All People’s Congress – APC, constitutes the seventh resolutions.
She also informed the public that they could submit suggestions to the Tripartite Committee on how to improve future elections to the secretariat, located at the New Brookfields Hotel.
She continued that the Tripartite Committee is part of the eight resolutions that is part of the unity agreement but noted that people focused on the Tripartite Committee more than the other resolutions.
She said there are other agreements that people need to concentrate on but they only looking at the Tripartite Committee.
“The main thing Inside the Tripartite Committee is that the President should work with the APC to look at the electoral system to review the preview elections including the 2023 electoral system and finding the way forward on how to stop those election irregularities over the years,” she noted.
