CSOs Praise Hon. KKY

AS DIALOGUE ON THE USE OF THE PR SYSTEM CONTINUE....CSOs PRAISE HON. YUMKELLA

By: Musa Kamara

Tuesday, November 1st 2022, Committee Room 1, Parliament Building.

The Parliamentary Select Committee on Political and Public Affairs has on Tuesday 1st November in Committee Room 1, Parliament Building held an Open Dialogue on the Proportional Representation System in the presence of Civil Socity Organizations, former and current Members of Parliament, the Ministry of Political and Public Affairs, Political Party Leaders and other stakeholders. 

In his welcome address to the various representatives, the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella stated that the meeting was geared towards having a national dialogue and to get the different shades of opinions on the proposed use of the PR System for the 2023 Multi-tier elections. "We ensured we have most of the Civil Society activists here today because we want them to thoroughly discuss and critically ask questions to the relevant authorities on the PR System," Hon. KKY said.

The Ministry of Political and Public Affairs gave an update to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Political and Public Affairs on their past activities as a Ministry and their plans. They equally outlined their mandate as a Ministry and promised to respond to the concerns of citizens with regards issues their ministry is responsible for. 

Discussing the PR proper, former MP and Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Hon. Bernadette Lahai did a statical presentation, comparing the use of the PR and the FPTP Systems over the previous elections. Hon. Lahai's presentation demonstrated that for the PR System to be inclusive, which is its main purpose, the threshold must be at a level that all registered political parties can have the opportunity to be represented in Parliament. She added that it must not be high and it must encourage young people and women to be equally represented.  

The Committee Chairman, Hon. Yumkella invited leaders of CSOs present to share their positions on the PR System to the Committee. Marcella Samba Seasay, of National Elections Watch (NEW) and the Executive Director of Campaign for Good Governance (CGG) expressed thanks and appreciation to the Committee for creating the environment to have such a meaningful discussion on such an important issue. She informed the Committee that they want to understand the enabling socio-cultural and political conditions that warrant the decision to use the PR System. "Any product of electoral and political system, must be consultative and it should be a product of consensus," she said. Madam Marcella went further by saying that there must be intensive discussions around this issue so that people can understand better what beholds them and making sure that citizens' views are at the center of this topic. She also called for information to be distributed to political parties at the same time. According to her, the notion that the PR system will end political violence is incorrect. She said it is the political system of political parties that must be transformed in a manner that frowns at political violence. 

Speaking to the Committee, Andrew Lavalie from the Institute of Governance Reform (IGR) thanked and praised the Hon. Yumkella for always been an outstanding MP. He said that this conversation is very important for the nation, as he asked over the financial cost to our democracy under the PR system, in comparison with what the financial cost to our democracy is under the First Past the Post System (FPTPS) "We need to think about what we want as a nation," Mr. Lavallie said. He also pointed out that the PR system must be backed with affirmative actions that promote women and young people as earlier postulated by Hon. Bernadette Lahai. Mr. Rashid Dumbuya from LagalLink outlined their position paper that they had earlier published and reiterated their position by stating the disadvantages of the PR System. Abdul Fatorma from CHRDI expressed admiration of the Committee for creating such an important dialogue and asked if citizens of Sierra Leone are “mentally fit to switch into a PR System.”

The only dissenting view was that of the Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Napoleon Koroma, who said that "the use of the PR System has been pronounced and is here to stay, if you have an issue with its legalities, you can go to the Supreme Court." Mr. Koroma also highlighted several Sections in the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone that support the use of the PR System. 

After listening to the various speakers from the CSOs and MPs, the Committee Chairman, Hon. Dr. Kandeh Yumkella thanked all those that witnessed the meeting and has contributed meaningfully to the discussion. He said this is a dialogue that will continue. Hon. Yumkella called on the the EC-SL to listen to these different views and take note of them as they prepare to bring another set of legal instruments to Parliament for ratification. 

As Sierra Leone heads to the polls in 2023, it is important that voters are also engaged on this issue to ensure that their votes count and that we are proactive in protecting our democracy and consolidating our hard won peace. In advance of the election, a number of measures have been put in place which would have the effect of suppressing votes in the forthcoming elections, including the Mid-Term Census organised by Statistics Sierra Leone, which has reported significant shifts in the population from the capital and opposition strongholds, to areas where support for government is concentrated. Voter Registration organised by ECSL was also limited to a very short window and problems with the computer terminals and delays to registration, only seemed to affect the North, Nort-West and Western Area of the country. Therefore it is not surprising that the recent decision of the President to direct ECSL to use the District Block Voting PR system has raised further concerns as many have said that it is yet another attempt to suppress votes in opposition areas.

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