The Civil Society Consortium on Community Accountability and Service Delivery comprising of over 100 CSOs has in a press statement frowned at what they referred to as the international community’s hypocrisy relating to the work of the tripartite committee.
According to the Consortium they have observed that the international community’s ‘‘double role’’ in undermining the peace and stability of the country and creating rising tensions among citizens.
The Consortium comprises of over 100 organizations across the country and saw representatives from every region making his statement denouncing any form of violence.
It could be recalled that the US government provided the sum of 1.5USD and part of that was to embark on community and stakeholders’ engagement on the expectations and outcome of the tripartite committee for community ownership and participation.
Such money was contracted to NDI, IRI and IFFS which they noted have not done anything as it did not help the process which report was launched on 19th June.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday 18th November 2024 at the Sierra Palms Hotel on Aberdeen Beach in Freetown, William Sao Lamin Chairman of the Consortium stated that the international community keeps playing what he called “double standards’,’ that is the message they communicate to the two parties varies thereby creating anxiety in the minds of Sierra Leoneans.
Mr. Lamin noted that the setting up of the tripartite committee is one of the outcomes of the Bintumani Unity Agreement which made it very clear that the national constitution is sacrosanct, and nothing should be done outside its scope.
The Tripartite Committee, he noted is to make recommendations on electoral reforms for future elections and their work is not to audit the 2023 elections.
According to the consortium the (tripartite) agreement has made the constitution sacrosanct and only the Supreme Court, as stipulated by the constitution has the powers to order a rerun of elections, not a subcommittee borne out of an agreement. The press release categorically stated that the tripartite committee does not have any mandate to recommend a rerun or the removal of any commissioners from ECSL. It further said these are matters for the constitution of Sierra Leone to address and not a committee.
The press release further said, the APC participated in this process for six months, and only a few days before its conclusion, they decided to boycott the process and deprive Sierra Leone of the very progressive reforms that the committee and all the experts have worked on for six months.
The press release further said that the ECSL commission appeared before the committee as posted by the ECSL on their information page.
The press release said from the responses to the letter by the APC team, it is very clear that the ECSL submitted all the documents they were asked for. And the press release further asked APC, why then use the ECSL as an excuse for your failure to serve this nation and your party supporters?
‘’Any grievances regarding electoral outcomes should be followed by due legal processes, including recourse to the Supreme Court as outline in S45 (2) Paragraph a, b, and the timeline for Sierra Leone’s next general election is scheduled for 2028’’, it stated.
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