following the recent critical report released by the European Union Follow up mission about  the two institutions, the Chairman of the Political Parties Registration Commission Abdulai Masanday Bangura Esq and the Acting Director of Communications National Electoral Commission Mr. Christopher Jones have assured members of the public of the independence of both commissions whilst responding to concerns raised in the European Union Elections Observation Mission report, at the conference room of the Ministry of information and communications, Youyi Building on Thursday 4th November 2021.
In his opening remarks, PPRC Chairman Mr. Abdulai Bangura spoke about the work they had embarked on in working with political parties in addressing their internal issues and democracy. He added that his Commission is working under difficult political atmosphere where one party will praise the Commission today and the same party will do otherwise the next day. He advised that it is imperative for people to be au fait with the complexity of the Commission in appraising them.
Mr. Bangura assured citizens that he is working with all political parties fairly and has listened to all political party issues formally brought to the Commission for intervention and mediation. He alluded that the Commission has worked with the EU on many of their recommendations and that it has implemented some whilst others are under consideration.
                                                                             
He however lamented on the EU EOM report describing it as unfair as they did not listen to their side of the issues in their report. He added that most of the recommendations they have implemented were ignored by the EU EOM and went ahead to put the commission in a bad light.
“We have worked with EU together to implement these recommendations and we feel disappointed that the hard work was not recognized by the EU. This notwithstanding, we will continue to work with the EU to improve our nascent democracy,” he concluded.
The Acting Director of Media at the National Electoral Commission, Mr. Christopher Jones said, the Commission was established by section 32(1) of the Constitution of Sierra Leone 1991 (Act No. 6 of 1991) with a responsibility for the conduct and supervision of the registration of voters for and of all public elections and referenda.
He went further to say that under the new leadership of Mr. Mohamed K. Konneh, the Commission remains focused, professional and independent to continue its good works over the years and maintain its hard won credibility as a professional institution that is continuously striving to promote democracy, good governance and conduct credible, transparent and impartial elections in Sierra Leone.
“The Commission is an independent body that is not subjected to the direction or control of any person or authority as enshrined in the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone and the Commission will continue to operate independently,” Mr. Jones averred.