Cross section of Diaspora Members from Sierra Leone, led by Alpha Omar Jabbie have paid a courtesy call on the Chief Electoral Commissioner of the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL), Mr. Mohamed Kenewui Konneh on Monday, 25th July, 2022 at the ECSL Headquarter, Tower Hill, Freetown.

Sierra Leoneans living in the diaspora have long been clamoring and advocating for voting rights in their country of residence so they too participate in the country’s body politics. It is based on this that cross section of Sierra Leoneans living in the diaspora, who are currently in Freetown decided to pay a courtesy call on the Chief Electoral Commissioner to dialogue and explore possible ways for voting rights for Sierra Leoneans living overseas.

Speaking on the purpose of their visit, Mr. Alpha Omar Jabbie who resides and work in Atlanta, America, thanked and commend the Electoral Commissioner for the tremendous job he and his team have been doing and for maintaining his credibility to the eyes of the public. Mr. Jabbie informed Mr. Konneh about their main purpose of visiting him which is to engage him and explore possibilities for Sierra Leoneans living in the Diaspora to vote in their various countries’ of residence.
“We want to seriously involved in our country’s politics. We are here to entreat you and explore possibilities for Sierra Leoneans living in the Diaspora to vote during general elections. We want to be given the opportunity to participate and do our due diligence to take part in the Electoral process of this country”, Mr. Jabbie said.

This clarion call was reechoed by madam Sunkarie Keita who also pleaded with the Commissioner to use his good office and make this a reality. Madam Yvonne Akpan also entreat the Commissioner to ensure Sierra Leoneans living in the diaspora are given the opportunity to register and vote in their country of residence. Mrs. Akpan stated that, diaspora members contribute a lot to the country’s economy through daily remittances to relatives and business partners, and that, it is only fair, if they too are given the opportunity to join the queue to select the nation’s leadership.

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Mr. Mohammed Sillah, also from the diaspora, intimated to the Commissioner to see this as one of his many legacies he will be leaving behind.
“This will be your legacy, it will happen under your belt and will forever be remembered,” Mr. Sillah said.

Responding to Diaspora members, the Chief Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Mohammed Konneh thanked them for their visit and said, “when I was appointed as Chief Commissioner and Chairman during the interview, one of the promises I made was for Sierra Leoneans outside the country to have the opportunity to register and vote in their country of residence. We had that plan, but constrain of financial resources has been a huge problem.
Also, the timing for the possibilities for diaspora embers to register and vote in the forthcoming elections is very minimal. That notwithstanding, as part of our post election activities, we have plans to start implementing that.
Government cannot give us the resources to embark on Diaspora registration and vote due to the economic realities now. This is the realities as we speak. As an institution, we live by what is given to us, especially in terms on resources”, Mr. Konneh said.

During the dialogue, diaspora members in their lobbying quest, presented and explained practical ways in which their plea can be actualized and save cost. They stated that, every Sierra Leonean in the diaspora that wishes to come register and vote in Sierra Leone, would have to spend over $5,000 including time. They said this money can be saved and used to further help the country’s economy in other ways. Members recommended to the Chairman to get a pilot phase on this all important issue.

“You don’t have to try this in every country where there are Sierra Leoneans, for now. Just find a country and see how best you can at least give Sierra Leoneans the opportunity to register in their embassy for a cost that will cover other expenses of the staff of ECSL and operation cost. This we are sure diasporans are ready to fund, and will only have to come to Sierra Leone once, that is to vote, instead of coming down to register, go, and come again to vote. We believe this is possible, it can work now, and we are ready to fund whatever cost it might take to get this done”, they said unanimously.

After attentively listening to all the explanations from members, and the concise practical explanation of the process (pilot phase), the Chief Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Konneh emphasized that, it is the constitutional right of every Sierra Leonean to register and vote and point out that in the current proposed Public Election Bill that is being debated by Parliament, ECSL have proposed a separate regulation that will ensure how they go about diaspora voting registration. The Chief Commissioner asserted that, “I can promise you we can start the discussion, we can develop a team that will look into this and from here, I will engage the Board of Commissioners on this issue and give them a heads up on this meeting, and as a Commission we can take a decision and policy towards how we can get this started”, Mr. Konneh said.
The Chief Commissioner ended up by updating members on the preparations so far made by ECSL regards the 2023 general elections. Mr. Konneh speaks on the soon to be implemented boundary delimitation, the start of voter’s registration in September 4th and other vital electoral information.