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The Government of Sierra Leone and the main opposition party All People’s Congress (APC) has issued a joint statement following the handing-over of the Tripartite final report to President Julius Maada Bio.
According to the joint statement, the ceremony which was held at State house was attended by government officials, leaders of the APC, SLPP, other political parties, public institutions including the Independent Commission for Peace and National Cohesion, members of the fourth estate, Civil society organisations and our Development partners.
The Committee worked for six months albeit with challenges of negotiating over often contentious issues. A Report at the end of the review exercise was submitted by the Tripartite committee to President Bio on Monday 1st July 2024 consistent with the Committee’s Terms of Reference.
The joint statement stated that the committee went through challenging issues as there have been instances of outright disagreement but the Chief Negotiators, Co-Chairs and Committee members at various times referred to ‘for the good of the country’ which indicated that in all that is being done Sierra Leone is in mind.
The Report is a mixed bag of issues that evolve around elections from 2007, 2012, 2018 and 2023 being the most recently concluded General elections. There are split views on the outcome from the Government of Sierra Leone and the All People’s Congress Party over the outcome. The Report has areas of general agreement by the Parties (GoSL and APC) as well as areas of marked disagreement. In the spirit of” for the good of the country”, the Parties agreed and on issues that they disagreed, the information has been captured in the report and its annexes and readers would have an opportunity to read and make their conclusions.
The task ahead dealing with the implementation of the recommendations is one that would determine the degree of commitment and sincerity of the Parties. The implementation is what would justify the investment of time and financial resources. It is the implementation that many Sierra Leoneans are eagerly looking forward to, as well as developing partners.
The statement said the journey had been bumpy and at times almost leading to a breakup, but has been a source of hope and motivation that they were on this journey with the full and demonstrated commitment of their partners, and thank them and also kindly ask that they stay engaged as much as they could as they initiate actions to move into implementation phase.
