C4C Parliamentary Leader Calls For Sanctions on Manuel Muller

Leader of the second largest opposition party in Sierra Leone, Hon. Saa Emerson Lamina has requested from members of the Joint ACP- EU Joint Parliamentary Committee on Political Affairs to call to order the EU Ambassador to Sierra Leone Manuel Muller for interfering in the politics of Sierra Leone.

Speaking during the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, Hon. Lamina stated that it is sad to note that some factions of the International Community who should support Sierra Leone’s democratic gains are undermining it through their actions.

The C4C leader informed the ACP-EU Parliamentarians as he catalogued the actions of Ambassador Muller as firstly he has been on record of interfering in the recent parliamentary bye-election in Constituency 056.

He stated that though the ambassador is not an accredited observer as he was “seen on a motorbike moving from one polling station to another polling station making unsavoury statements about the President and his Government”

On the issue of Proportional Representation, Hon Emerson Lamina stated that In 2020, the EU in Sierra Leone supported a consultative conference of political actors and civil society to discuss electoral reforms in Sierra Leone. One key recommendation from the panel was the adoption of the proportional representation system as the form of elections in Sierra Leone.

On that basis, in Nov. 2022, President Juilus Maada pursuant to section 38A of the constitution of Sierra Leone directed that elections be conducted using the PR System, “Amb. Muller also opposed it contrary to the position earlier adopted in an EU-sponsored consultative conference in 2020.

On another occasion, the Hon stated that, Amb. Muller referred to a democratically elected Government as a ‘faction’ during the August 10th”.

The C4C Leader in Parliament called on the Members of Parliament in his motion to “hereby move that the EU immediately calls Amb. Muller to order as this will save our democracy”.

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A representative from the European Union Action Services (EEAS) took note of the motion and informed the gathering that they would look into the issue, as the EU is responsible to strengthen the bilateral relationships with countries.