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It was so shocking when a video that was making rounds on social media revealed the situation of the well of Parliament on Thursday 23 November 2022. On the video, law makers in the Republic of Sierra Leone were in a video spotted fighting and destroying state properties over something not worth it.
When this video surfaced the blue app, there were reactions of disappointment from Sierra Leoneans. This was because these people are the law makers of the country and such, are expected to living with standards worth copying.
On the said video, the ruling party and opposition party members were spotted sending blows to each other. It went to the extreme that many started destroying the tax-payers money used to buy state gadgets and furniture as both fights to gain points and damage the other.
Over such misbehaviour from the people we considered mentors, the Speaker of the Fifth Parliament of the Second Republic of Sierra Leone Hon. Dr. Chernor Abass Bundu, has on the 24th November 2022, dammed Violence Confrontation erupted in the Well of Parliament on Thursdays over the tabling of the Constitutional Instrument regarding the Proportional Representation System (PR) for the conduct of the 2023 general elections.
The Speaker of Parliament Abass Bundu went on to give a notice over the unfortunate conduct displayed by the MP’s on Thursday 23rd November 2022. He affirmed to the public that the perpetrators of the said misconduct would not go without consequences. He continued that severe consequences for such violence confrontation is applied to those initiators of the ugly incidence in Parliament.
“I have exercised patience beyond endurance and what I observed yesterday was an affront to the dignity of this House and an affront to my office as speaker and it will no longer be accepted. Enough is enough and the law will be allowed to take its consequences. A word for a wise is quiet sufficient”, he vexed his anger.
Abass Bundu drew the attention of Members of Parliament to two cardinal provisions in the 19991 constitution which are section 97 and section 99. He said those two provisions crystalized and sanctified the responsibilities and privileges accorded a Member of Parliament.
He added that it appears to him that persistently some Members of Parliament are not aware of the import of those provisions in the constitutions. He referenced Sections 97 which reads as fellows; “the responsibility is of the Member of Parliament include the following;
(A) all Members of Parliament shall maintain the dignity and image of Parliament both during the sittings of parliament as well as in their act and activities outside parliament.
(B) “All Members of Parliament shall regard themselves as representatives of the people of Sierra Leone and desist from any conduct by which they seek improperly to enrich themselves or alienate themselves from the people”.
Revealing Parliamentary privileges each MP’s is entitled to, the Speaker drew the attention of Members of Parliament to section 99 which enshrined in the constitution that mentioned the MP’s Parliamentary privileges and continued that if they go contrary to the constitution in any form of violence at the well, they are definitely denied of those privileges.
Conclusively, he sent a strong warning that when Members of Parliament go physical coupled with violence eruption, then they are not entitled to the privileges enshrined under section 99 of the 1999 constitution. He stressed that Members of Parliament who involved in violence confrontation are not entitle to enjoy any immunity or protection under the law.
