What was aimed to be a process to calm and allay the fears of Sierra Leoneans over the state of the disputed 2023 elections, suddenly turned out to increase fears and doubt over the composition, process, functions, scope and limitations of the “ Independent cross-party committee on electoral systems and management bodies review ”.

On Tuesday, 6th February, 2024, the Ministry of Information and Civic Education in what they called a “special” Press Briefing, hosted Co-Chairs of the Independent cross-party committee on electoral systems and management bodies review, Dr. Kaifala Marah as Co-Chair on the side of the APC and Dr. Emmanuel Gaima on the side of the government to the auspicious press conference at the New Brookfields Hotel, Freetown.

Dr. Kaifala Marah and Dr. Emmanuel Gaima both clearly underscored the point that the Committee was setup to review the lapses and shortcomings encountered during the 2023 elections and other recent past elections including the 2018 elections and profer meaningful recommendations for a general Electoral reform.

However, what was evident during the whole press briefing was the fact that there are clear differences between the two Co-Chairs as regards the interpretation of the terms of reference relating to elections review.

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At the full glare of the press during signing of the Terms of Reference (TOR), the differences between the two Co-Chairs in terms of the scope and limitations of the Committee as expressed by the two gentlemen was very obvious.

Their main difference was centered around each party’s interpretation of what constitute review as regards the results of past elections as opposed to investigating past elections. While the Co-Chair on the side of the Government, Dr Emmanuel Gaima, maintained that, the Committee’s mandate does not extend to having powers to compel ECSL to provide data of the 2023 and 2018 elections results for review by the committee, except through a Court order, the Co-Chair on the side of the APC however stressed that, the Committee will be investigating the results of both the 2023 and 2018 results respectively to identify lapses that can be taken into consideration for reforms. This contentious point raised mix-feelings amongst the press and the audience present in the hall.

Also conspicuously absent from the process, both in terms of being represented on the committee as well as being allowed to ask questions during the Press briefing, were the other political parties like the NGC party. Many observed that the Minister deliberately ignored them and could not even recognize the presence of the NGC chairman after doing the same for the Chairman of the APC and the SLPP parties, respectively. The press and other members of the general public noted with dismay that, there is deliberate attempt by the Government, APC, and some section of the international community to exclude the NGC party and other 15 registered political parties from participating in the work of this very important Committee.

After the press brief some members of the press caught up with the Chairman and Leader of the NGC party Mr Jesmed F Suma who made the following remarks when asked of his opinion on the entire process; “The international community and the nation at large must be reminded that, the other political parties are equal stakeholders in the process and have been victims of the process over the years. Furthermore, the flaws and electoral challenges the country is currently experiencing, both in terms of the enactment of the laws, and the subsequent abuse of same, during implementation, are flaws created by both the APC and the SLPP”. “Therefore,” he continued, “the sponsors are making a big mistake expecting much from the work of the committee as regards the review of and recommendations for reform on the Electoral Systems without input from the other political parties who have never been involved in any election rigging but have been victims of same as can be seen in the serious differences amongst members of the committee”.

In the run up to the 2023 elections, the SLPP government forcefully passed into law the use of the Porportional Representation System (PR System), with the a deceptive tone of saying, they want to give “chance to smaller parties to make it to Parliament” whiles setting a very high percentage threshold that resulted in ostracizing all other political party from the political space except APC and SLPP.

Anyone following the politics of Sierra Leone, knows that despite the serious differences between SLPP and APC, the two parties do agree on one thing, and that is limiting the political space only to them and excluding all other political parties.

So, having these two parties set the rules for the next election will be an opportunity for them to continue to disenfranchise smaller parties from being part of governance in this country. What was clear at the Press Conference was the Minister of Information and Civic Education, Chernor Bah deliberately refusing to give audience to leaders of other opposition parties to even ask questions and contribute to the debate of the Electoral Systems Review Committee. This is yet another manifestation of their quest to marginalised other registered political parties from contributing to nation development.

The Minister of Information, and the government as a whole must be reminded that, Sierra Leone is not a two-party state, rather it is a country that constitutes Multi-party and has over 15 registered political parties and they are not spectators; rather, they are stakeholders to every governance process and anything bordering around electoral reforms, they should be highly regarded and their views and contributions must be considered.