Tripartite, meaning three parts either divided into 3 parts or composed of 3 parts. Dassol!! Nothing more, nothing less.

Sierra Leone will soon enjoy the benefits of a tripartite or 3 parts arrangement and its conclusions will make most people in this country laugh when they come to find out what have been achieved for country through a tripartite agreement.

Who or what are the 3 parts that this tripartite is composed of?

To cut a long story short, this 3 parts arrangement is composed of the two main political parties in Sierra Leone namely, the Sierra Leone People’s Party which is currently in governance, the All People Congress party which is the main opposition and members of the International Community and other Sierra Leonean human rights organizations.

Why the need for a Tripartite Committee?

The electoral laws governing this country have been flawed since the advent of true democracy into this country. Because of this, every Presidential election since 1996, has faced petition except for the 2023 which didn’t happen because the Presidential candidate for the main opposition APC, Dr Samura Kamara, feared karma or akeh.

After the 2012 Presidential election, President Bio who was the opposition candidate then and who was declared the loser by Dr Christiana Thorpe, took his petition to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court ended the matter without going into the substantive with even one of the Supreme Court judges concluding that the matter had to be thrown out on the grounds that the declared winner, Ernest Koroma’s name was not mentioned in the petition, this happening even though the High Court Rules made it plain that “no action shall be defeated either through a non joinder or a misjoinder” and the Court giving itself inherent powers to either add a name which is necessary in a matter or remove a name which is not necessary.

Some of the flaws that the Tripartite Committee will be expected to address include a clause in the Public Elections Act which allowed in 2012 only 7 working days to file a petition and for the 2018, 14 working days. It will go.

Many people were wondering how former President Ernest Bai Koroma was able to add a year to his stay in office doing 11 instead of 10.

Well, he did achieve that legally due to the flawed law in the Elections Act which allowed then for a sitting president to (a) decide when elections are to held and (b) to add six months to his tenure twice. Niet to that flawed law, the Tripartite Committee is going to say.

The Tripartite Committee is expected to say now that fixed dates every five years will be on standby for elections.

No more additions, no more tampering with elections dates. Hurray, Hurrah!

These are just examples and when the recommendations come next week it will be all smiles for all those within the boundaries of this country that we all love and every man, woman and child will jump for joy knowing that it’s everlasting peace at last.

All thanks to tripartite that has really tried its best for Sierra Leone.