AYV News, September 7, 2023
Solicitor General of Sierra Leone, Robert Baoma Kowa Esq., has informed journalists that national reconciliation is key to peace and stability in Sierra Leone. Speaking at the weekly Ministry of Information and Civic Education Press briefing, Solicitor General Kowa emphasised that the proposed constitutional review process has put everything in place to ensure a final document that will work for all Sierra Leoneans.
“What we want to do now is produce a document that can support our moves towards peace and national cohesion. We are going to produce a comprehensive constitutional review document, which we will present to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice and subsequently send to Parliament,” he said.
He reiterated the significance of the 1991 constitutional review process to the end of our decade-long civil war and the signing of the Lome Peace Accord, saying that the former Justice Edmond Cowan headed review committee was able to come out with a White Paper, which the current Government has been able to go through and is still working on some of its recommendations.
“President Bio came into governance and in his wisdom, looked at the White Paper and came out with a comprehensive report that can allow us live in peace and harmony,” he said, adding that most of the recommendations Justice Cowan made were acted upon by President Bio government.
He stated that the Death Penalty has been abolished in similar fashion as the Part 5 of the Seditious Libel law, whilst government enacted laws like the Education and Gender Empowerment Act to improve the lives of the people of Sierra Leone.
“Government has acted on most of the recommendations Justice Cawan made, such as the abolishing the death penalty and repealing the criminal label law in the 1965 Public Order Act. What we need to do now is to ensure we produce a comprehensive constitutional review document that can move us towards peace and national cohesion” he said.
Earlier on, Chairman of this week’s Press briefing, Deputy Minister of Information and Civic Education Keketoma Sandi gave a brief update on government activities and emphasized that the composition of speakers at this week’s press conference was to ensure that we continue the discussion on strengthening our democratic credentials.
“We want to continue to talk about how government is strengthening our democratic credentials and principles. We will also be talking about how we can consolidate national peace and cohesion. That is why we will continue to bring the right people who would give you the facts so that you will not be fooled by social media” Keketoma Sandi.
Minister of Public Administration and Political Affairs, Amara Kallon, gave an overview of what his ministry has been doing, adding that since it is a new ministry, they need to first seek out their mission, objective, and mandate before they can effectively roll out their programmes effectively.
“Public Administration and Political Affairs is central to the supervision of the work of the Public Service Commission and the Human Resource Management Office and the creation of jobs in the public sector. At the political level, we manage processes the African Peer Review Mechanism, for which President Bio is the Present Chair” he said.
He added that the Establishment of the Public Service Commission (PSC), Human Resource Management Office (HRMO) has brought immense improvement, citing ongoing meetings with stakeholders on public administration and job creation, which he said is their focus.
On the Africa Peer Review Mechanism, he noted that throughout his tenure as chairman of the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), President Bio succeeded in achieving the three pillars of cooperation, expansion and collaboration, which he set as his benchmarks.
