A Country’s national constitution happened to be the guiding principles on which the conduct of a well defined electioneering process being done.
Boundary delineations are done based on the published census statistics been approved by parliament.
The statutory instrument on private members motion on boundary delineation was moved by Honorable Suailho Koroma of the Sierra Leone People’s Party, representing a constituency in Bo district.
He quoted Section 38(5) of the constitution of Sierra Leone that dictated on the alterations in boundaries of constituencies.
“Where the boundaries of any constituency are altered in accordance with the provisions of this section, that alteration shall come into effect upon the next dissolution of Parliament after the alteration has been approved by parliament.” Section 38, Subsection 5 as quoted.
The concerns by members of Parliament cut across every aspect of the boundary delineation and the ongoing voter registration process. Even though some Members of Parliament talked on the supremacy of the constitution, others suggested that the process should be cancelled as they fear an extension in the pronounced March 7th General elections.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Chernor Ramadan Maju Bah, Hon. Thomas Segepoh of Bonthe and Hon. Paran Tarawally of Bo district respectively, based their argument on the supremacy of the constitution. Whereas Hon. Paran submitted a proposal that the house should be considering conducting the forthcoming elections based on the previous 112 constituency rather than the proposed 132, that had witnessed several controversies in just weeks in the registration exercise.
The debate on the private members motion on boundary delineation was climaxed with statements from the leadership of the House of Parliament, when Honorable Dr. Benedette Lahai, Minority Leader of Parliament said NEC failed to conduct pre-testing on the information compiled in the Voter registration form and therefore they must face parliament.
The debate saw a request by the Speaker of Parliament for a voting process to be conducted by the clerk of parliament, but the question being asked by many is whether the move is to have the more time campaign becoming a reality.
