Alimamy Lahai Kamara, AYV News, May 14, 2025
The Attorney-General and team, the Tripartite Coordinator and team and International IDEAS held a meeting to review a number of technical decisions around the implementation of recommendation 78 in the Tripartite Report dealing with electoral system for Sierra Leone. The meeting detailed inclusive approaches to organizing and holding (5) regional consultations and a national dialogue touching on every sector of society, focus group discussions, targeted expert panels including presentation of papers, and recruiting international and local facilitators to lead on the process of determining the type of electoral system.
He said legislative reviews are equally ongoing. A team of 8 lawyers has been constituted including an international legal expert to support the process of drafting provisions to fit into the respective legislations. A partner organization, International IDEAS, is providing funding for the international legal expert, two home-based legal experts and three Interns. Their work has commenced against a timeline of three-month.
At his office, where the meeting took place, the Attorney-General said: “Sierra Leone has to make this deliberate choice, the public has to determine a framework for casting their votes and getting their representatives, and our democracy must be driven by the collective decision of those who are governed by it.”
Recommendation 78 stipulates a national dialogue on the choice of electoral system to be adopted for parliament and local councils between the district proportional representation system and the first-past the post system.
The technical and interlocutory nature of the work of the Tripartite Secretariat – consulting with relevant partners, developing a concept guiding the process, and seeking funding to support implementation – can be daunting.
The Coordinator, Tripartite Steering Committee Secretariat (TSCS, said there would be mini consultations with institutions and actors before the general consultations on electoral system. Plans were underway for holding meetings with political parties, professional groups, CSOs and the media, and a number of groups in the private sector. For Ngolo Katta, those kinds of discussions would set the stage for informing the public about the national dialogue and other technical issues around the two electoral systems. “We at the Tripartite Secretariat are aware of the seriousness of the work ahead; together with our partners and in consultation with political parties and other institutions involved in the implementation process, we are developing and completing various tools guiding processes which we will adopt for the national consultations, and it will be the people of Sierra Leone who will decide on the electoral systems to be used for the conduct of her elections,” he said.
Timeline for this activity is under review. Meetings are being held with institutions and actors for their input and participation in the process. The Secretariat is to commence processes for recruiting an international and a local facilitator for the regional consultations and a national dialogue session. Engagements are to commence with government and development partners for provision of necessary funding for implementing these activities.
On Tuesday, the Coordinator briefed a technical team of the development partners at the conference room of the UN where he stressed on inclusive approaches for holding the national dialogue. Mr. Katta was livid and emphatic in the face of a barrage of questions around the implementation of the tripartite recommendations. “Government has provided some seed money for the establishment of the secretariat and we are moving. It is a hectic work; the engagements are enormous; the views and opinions are diverse and enriching; but the funds are yet to start arriving. And they have to arrive,” he told the partners.
In a close meeting on Monday, Mr. Katta told the Resident Coordinator of the UN and the Resident Representative of the UNDP that the UN system, as the primary global organization that facilitates and promotes multilateralism, had been and would be expected to continue to be a reliable partner of the Government of Sierra Leone. Therefore, the tripartite processes required due attention in mind and in action, since it was related to building the country’s democracy and instituting institutional reforms as guided by the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF).
It will appear that Katta is getting a buy-in! The UN system appears accommodating, and a concept note has been issued with them for consideration. Government, through the Office of the Chief Minister, who also doubles as the Chairman of the Steering Committee, continues to encourage development partners to provide the necessary funding to support the implementation of the Tripartite Recommendations. The International Ideas continues to demonstrate support to the process, and is in the center of discussions around the national dialogue. Dr. Mamoud Tarawallie said the recruitment of an international facilitator would add value to the process, and strengthen the image of the consultations and dialogue.
In April, the Minister of Information and Civic Education and the Tripartite Coordinator identified activities requiring collaboration between the TSCS and MoICE, and discussed innovative, inclusive approaches for rolling them out. The two gentlemen carry shared interest in instituting administrative and operational measures in institutions for increasing transparency and accountability and stimulating performance through public information and civic engagement.
National Elections Watch (NEW) has expressed interest in working with the TSCS. In a meeting at the TSCS in April, James Lahai said NEW would like to follow every step related to the implementation of the tripartite recommendations and would support the TSCS since its work involved laborious consultations and dialogues. According to the National Coordinator, NEW had a functional secretariat and a national presence which the TSCS could leverage upon.
All Political Party Association, APPA, has appeared incensed about being left out during the tripartite process. They drew attention to recommendation 70, which talks about amendment of the All Political Party Act to require that if a political party does not win any elected office at local and national level, at two consecutive general elections, then the party will be deregistered. At a meeting with the TSCS in April, at the Political Party Registration Commission, APPA said they would work with the TSCS, but wished for more discussion on recommendation 70.
