By Millicent Mannah
The Acting Publicity Secretary of the APC, Sidie Yahya Tunis, said on 98.1 Good Morning Show on 22 March 2022 that on behalf of his party they are happy about the announcement of the election date. However he stated that they are displeased with the boundary delimitation NEC wants to conduct.
He maintained that as a party they have always been stressing that they stay within the confines of the laws of the country and they should ensure that as stakeholders and citizens of this country, they should continue to strengthen democracy that the entire world has been admiring them for.
The Acting Publicity Secretary stated that the National Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone was not supposed to talk about boundary delimitation, furthering that their responsibility is to conduct elections which should be done in a manner in which it will be acceptable by all.
He maintained that it is not proper for NEC to talk about boundary delimitation now, explaining that the timeline NEC set for themselves in the strategic plan that was communicated to political parties for boundary delimitation was 2024, which means it was the upper limit they took according to the law which says 5 or 7 years.
He averred that since he has been following up on elections boundary delimitations they have been taking the upper limit stating that already NEC has given the date for the starting of voters registration in September, and that they have increased centres by 10% from 3,300 to about 3,630 centres where registration and voting will take place.
Tunis said that NEC told them that they are prepared in case the Government asks them to conduct boundary delimitation. He continued that boundary delimitation is not something that is done in one or two months, as it requires lot of preparation which sometimes span even over a year.
He furthered that the Government should not interfere with anything that concerns the National Electoral Commission, continuing that NEC should not also base their work by what the Government says.
He added that they want to use the census statistics that was done by Statistics Sierra Leone that the bulk of Sierra Leoneans did not participate in to conduct the boundary delimitation.
He stressed that the census statistics is not credible and majority of Sierra Leoneans would not trust the outcome of the result, as many people were not counted adding that this will invite chaos and controversies.
Sidie said they are looking at them closely and that they hope that their idea about boundary delimitation will not be continued, stating that it will not be good for our democracy and for the peace and tranquility of the country, particularly now that they are approaching elections.
He maintained that if the boundary delimitation is conducted it will be an hindrance to the outcome of the forth coming election, continuing that it will even undermine the peace and stability of the country.
He affirmed that NEC should not just throw anything at the people as their responsibility is to the people and not to themselves, adding that, such was the reason they made them the Electoral Commission of the country.
Lastly, he said the outcome of the result of the Mid Term Census will not be acceptable as it has lot of controversies surrounding it as the bulk of the people were not counted.
