By Foday Moriba Conteh
After a one day national conference that was convened with a view to deliberate on how to fast track he Constitutional Review Process in Sierra Leone which was held at the Sierra Light House, Aberdeen on Tuesday 26th January, 2021, the Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL) has on Thursday 28th January 2021 during a Press Conference held at its Office on Circular Road in Freetown presented a Communiqué of the deliberations.
Presenting the Communiqué, Project Coordinator of Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL), Abu Bakarr Kallay, stated that CARL with support from Action Aid Sierra Leone (AASL) convened the day’s Conference adding that it brought together over 80 participants drawn from Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Political Parties, various youth groups, students, State actors, members of the diplomatic community, the media among others.
Bakarr furthered that the conference was part of CARL’s continued advocacy strategies on “A Call for a Speedy Constitutional Review Process” in Sierra Leone, pointing out that the conference was aimed at ensuring intensive advocacy primarily directed at the Government of Sierra Leone to resume the constitutional review process which he said is a follow-up of a project titled “Making it to the Finish line: Towards a Progressive Constitution for Sierra Leone”.
The Project Coordinator disclosed that the conference was chaired by Madam Valnora Edwin, a Good Governance practitioner and a Human Rights Activist.
He intimated that the Executive Director of the Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL), Ibrahim Tommy-Esq, in his welcome address urged the Government of Sierra Leone to expedite the constitutional review process .He added that the process needs to be as inclusive and transparent in manner.
He furthered that statements were made by the Executive Director of Action Aid Sierra Leone, Foday Bassie Swaray and the Ambassador of the European Delegation to Sierra Leone, Tom Vens and that there were also statements from representatives of the All Peoples Congress party (APC), Coalition for Change (C4C), the National Grand Coalition (NGC), the Institute for Legal Research and Advocacy for Justice (ILRAJ) and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).
Bakarr also revealed that representing the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice was State Counsel, Soniade Barlatt- Esq who delivered the keynote address.
In her address, she reinforced the Government’s commitment on the constitutional review process. Presentations were made by other stakeholders, including Civil Society Organizations and the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone.
He also informed the media that there was an interactive discussion session where participants made important contributions, observations and calls.
Highlighting the observations, Abu Bakarr Kallay, said they observed that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has recommended in its report that it was “an appropriate time for Sierra Leone to formulate a new Constitution” and that the review process of the Constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991 (Act No. 6 of 1991) by the Justice Cowan Constitutional Review Committees is still inconclusive.
He stated that Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the public have been ‘left in the dark’ about the current status of the constitutional review process etc.
Abu Bakarr Kallay revealed that to this end, participants at the National Constitutional Review Process conference asked/called for the following:
- Call on the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) to expedite the Constitutional Review Process.
- Call on the Government of Sierra Leone to issue a statement within one month, renewing its commitment to the Constitutional Review Process.
- Call on the Government to provide detailed update on actions taken so far in respect of the review process including the task force that was set up; its composition, Terms of Reference (ToR), operational timeline and expected output.
