By Amin Kef Sesay
In a letter dated 22nd November 2021 and written by the Consortium of Progressive Political Parties (CoPPP) addressed to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Anthony Yeihwoe Brewah Esq it was spelt out that CoPPP is a platform created by thirteen opposition parties in Sierra Leone which have committed themselves to harness their collective strength to defend democracy, oppose, reject and condemn bad governance, all violations of the Rule of Law and of the rights of their fellow citizens by using democratic and lawful means.
Further stated was that as Principal Legal Advisor to the Government of Sierra Leone on issues bordering on constitutionality, legality and serial procedural breaches by the Government and its agents having serious repercussions on the health of the country’s democracy and has eroded the trust and confidence that citizens had in the operability and independence of key institutions of State, including the Judiciary, the National Electoral Commission (NEC), the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
They stated how discontent with the Government is growing at such an alarming rate among ordinary citizens that they no longer perceive the institutions of State as working for them but they also feel angry and that their basic human rights are not protected.
The CoPPP members say they feel duty-bound, in light of current trends, to officially inform him of their concerns that due to the perceived abuse of legality, Sierra Leoneans may not only have lost trust in the Government but more worryingly may no longer have confidence in the State.
Highlighted was that the original sin of the current administration was the blatant violation of the wishes of the electorate that had voted for the first time in the history of Sierra Leone for a unique power sharing arrangement by which the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) won the Presidency and controlled the Executive arm of Government whereas the Legislature was dominated by the opposition led by the All People’s Congress party (APC).
They lamented that unfortunately, it was the choice of the Government to force itself down the throat of history by using its newly-found power to bring nine of their SLPP candidates into Parliament not through the normal bye elections but by order of the courts.
They continued that such was how from the initial stage the integrity of the Judiciary, the Police and the Legislature was compromised and it was this irregular Parliament that quickly voted to impose the Speaker.
Unsurprisingly, this Parliament, emboldened by its weird genesis based on force and circumvention of procedure has turned out to be the most controversial in the history of our land.
According to them, Government has never hesitated to bring obnoxious Bills to Parliament such as the Ministry of Finance’s open-ended non-accountable travelling imprest facility.
“The Parliament therefore is one of the institutions that have been politically captured by the SLPP regime,” an aspect of the letter stated.
CoPPP members say the most recent outrage that has drawn the ire of Sierra Leoneans is the very messy attempt to remove the Auditor General, Mrs. Lara Taylor Pearce and her Deputy, Tamba Momoh, from office.
They stated that Mrs. Taylor Pearce, in particular, has served diligently with two administrations and has always been allowed to do her work even though regularly bringing out results that exposed incompetence and fraud on the part of the Governments in power.
“This Government’s bold move of forcing a tribunal on the Auditor General only a couple of weeks to her publication of the 2020 Audit Report on the finances of Government has been interpreted as intimidation against her so that certain shocking revelations of Government’s misuse of public funds that are apparently contained in that report may not see the light of day,” they alleged adding how such is the perception of the general public saying it indicates once again that the people no longer trust the Government and the way it handles issues of transparency and accountability.
It was mentioned that the State institution that is supposed to be fighting corruption has proved to be highly selective in its approach, high handed when dealing with suspects in the previous administration but gentle and kind with abuses in the current regime.
They maintained that at this time when the Auditors are being dragged to a tribunal to face accusations of malpractices, it will only be fair and just that the ACC Commissioner be also probed for his decision to drop investigations into the disappearance of 49,000 bags of Chinese donated rice within the corridors of power and to establish whether there is possibility of collusion that should justify his removal.
Based on what the members of CoPPP said s much blood has been shed in the short life of this administration that the citizens have every reason to be afraid of the Government and how it uses the law enforcement agencies to handle situations.
“The Judiciary and the Sierra Leone Police Force have become willing partners in eroding the justice system, and by extension fundamental human rights,” they claimed stating how they have both formed a conveyor belt of human rights abuses where one targets and arrests opposition members, many times on bogus legal violations while the other refuses bail and sends them to Pademba Road Prisons.
They stated the cases of Mohamed Kamarainba Mansaray, the Tonko Limba bye election, the killing of protesters at Lunsar and Makeni, the massacre at Pademba Road Correctional Centre stating that the list of these horrible incidents involving State security is stretching and one dangerous motif in all these is that, in the language of the man in the streets these days, “na boff case”, meaning that nothing will ever be done about it.
They say impunity, especially when it concerns actions by influential people close to Government or Government itself, is now being regarded as the norm by a people that feel unprotected and abandoned by those they elected them into office.
They said they believe that as the Government Lawyer, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice must be concerned and should, for the sake of our common good and national security, take necessary action to impress the gravity of the situation on his colleagues rather than tag along with them whenever they come up with decisions that are inconsistent with the Constitution and laws but for which they seek some cosmetic interpretation.
Members stated that more importantly, the country faces a very important test in the next two years, namely local, Parliamentary and Presidential elections.
They said given the current situation, aspects of which they have highlighted above, everybody is concerned, including the international community who have partnered with the country through so many transitions.
According to them ,it is indeed funny that only a few weeks after their passionate “rebuttals” to the EU report, they went ahead and conducted a bye election in Koinadugu that basically vindicated the EU.
According to them, all the usual cocktail of election malpractices, violence, police numbness, interferences and disruptions by State officials were played out yet again, proving just the same things that the EU said were undermining trust in the institutions.
Concluding they made the following observations and conclusions: That the SLPP Government has captured the main State institutions that would normally guarantee the freedoms of individuals and our democratic rights under the Rule of Law.
That they confirm the conclusions of the recent EU mission to Sierra Leone regarding the general erosion of trust in critical institutions that should jointly deliver a free and fair election and urge the Government to engage progressive opposition parties in frank and productive dialogue on how to restore trust.
That they consider the so-called tribunal on the Auditor General and her Deputy to be contrived to intimidate them and to cover up revelations contained in the yet to be released 2020 Audit Report on Government finances. They therefore recommended that the said report be released integrally by the Auditor herself.
That in the event that Government desires to pursue the investigations of the Auditors at a tribunal, they recommend that it will be fortuitous to open investigations also into the action of the Commissioner of the ACC in abandoning the case of the missing 49,000 bags of Chinese donated rice and the reasons thereof.
That Government must take urgent steps to prosecute those responsible and named in the case of the murdered SLPP man, Don Pole..
That if the Government continues to treat the opposition as enemies and whatever they say and do as subversion, the consequences of their actions will not only affect the members of Government but equally the opposition who share with them the identity of political leaders.
They stated that they in COPPP regard themselves as important players, dedicated to the preservation of the democratic ideals of this country for which so many of their brothers and sisters have lost their lives.
“We therefore refuse to be bullied into silence and inaction by any oppressive force,” furthering how they shall oppose repression with peace and restrain their people from all acts of disorderliness and violence for as long as they can.
They particularly requested the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to convey and discuss the details of the letter with His Excellency the President who they said for some reason has not met them in spite of the several requests they made to seek his audience.
