And to become proper ‘Honourables’. Unfortunately, Sierra Leone’s parliament has a bunch of parliamentarians who continue to mortgage integrity for a pittance, thereby passing bills into laws inimical to the benefits of the people and detrimental to the supremacy of the Sierra Leone 1991 Constitution. (Photo: Osman Yansaneh, Lansana Dumbuya, Kaifala Marah and Chernor Bah aka Chericoco).

The amendment of constitutions is a normal process in a democracy, but it should be done correctly in conformity with the law and order of the country and should not be carried out unlawfully to benefit the few as against the majority of the people, where power truly belongs.

Presently, the constitutional amendments going on in the controversial Sierra Leone Parliament, where desperate MPs are trying to satisfy their corrupt paymasters instead of satisfying the mandate of the people, are dotted with more difficult questions than pleasurable answers.

It is about passing into law the obnoxious and unsuitable Proportional Representation or PR system which the illegal Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio favours wholeheartedly because he knows that his failed SLPP regime cannot win free and fair elections. And never has.

To boost the failed SLPP regime of Maada Bio, the deceptive parliamentarians have decided to embark on the most unconstitutional and undemocratic endeavours to pass into law the unpopular PR system which sits well for political parties rather than the electorate. (Photo: Useless APC MP Abdul Kargbo and evil Ernest Koroma).

First-Past-The-Post FPTP is an electoral system in which voters vote for the candidate of their choice, and the candidate who receives the most votes wins. First-past-the-post is also called choose-one, First-Preference Plurality (FPP), which is a single-winner voting rule.

Each voter marks one candidate as their favourite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first-preference votes than any other candidate (a plurality) is elected, even if they do not have more than half of the votes (a majority).

The PR electoral system, which was adopted during the height of the bloody civil war in Sierra Leone, is actually not in favour of the people in that those elected to parliament are often chosen by the political parties and not the voters. MPs in the PR system do not represent the voters.

That is why the patriotic citizens of Sierra Leone are appealing to the parliamentarians to use their consciences at this critical juncture of their professional lives to do the right thing for posterity. Passing into law the First-Past-The-Post system is better than the nonsense PR system.

In reality, this ongoing debate to amend the 1991 Constitution is the last opportunity for these discredited MPs to redeem their integrity. It remains to be seen if the bribed and corrupted APC and SLPP MPs would see reason to realise that power belongs to the people. (Photo: President-elect Dr Samura Kamara is the man of the people).

Whatever way you look at these present proceedings in parliament, it is clear that Maada Bio and his APC collaborators are simply playing mind games ostensibly to distract the people from the most important item today, i.e. the imminent restoration of democracy.

Most significantly, the MPs should also realise that any obnoxious bills passed into law today will not last long on the books because the new government coming to power very shortly will abrogate and reverse all illegal legislation detrimental to the people’s mandate.

Moreover, it is important to remind the myopic 2028 believers that there will be no elections in 2028. There are some shortsighted Sierra Leoneans who still think there will be elections in 2028. Those harbouring this myopic view are living in a dreamland.

They have also shown clear signs of being starved of updated information regarding the circumstances of the restoration of democracy through the implementation of the people’s mandate from the 2023 elections.

Any efforts to manipulate the electoral calendar by disregarding the 2023 elections and advocating for the meaningless 2028 elections would fail miserably. Let MPs invest in their futures by doing the right things. MPs should remember that they are lawmakers. (Photo: Maada Bio).

Sierra Leoneans Have Just Been Taken for a Ride

By MS Jalloh

After over 12 hours of debate on the Constitutional Amendment Bill, voting was conducted without a proper ballot. It was the Ayes have it. How was two-thirds majority determined as required under section 108 of the 1991 Constitution?

Here’s Section 108 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991 – Alteration of this Constitution: 2dba

Section 108 – 108 – (1) Subject to the provisions of this section, Parliament may alter this Constitution. 2dba

108. (2) A Bill for an Act of Parliament under this section shall not be passed by Parliament unless
109. before the first reading of the Bill in Parliament the text of the Bill is published in at least two issues of the Gazette: Provided that not less than nine days shall elapse between the first publication of the Bill in the Gazette and the second publication; and
110. the Bill is supported on the second and third readings by the votes of not less than two-thirds of the Members of Parliament. 2dba
111. (3) A Bill for an Act of Parliament enacting a new Constitution or altering any of the following provisions of this Constitution, that is to say – a. this section, b. Chapter III, c. sections 46, 56, 72, 73, 74(2), 74(3), 84(2), 85, 87, 105, 110-119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 128, 129, 131, 132, 133, 135, 136, 137, 140, 151, 156, 167, 2dba.

Shall not be submitted to the President for his assent and shall not become law unless the Bill, after it has been passed by Parliament and in the form in which it was so passed, has… been submitted to and been approved at a referendum. 2dba (Photo: This Parliament is corrupt).

108. (4) Every person who is entitled to vote in the elections of Members of Parliament shall be entitled to vote at a… referendum 2dba

Other key subsections: (5) The conduct of any referendum shall be under the general supervision of the Electoral Commission

(6) A Bill shall not be submitted to the President for signature unless accompanied by a certificate under the hand of the Speaker that subsections (3) and (4) have been complied with

(8) Any suspension, alteration, or repeal of this Constitution other than on the authority of Parliament shall be deemed to be an act of Treason f277

What this Means in Practice

1. Publication: Must be in the Gazette twice, 9+ days apart, before 1st Reading
2. Parliamentary vote: Needs 2/3 of ALL Members of Parliament at both 2nd and 3rd Readings. That’s what we discussed – if it fails at 2nd Reading, it dies.
3. Entrenched clauses: For things like Chapter III – Fundamental Rights, Presidential term limits s.46, this section itself, etc., you need a 2/3 vote plus a national referendum with a 2/3 yes vote. 2dba

The list of which specific sections are “entrenched” under 108(3) and need a referendum