By Stephen V. Lansana
The refusal of the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) to extend the voter exhibition and verification exercise violates section 27 (5) of the Public Elections Act of 2022, the Executive Director of Christian Lawyers Centre (LEGAL LINK) Rashid Dumbuya Esq. said in a letter addressed to the Chief Electoral Commissioner & National Returning Office on Monday, December 5, 2022.
Legal Link noted with disdain and utter dismay that ECSL has neither acknowledged receipt nor replied to their letter dated November 28, 2022, requesting ECSL to extend the voter exhibition and verification exercise and also transparently explain and show stakeholders how and why ECSL deleted about 250,000 registrants from the voter register.
“Be that as it may however, having perused your released statement on voter exhibition and verification few days ago as well as listening to a few policy statements from key stakeholders of ECSL, we are of the firm belief that your institution is determined not to heed to our request for an extension of the voter exhibition and verification exercise beyond the 5 days scheduled by you for such a herculean process,” Legal LINK said.
“In the light of this blatant refusal, we are left with no option but to openly draw your attention and inform you that your institution ( ECSL) is in violation of section 27(5) of the Public Elections Act of 2022 which requires the institution to do the voter exhibition and verification exercise for a period of 14 days.”
According to Legal Link, for purposes of clarity and the avoidance of doubt, the said provision under section 27 (5) of the Public Elections Act 2022 is quoted verbatim: “A provisional list of voters shall be exhibited for a period of 14 days”.
Legal Link pointed out that the voter exhibition and verification exercise which lasted only for 5 days does not conform with the expected period required for such exercise as stated under section 27 (5) of the Public Elections Act 2022, pointing out that would be safe to state that ECSL has violated the mandatory provision of the Public Elections Act 2022 by your willful failure to extend the exhibition and verification exercise.
“Mr Chief Electoral Commissioner, you will also agree with us that the rationale for ECSL embarking on a voter exhibition and verification drive amongst other things is to afford those who participated in the voter registration process an opportunity to confirm, correct, include or make objections to their records on the provisional voter register so as to prevent possible disenfranchisement and/ or disruptions on polling day,” Mr. Dumbuya added. “By our observation of the exhibition process and by your own admission in your released update statement on the exhibition and verification exercise, it is clear as crystal that your fundamental objective of the voter exhibition exercise was gravely undermined due to the shortness of the timeframe allocated to complete the exercise”.
He noted for example, that the ECSL did admit in the update that there were about 50,000 photoless registrants while others complained of spelling mistakes and errors on the face of their records.
Dumbuya Esq. said that the prevalence of all of these anomalies warrant a pause by ECSL to make room for additional time to fix them in a convincing and more appreciable way and not resort to quick fixes or abracadabra approaches like the much talked – about mobile app they have been trumpeting around. “How many Sierra Leoneans can really afford a smart phone or can easily understand the complexities of operating such apps and devices?”
Legal Link asked, “What benefit will it bring to ECSL in the long term if the institution is seen running with the electioneering process with such breakneck speed and complexities but later end up in a big mess?”
“This will certainly not be good for the institution’s legacy and reputation in the future,” he emphasized. “In light of the above and in the interest of transparency and integrity of the process, we urge that you allow for the 14 days period to elapse as required by law so that the mammoth of problems that eclipsed the voter exhibition and verification phase will be fully addressed and dealt with accordingly.”
According to Legal Link, a rushed exhibition and verification phase may hurt supporters of all political parties in the future. Hence, it is in the best interest of all stakeholders to ensure a successful exhibition and verification process so that electorates are not disenfranchised down the line.
Legal Link urged the ECSL to do the needful and save them the burden of filing legal papers to have the Electoral Commission compelled to follow its public duty under the law, adding that there is already a great deal of public distrust for the ECSL institution, and that such distrust is increasing at a geometric progression as its continue to make erroneous decisions in the conduct of public elections in the country.
“Already, your blatant refusal to carry out the boundary delimitation exercise thus paving way for the forceful introduction of the PR system is an issue that is still fresh in the minds of many Sierra Leoneans. Hence, your refusal to extend the exhibition and verification exercise might just add more salt to injury,” Legal Link disclosed. “In relation to your recent action of deleting over 250,000 registrants from the voter register, let us again remind you that such unilateral decision poses a clear and present danger to our nation’s body politic, security and democratic credentials.”
According to Legal Link, “It may be prudent, just, fair and equitable in the given circumstances for ECSL to allow for an independent inquiry to be carried out over these huge number of deletions in a bid to ascertain whether in fact these registrants were actually guilty of double registration as alleged by your institution.”
Legal Link holds the view that the right to vote and be voted for in periodic elections is a fundamental human right to be enjoyed by all eligible citizens in a democratic society as guaranteed under section 31 of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone, noting that denying citizens therefore the enjoyment and / or exercise of such fundamental human rights without justifiable limitations constitute a violation of both domestic and international law.