The Government of Sierra Leone would be launching the Government White Paper on the Constitutional Review Process by his Excellency Dr. Julius Maada Bio at State House.
President Dr. Julius Maada Bio saidmade this disclosure in his new year eve address to the nation that it would launch “Government’s White Paper on Constitutional Reforms” which is hoped would account for gaps and lacunae in the 1991 constitution of Sierra Leone.
At the State Opening of Parliament in May 2018, it could be remembered that his Excellency stated thus: “In the New Direction, Government will commit itself to adhere to the rule of law and institutional reforms to maintain law and order in society. This will mean I will lead by example, demonstrate the necessary discipline to refrain from acting unconstitutionally and scrupulously respect the rule of law in the best interest of national development and stability. Therefore, we endeavor to…examine the recommendations of the Constitutional Review Commission and the accompanying White Paper with a view to giving effect to them as much as is practicable.”
Several civil society and international organization like CARL and ActionAid Sierra Leone had called on the Government of Sierra Leone on several occasions to resume the Constitutional Review Process. Sierra Leone currently operates on the basis of the 1991 Constitution, which endedone-party rule and ushered in a new political dispensation of multi-party democracy.
However, the Constitution was endorsed three months after civil war broke in March of 1991.
As part of the process of negotiating the end to the civil war, Article X of the July 1999 Lome’ Peace Accord provided for amendments of the Constitution. Subsequently, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), established in 2002, also urged the Government of Sierra Leone to give “serious consideration” to the creation of a “new constitution”, in order to contribute to human rights. It argued that such a new constitution “should be the product of a wide and thorough consultative and participatory programme.”
Such a constitution must lay the foundations for a democratic and open society in which every citizen is equally protected by the law. It must free the potential of every Sierra Leonean. A Sierra Leone that is united around clear constitutional rights, values and principles has a promising future”.
In line with the TRC recommendations, the government established a Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) on 11 January 2007 “to review the Sierra Leone Constitution of 1991 with a view to recommending amendments that might bring it up to date with the economic, social and political developments that have taken place nationally and internationally since 1991”.
The All Peoples Congress (APC), which succeeded the SLPP in September 2007, did not follow up on the report with either a White Paper responding to the recommendations or a Constitutional Amendment Bill.
The 2008 CRC Report has never been officially released to the public and as such, there has been no public debate on its recommendations.
In the course of the campaign for the 2012 elections, the APC led government promised a constitution review process. To that end, as at April 2013, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice was in the process of appointing an 80-member Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) representing different stakeholders in the country, including political parties, NGOs, the media and key independent bodies. The 2013 CRC was tasked with reviewing the 1991 Constitution.
The Government envisages that there will be a major civic education and consultation process which will engage all segments of society in identifying recommendations for constitutional change. In accordance with the 1991 Constitution, at the conclusion of the process, Parliament will need to endorse a set of recommendations for change, after which a referendum will be held to amend any entrenched clauses in the Constitution.
By George M.O. Williams