November 23, 2021
By Audrey John
The Political Party Registration Commission (PPRC) has postponed the conventions of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and ordered the party leadership to comply with its 2020 constitution and its 2021 Rules and Regulations to form a complainant committee to resolve the SLPP North America petitions.
The above decision was reached at by PPRC following claims by the petitioners seeking for a re-run of the elections based on multiple violations cited and the impact such will create in the internal electoral calendar of the party.
Replying to the letter dated 27th August 2021, captioned Petition from SLPP North America Region and It’s Dallas Chapter, the Political Party Registration Commission (PPRC) said the directives in the petitioner’s letter aforesaid are categorical. PPRC said the National Secretariat should constitute the Diaspora Regional Elections Complaints Committee (DIRECC), as provided for by Clause 2 (23) of your Party’s electoral Rules and Regulations, for the SLPPNA Region and refer the petitions attached thereto, from the said Region and its chapters, to the said committee, to enquire into and determination same. They said the petitioners chose to respond to the issues raised in the said Petitions, in seeming circumvention of those directives.
They also stated that the Commission has been consistent in its position that, before aggrieved members of a Party could come to it with a complaint; they must first have recourse to their Party’s internal dispute resolution structures. PPRC said it is only when they are not satisfied with the outcome of the intervention of those structures that they can come to the Commission.
The commission said they know for a fact that, you have always been a fierce Proponent and consistent Advocate of that position.
The petitioners file an official petition against the Regional (conducted on March 27th 2021) and Chapter (March 20th) elections of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) in North America (USA),and requesting for a full re-run under the 2021 NEC approved PPRC gazetted Rules and Regulations for the reasons listed below in detail.
Article 20 Clause 2 (E) provides for inclusion of Elections Rules and Regulations in NEC approved Party Rules and Regulations under which elections must be. They said the current Rules and Regulations of the SLPP were published under Gazette on March 24th 2021. Chapter elections in North America were conducted on March 20th against the advice of the Regional Executive before the current Rules and Regulations took effect under PPRC gazette. The finalized rules and regulations of 2021 were significantly different from the previous party published Rules and Regulations that were in effect for the Chapter elections, so no elections should have been conducted until they took effect and it was ONLY done in North America which was discriminatory. According to them, the above is unconstitutional as none of provisions under the previous Rules and Regulations were followed, used, or published for the Chapter elections conducted on March 20th 2021. The draft 2021 Rules and Regulations were used.
Delving in to the petition letter proper, they also cited NEC approved published schedule from the emergency SLPP NEC meeting on Thursday 25th February 2021 which said Chapter elections were to be held on the 17th April 2021, and regional elections 24th April 2021 was not complied with. Chapter elections were conducted on March 20th 2021, with the regional elections held on March 27th 2021 that led to the issue raised in point 1) above.
Next, Clause 2 (14) in the Rules and Regulations 2021 says “no person shall hold two positions in the party at the same time”. Yet several candidates including the current Chairman Elect Mr. Desmond Pessima who was elected Secretary General of the Delaware Valley Chapter and current Vice-Chairman Elect Mr. Mohamed Daboh, who was also elected Treasurer of the DC Metro Chapter, were both allowed to run for and win regional positions despite having won chapter positions in the same election. A petition filed challenging the eligibility of those candidates to Mr. Victor Tarmoh, head of the Diaspora Independent Elections Monitoring and Oversight Committee (DIEMOC) prior to the regional election was not addressed.
Final list of voters was not published and circulated within 72 hours by the Diaspora Independent Elections Monitoring and Oversight Committee (DIEMOC) prior to the elections in SLPP North America as required by Clause 3, 9, 1(e) of the 2021 Rules and Regulations of March 24th 2021. The list voters were published on the day of the regional elections on March 27th, 2021.
There was no Diaspora Regional Elections Complaint Committee (DIRECC) setup and named to address electoral petitions and challenges in violation of Article 23 of the 2021 Rules and regulations approved by NEC and published through gazette by the PPRC on March 24th 2021, thereby denying the candidates their right to petition the results and elections.
The Regional Executive-ELECT were also illegally sworn in via Zoom Meeting on April 10th 2021 by National Secretary General Umaru Koroma despite a NEC resolution taken in Kenema on Saturday 23rd January 2021 that extended the terms of all executives in the party till June 30th 2021.
Candidate Abdulai Sillah who was elected unopposed as Chairman Council of Elders New Jersey, was replaced with Solomon Bona who did not contest or run in the election, who also then became a delegate and was allowed to vote in the regional elections as Chairman Council of Elders New Jersey inherently changing the results of the regional elections results as we know it.
I look forward to your timely response on this issue because as of submission of this letter.
It is our assertion that the validity of the elections of the party would be harmed beyond reasonable doubt if these results were allowed to stand under the circumstances and with the violations highlighted in this letter.
Only addressing these issues and conducting elections per the 2020 Constitution and in compliance with the 2021 Rules and Regulations would support the rule of law and constitutionality that the SLPP party stands for and that the PPRC is called upon to uphold.
PPRC in their reply further stated that the rationale behind this position, in the considered view of the Commission is that, it would tend to the internal democracies of Political Parties, fosters Party cohesion and unity and dispels the misconception that, the Commission is micro managing Political Parties, by inter meddling with their internal affairs.
They disclosed that the contention in the Reply that, DIRECC was not constituted because there were no complaints is with the utmost respect untenable. The spirit and intendment of your Party’s electoral Rules and Regulations envisage that, DIRECC must be constituted before the conduct of the elections, as it was done by the Secretariat, in all Regional Chapters of your Party, save SLPPNA, in expectation of electoral Complaints.
In the light of the foregoing and in exercise of powers conferred on it by Section 6(2)(a&c) of the
Political Parties Act 2002 and in invocation of the obligation imposed on Political Parties by
Section 35(2) of the 1991 Constitution, the Commission hereby again directs the Secretariat of your Party as follows:
a) Constitute the Diaspora Regional Elections Complaints Committee, for SLPPNA Region.
b) Refer all petitions from the SLPPNA Region and its Chapters, relative to their recent elections, to the said constituted Committee to enquire into and determine same.
The thing that is doubting people is whether the party will comply with PPRC to address the petition matter internally. Inside sources has intimated that the party leadership has ignored the petition, asking PPRC to disregard it.
Any neglect from PPRC side will seems like they are avoiding their responsibility to rule on the merit of the petition as expected.
Another source has disclosed that an emergency NEC meeting is expected soon to discuss the above matter as the conventions are due to start next week. The conventions will likely not hold until the petition from North America is fully addressed.