June 16, 2021
By: Ilyasa Baa
Tamba Lamina, the Minister of local government and rural development has warned officials in the political establishment not to meddle in the conduct of chieftaincy elections.
Tamba Lamina said the expectation is that no state or government official should interfere with the electoral processes by way of trying to impose candidates that do not belong to ruling houses. He said the President, Julius Maada Bio has warned his ministers against meddling into the electoral affairs of local people.
According to him, there is no evidence that government/state officials are interfering with these elections, pointing out that the fact that people are raising concerns over some of the elections does not necessarily mean they are correct but however, the Ministry is looking at the merit and demerit of the concerns that have been raised.
He also reminded that being a government official does not exempt one from taking part in the PC elections considering the fact that some government officials including ministers also belong to ruling houses which gives them the right to partake in elections. He however stressed that if there is tangible evidence of imposition by any government official, action will be taken by the Ministry.
He noted that the recently conducted election in Falaba district turned out in favor of Jawara despite the concerns raised.
He stated that the Traditional Attendant (TA) list is being put in place for the PC election in Pujehun district where three vacancies are to be filled. He denied allegations that the TA lists are doctored by government officials to blot the number of voters. He referred to it as fake news maintaining that it is possible because the number of TAs is determined by the amount of tax payers.
To select one TA, a tax book of twenty tickets must be bought and the list is supposed to be updated after every three years. Wide range of people from all walks of life are turning attention to Paramount Chieftaincy due to improvement in the remuneration of PCs as the government is trying to ensure that they derive more benefits from state resources.
If all went well with the Paramount Chieftaincy (PC) elections held yesterday in Koinadugu district, it automatically rounds the number of successfully conducted elections to ten within a month.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has 52 of these elections on their neck to be conducted within the shortest possible time.
A-Z newspaper has researched that in the northwest region alone, 22 elections are due to be held whilst the south has a dozen and the north and east have 15 and 2 Paramount Chieftaincy elections respectively.