April 26, 2021
By: Musa Bai Sesay
The Coalition for Change Party known as C4C has joined like-minded parties and Sierra Leoneans generally in condemning the disrespectful attitudes by Members of Parliament particularly those of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party SLPP and the main opposition All People’s Congress. Speaking to journalists about the violence that erupted at Bintumani Conference Centre on Monday between MPs of APC and their SLPP counterparts, the leader of the Coalition for Change Party in Parliament Honorable Saa Emmerson Lamina said that what happened on Monday between members of those two political parties (APC & SLPP) was very disgraceful and shameful, and as a party, the Coalition for Change Party outrightly condemned it from the onset. He asserted that such was against the standing order 35 (SO 35) which states that MPs should appear in Parliament in decorum.
Honorable Lamina alleged that what happened on that fateful day was preemptive; adding that if it were not so whatever would have been the case the parties concerned should have waited patiently to see the outcome. He said when issues come up in Parliament, there are clear laid down procedures through motions, which MPs have the right to either support or go against, and that if all of that would failed they as a party were expecting an intellectual and/or legal battle between and among MPs and not that of fist as exhibited by the MPs.
The leader of the Coalition for Change Party in Parliament pointed out that those behaviors by MPs were unfortunate, noting that the nation looks forward to Parliament as pace setters or role models for generations yet to come. He said, therefore, they were expecting much from the two old parties (APC & SLPP)
Honorable Lamina stated that the Coalition for Change Party from the mantra of nation first, knew very well that negotiations, conscientious building, and dialogue were fine tools for the way forward in any society. He said members of the opposition should bear in mind that there is a government of the day and that the speaker’s ruling could have been better still contested smoothly.
The C4C leader in Parliament affirmed that section 86 is very clear in the constitution that presidential proclamations needed no consultations. When asked whether the statutory instrument in question for the conduct of the 2021 Mid-Term Population and Housing Census was properly laid in Parliament, he relied that it was laid and it’s on record.