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SIERRA LEONE: Struggling NEC

SIERRA LEONE: Struggling NEC Polls are due in March 2018, but preparations are in disarray.Irregularities in voter registration efforts in Sierra Leone, coupled with growing fears of intimidation of opposition groups, threaten to damage the credibility of national elections set for early 2018, several NGOs have warned.Officials have begun voter registration drives ahead of the March 2018 vote, when President Ernest Bai Koroma is barred by the constitution from standing again after two terms in power since 2007.But independent observers have found several cases of lost or omitted personal data in several areas, according to Sierra Leone Elections Mega Observers, an alliance of advocacy groups.The data losses “hold a real potential to create chaos during the election,” which could “undermine the credibility of the elections,” the alliance said.In parliament, the deputy majority Leader of Parliament, Hassan Sherriff, said up to 300,000 names were missing in the register.The National Elections Commission (NEC) is set to conduct multi‐tier elections in the country over the next six months and for the very first time, the electoral body will be using biometric machines for the entire process – from registration to elections. However, PANA commented that there were clear indications that staff of the Information and Communication Technology department at the NEC had struggled so far with the new system.Over 3m people registered in April for the forthcoming elections. Civil society groups have warned that a data loss of this size could affect the credibility of the elections seriously if it is not rectified.Meanwhile on August 31st, another NGO, the National Election Watch (NEW), called for an independent inquiry into a fire at the headquarters of the Alliance Democratic Party (ADP), an opposition group.The party's leader, Mohamed Kamarimba Mansaray, said on August 29th that two people on a motorcycle threw molotov cocktails at the building, and alleged that the ruling All People's Congress (APC) was trying to “silence the opposition.”“Such attacks and impunity are bound to meet the threshold of insecurity for opposition parties and candidates,” NEW said in a statement. (© AFP 31/8 2017; PANA, Freetown 4/9)Opposition Aspirants QuitKandeh Kolleh Yumkella, a presidential aspirant of the main opposition party, the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), resigned from the party on September 5th.In July Yumkella had suspended his bid for the presidency after accusing the SLPP executive of not creating a level playing field for every candidate within the party to contest fairly.At a press conference, he said: “Throughout the various stages of the contest for flagbearer, there has been a deliberate policy by certain groups in control of the party structures to aggressively exclude any person or group of persons that do not support their candidate.”On resigning from the party, he said the SLPP was unrecognisable from the party of honour and justice that his parents had belonged to, and was now under “mis‐leadership that continues to thrive on violence, lack of respect for elders, falsehood, betrayal, violation of rules, manipulation of people with messages of division, dark schemes and designs, lack of focus and loss of credibility.”On September 14th, Andrew Keili, another SLPP frontrunner, announced he was dropping out too.“Violence and intimidation, abusiveness, tribalism and regionalism, illegitimacy in elections and intolerance have become the hallmark of the party, putting it in a bad light with a disappointed public,” Keilie said.The previous week, former Vice President Dr Joe Demby, citing similar reasons, left the party.There is a widespread belief among some members within the SLPP that the executive has tilted the scale in favour of Brig.‐Gen. Julius Maada Bio. Bio's camp has always denied the allegations.Keilie has not revealed his future plans in politics, especially within the SLPP. However, there is a strong possibility that he may join forces with Yumkella in a Grand Coalition.Since the 2012 general elections, the SLPP has been locked in serious internal disputes which have led to a mass exodus from the party. Political pundits have warned that they could lose the election very easily in 2018 with such disunity. (PANA, Freetown 4,14/9; Africa Confidential 8/9) http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series Wiley

SIERRA LEONE: Struggling NEC

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Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
ISSN
0001-9844
eISSN
1467-825X
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-825X.2017.07876.x
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Abstract

Polls are due in March 2018, but preparations are in disarray.Irregularities in voter registration efforts in Sierra Leone, coupled with growing fears of intimidation of opposition groups, threaten to damage the credibility of national elections set for early 2018, several NGOs have warned.Officials have begun voter registration drives ahead of the March 2018 vote, when President Ernest Bai Koroma is barred by the constitution from standing again after two terms in power since 2007.But independent observers have found several cases of lost or omitted personal data in several areas, according to Sierra Leone Elections Mega Observers, an alliance of advocacy groups.The data losses “hold a real potential to create chaos during the election,” which could “undermine the credibility of the elections,” the alliance said.In parliament, the deputy majority Leader of Parliament, Hassan Sherriff, said up to 300,000 names were missing in the register.The National Elections Commission (NEC) is set to conduct multi‐tier elections in the country over the next six months and for the very first time, the electoral body will be using biometric machines for the entire process – from registration to elections. However, PANA commented that there were clear indications that staff of the Information and Communication Technology department at the NEC had struggled so far with the new system.Over 3m people registered in April for the forthcoming elections. Civil society groups have warned that a data loss of this size could affect the credibility of the elections seriously if it is not rectified.Meanwhile on August 31st, another NGO, the National Election Watch (NEW), called for an independent inquiry into a fire at the headquarters of the Alliance Democratic Party (ADP), an opposition group.The party's leader, Mohamed Kamarimba Mansaray, said on August 29th that two people on a motorcycle threw molotov cocktails at the building, and alleged that the ruling All People's Congress (APC) was trying to “silence the opposition.”“Such attacks and impunity are bound to meet the threshold of insecurity for opposition parties and candidates,” NEW said in a statement. (© AFP 31/8 2017; PANA, Freetown 4/9)Opposition Aspirants QuitKandeh Kolleh Yumkella, a presidential aspirant of the main opposition party, the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), resigned from the party on September 5th.In July Yumkella had suspended his bid for the presidency after accusing the SLPP executive of not creating a level playing field for every candidate within the party to contest fairly.At a press conference, he said: “Throughout the various stages of the contest for flagbearer, there has been a deliberate policy by certain groups in control of the party structures to aggressively exclude any person or group of persons that do not support their candidate.”On resigning from the party, he said the SLPP was unrecognisable from the party of honour and justice that his parents had belonged to, and was now under “mis‐leadership that continues to thrive on violence, lack of respect for elders, falsehood, betrayal, violation of rules, manipulation of people with messages of division, dark schemes and designs, lack of focus and loss of credibility.”On September 14th, Andrew Keili, another SLPP frontrunner, announced he was dropping out too.“Violence and intimidation, abusiveness, tribalism and regionalism, illegitimacy in elections and intolerance have become the hallmark of the party, putting it in a bad light with a disappointed public,” Keilie said.The previous week, former Vice President Dr Joe Demby, citing similar reasons, left the party.There is a widespread belief among some members within the SLPP that the executive has tilted the scale in favour of Brig.‐Gen. Julius Maada Bio. Bio's camp has always denied the allegations.Keilie has not revealed his future plans in politics, especially within the SLPP. However, there is a strong possibility that he may join forces with Yumkella in a Grand Coalition.Since the 2012 general elections, the SLPP has been locked in serious internal disputes which have led to a mass exodus from the party. Political pundits have warned that they could lose the election very easily in 2018 with such disunity. (PANA, Freetown 4,14/9; Africa Confidential 8/9)

Journal

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series – Wiley

Published: Oct 1, 2017

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