As part of their commitment to conduct the June 24th 2023 Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Council elections, the government has transferred a cumulative amount of forty million United States dollars (US$40M) to the Elections Basket fund maintained at the Bank of Sierra Leone.

The steering committee which includes government, development partners, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), security sector and Political Parties Regulations Commission (PPRC) among others seeks to update the various members on the state of preparedness by government and other state institutions to conduct free, fair, credible, participatory, transparent and inclusive elections.

“The government has transferred a cumulative three hundred million new leones (NLe300M) to the Elections Basket fund maintained at the Bank of Sierra Leone. This is in addition to three hundred and fifteen million four hundred thousand new leones (NLe315.4M) to the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL), Political Parties Regulations Commission (PPRC), Office of National Security (ONS) making a total of twenty five million dollar s (US$25M) as of 2022,” the Minister of Finance, Sheku Fantamadi Bangura said at the eighth stakeholders meeting of members of the Elections Steering Committee.

He said “If you bring that all together it is about forty million dollars (US$40M) that has been disbursed for the forthcoming elections.”

Mr. Bangura reiterates government commitment to make sure ECSL remains independent to do their work, while assuring development partners and the people of Sierra Leone that government will continue to support ECSL to conduct elections that will reflect the will of the people.

He said “Government will continue to give ECSL and Elections Management Bodies (EMBs) the support needed to make sure that the country has an election that the people will be happy about.