By- Aruna Rashed Toma Bangura
The Chief Electoral Commissioner and National Returning Officer for the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone, Mohamed Kenewui Konneh has said in Freetown that he will live to conduct the June 24th, 2023 three-tier elections which is barely five days to go, adding that no amount iof threat will force the Commission to do what some certain group of people what them to do.
“I will live to conduct this election and thereafter and no amount of threat will force us to do what people want us to do,” he said.
Addressing the different political parties members, representatives of Civil Society Orgainsations (CSOs), external and internal Elections Observers and the Media during the one day workshop organized by IDEAS International at the New Brookfields Hotel along Jomo Kenyatta on Thursday 8th, June,2023, Mr. Konneh stated that he has been 72hrs to live, “the 72hrs have passed and I thanked I am still alive and the Commission is still existing,” he conferred, adding that the protection of confidential information of voters has been the threat of some people whom he said did not even register to vote.
He noted that that he has requested all registered political parties to frown at the habit of raining abusive words on his mother, “ we are not going to accept the abuse of our mothers, we will let it know that we are hurt because I know how my suffered for me. If your mother was not responsible for you it is not my fault, you can abuse your own mother but not mine,” he vented out, adding that “I do things what is right, but you don’t force me to do things how you want me to do it and so I do everything at my own time and within my own space,” he alluded.
He noted further that all the timeline that the Commission provided in their strategic plan are in line with the legal provision with the Constitutional mandate that they have and have not violated any and, he said that if anybody feels that the ECSL has violated any constitutional provision or legal provision they can take the Commission where the law said they should go.
Mohamed K. Konneh stated that IDEAS International is their partner and they started discussion when he assumed office in sometimes 2021- 2022 as the learnt and studied their activities in Africa and across the world and part of the Commission initiative is to bring onboard other institutions to learn from them in their knowledge and then to help fine tune the processes towards election, adding IDEAS International added into the Commission electoral activities cycle is the Electoral Risk Management Tool stationed in their office and with this tool they have been able to identify risk areas in all electoral activities which he noted is not only limited to violence or possible destruction but relates to the Commission’s planning, logistical, human resource and capacity building. He said they have effectively used the system to improve on their delivery services and time line.
He disclosed that the June 24th multi-tier election is ninety-five percent funded by the government of Sierra Leone. He said that it was deliberate when he assumed office that since the end of the war and over the years they have had support from international partners with regards conduct of elections. He said this time round they are going to utilize the country’s internal resources to either ensure or to test whether they are up to the job of conducting elections and, in addition secure commitment of state authorities that they will fund the elections in addition to complimentary funding from various multi-lateral partners. He added that policies and procedures were also developed by the internal staff of the ECSL and have motivated his staff whom he described as being up to the task.
“As long as we continue doing voter registration cycle by cycle we are bound to face these situations so probably after the election as a country, we will come back and re-evaluate some of these lessons we are learning whether we should try to develop a permanent voter register system or continuous voter registration which we have in our laws if we have the resources,” said Mr. Konneh while addressing the issue relating to the black and white voter cards and the mismatch of voters information, adding that that they have done voter exhibitions, completed card distributions and completed printing of final voter register and have given soft copies and hard drives of the voter register to all registered political parties contesting the polls.
According to the Chief Commissioner of ECSL, the voter register given to political parties is going to be completely different from what they as the Election Management Body (EMB) is going to have on polling as theirs have all the details of the voters including their personal details, mothers’ and fathers’ name unlike the one given to political parties, which he said is for obvious reasons. He said they do not anyone to someone else’s voter number produce the similar voter cards or anyone going to his house because his address has been shared with political parties. He added that in as much as they are trying to be transparent they want to ensure that they protect the privacy and confidential information of the voters.
Mohamed Kenewui Konneh disclosed that he took decision on his first commitment to conduct election while his children will be going to school and everybody going about their business and he attended the workshop to rekindle his commitment, “it was very deliberate in the sense that when I assumed office, I took decision of my first commitment was to ensure that I conduct election while my kids will go to school and everybody going about their normal business,” he averred. And since then, he said he has tried to open to work with everyone incluiding political parties and civil society organisations so that everybody will be onboard to know what the Commission and what they are doing about their business. He said that he is happy that the parties are embarking on peaceful campaigns with a ban on street rallies which he noted to be very much delighted that he sold the ideas to the other players of the Electoral Management Body, the Political Parties Regulations Commission (PPRC), Office of National Security (ONS) CSOs and the different political parties.
He continued that in terms of the Commission’s preparedness, they started with preparation of the Electoral Cycle Strategic Plan launched in 2020-2021 and in that strategic plan, the Commission highlighted calendar of event, adding the Commission has been able to achieve 90% and are hundred percent confident that the Commission will achieve the remaining ten percent before the 24th June.
In the aspect of tallying, Mr. Konneh stated that the same model that was used in 2018 is what they are going to utilized in the result management system as the law gives the ECSL the mandate that after the closing of all polls, polling staffs will count the results in the presence of political parties agents and external and internal observers, the results entered into the result reconciliation forms (RRFs) and political parties present will have to sign.
He said constitution mandates that the Chief Electoral Commissioner is responsible for final tallying, adding that in 2007 tallying was done at the Commission’s national Headquarters, in 2012 Regional tallying was introduced and in 2018 it was the regional tallying centre system which he said they are going to maintain for the upcoming polls where the District Returning Officer will certify the result in the presence of the Regional Returning Officer and copies of certify will be given to political party agents before the results are being transferred to him for final tallying and announcement of final results.