Sierra Leone - Government
Currently, a Constitutional Review process, national census, and preparations for the next election in early 2018 are underway. President Ernest Bai Koroma publicly stated that he would not run for a third term. The two main political parties, the ruling All Peoples’ Congress and opposition Sierra Leone Peoples’ Party, became increasingly active in coming months in preparation for the elections. Sierra Leone has had three successful post-war elections. In 2012, 87% of the population voted in the election with Koroma winning with 58% of the vote.
Sierra Leone is a republic with an executive president and a multi-party system of government with a 124-seat parliament (112 elected members and 12 paramount chiefs). Executive power is exercised by the president whilst legislative power is vested in Parliament and in principle the judiciary is independent of the executive and legislature. Ministers of State are appointed by the president with the approval of the House of Representatives; the cabinet is responsible to the president. The president is elected by popular vote for a five-year term.
The seat of power (State House) is housed in the capital city of Freetown. The Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone functions within the legal framework of presidential representative democratic republic, where His Excellency the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone is the Head of State, the Supreme Executive Authority of the Republic and Commander-in- Chief of the Armed Forces as provided for in Chapter v, Part l Section 40(1) of the Constitution of Sierra Leone 1991.
Constitutional development in Sierra Leone, as a country can be traced as far back as the days of Granville Sharp, who first designed one for the freed men and women of the Province of Freedom. Followed were the Black hall Constitution of 1863, the Slater Constitution of 1924 and the Stevenson Constitution of the 1950s. In 1961, Sierra Leone gained independence and in 1971 a Republican Presidential System was established. The 1971 constitution allowed for a ceremonial president; an amendment later that year created an executive presidency. A new constitution in 1978 established a one-party state, with the All People’s Congress as the recognised party, and there was further constitutional amendment in 1985.
The 1991 constitution marked a return to a multiparty system, with many of the parliamentary features of the independence constitution, though the country was to remain a republic with an executive presidency. Implementation of this constitution was interrupted by an army coup. The National Provisional Ruling Council became the governing body, and rule was by decree. These developments were in turn reversed by the implementation of the 1995 constitution, which (with amendments) restored the 1991 constitution, returning the country to a multiparty system with an executive presidency and a unicameral legislature.
On August 11, 2007, Sierra Leone held nationwide presidential and parliamentary elections for the first time since the departure of UN peacekeepers. In the parliamentary elections, the National Election Commission reported the All Peoples Congress (APC) won a parliamentary majority taking 59 of 112 seats, while the ruling Sierra Leones Peoples Party (SLPP) took 43 seats. The Peoples Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) won 10 seats in parliament.
In addition to their peaceful administration, the 2007 parliamentary elections were notable for the return to a constituency-based system, as called for in the 1991 constitution. In preparation for the elections, Sierra Leone redrew parliament’s constituency boundaries for the first time since 1985. APC presidential candidate Ernest Koroma won 44.3% of the total 1,839,208 votes cast, while former Vice President and SLPP presidential candidate Solomon Berewa finished with 38.9%. PMDC presidential candidate Charles Margai placed third, receiving 13.9% of the vote. Because none of the candidates got the 55% of the vote needed to win in the first round, a run-off election was held on September 8, 2007. The two leading candidates, former Vice President Solomon Berewa of the SLPP and Ernest Bai Koroma of the APC, contested the second round. On September 17, 2007, Sierra Leone’s National Election Commission declared Ernest Bai Koroma the winner with 54.6% of the vote. President Koroma was sworn in later that day at the Sierra Leone Statehouse.
Sierra Leone’s judicial system consists of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, High Court of Justice, and magistrate courts. The president appoints and parliament approves justices for the three courts. Local chieftaincy courts administer customary law with lay judges; appeals from these lower courts are heard by the superior courts. Judicial presence outside the capital district remains limited, which contributes to excessive delays in the justice system. Although magistrate courts function in all 12 judicial districts, magistrates appointed to those courts but not residing there permanently have complained of insufficient resources to do their job. Justices of the peace or customary law partially fill the gap. Civil rights and religious freedoms are respected. A critical press continues to operate, although journalists and editors are occasionally arrested for publishing articles the government considers inflammatory.
Sierra Leone is a common law country. What this means is that in addition to the laws enacted by parliament including the Decrees of the National Provisional Ruling Council, a large part of the Laws of Sierra Leone comprises of pronouncements made by Judges in cases decided by them. This body of laws is normally referred to as "judge made" law or common law. This is one similarity between the legal system of Sierra Leone and the English Legal System.
However, Judges in Sierra Leone, as in England, would never admit that they make laws. For them to admit this fact would run counter to the well-established constitutional law doctrine of the separation of powers. This doctrine briefly states that the three arms of Government - the Executive, the Legislature and Judiciary have distinct functions. The Legislature makes laws which are carried out by the Executive and interpreted by the Judiciary. In order to maintain a proper balance in the governance of the State there should not be any usurpation by any of the these three organs of the functions of the other. In theory, therefore, the Judges should not be making laws, but only interpreting the laws made by Parliament.
The only caveat is that, where there is clear enactment by Parliament covering a particular situation the Judges can only interpret that enactment applying established rules of statutory construction or interpretation; they cannot make a judicial pronouncement which will go counter to that enactment.
In 2000 the Government of Sierra Leone promulgated the Anti-Corruption Act to combat endemic corruption, and a revised version of the law was passed on September 1, 2008. The amendment added new crimes for indictments, stiffer penalties, and gave the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) greater independence to investigate cases at every level. The ACC is working to secure convictions of high-level government officials, as well as raising national awareness of the problem and build in safeguards in “corruption hotspot” ministries through anonymous whistle-blowing programs and training on proper procurement procedures. The amended act requires that all government officials, regardless of rank or position, must declare their assets.
President Koroma was the first to declare his assets in 2008, and all other government officials have since followed suit. ACC investigations since late 2008 have led to the removal of dozens of officials, including several ministers, the vice president’s chief of staff, a former member of parliament, and a judge. In 2010, the ACC pursued 99 cases, 86 of which were still under investigation. Of the remaining 13 cases, the ACC secured seven convictions. The ACC has recovered almost $3 million for the government.
The basic unit of local government outside the Western Area has generally been the chiefdom, headed by a paramount chief, who is elected for a life term. In 2004, however, the first local government elections in 32 years were held in 311 wards nationwide. Four years later, local elections were held again in July 2008. There are now 12 district councils and 5 town councils outside the Western Area. The Western Area has a rural area council and a city council for Freetown, the nation’s capital. The local councils are gradually assuming responsibility for functions previously carried out by the central government. As devolution progresses, chiefdom and council authorities are starting to work together to collect taxes. While district and town councils are responsible for service delivery, chiefdom authorities maintain their own infrastructure of police and courts, which are also funded by local taxes.
On 30 July 2013, President Ernest Bai Koroma officially launched the Constitutional Review Committee. The 80-member team's core responsibility is to review Act No 6 of 1991 of Sierra Leone and, within 24 months, produce a draft constitution that will be put to a referendum. It is headed by the former Speaker of Parliament and current Ombudsman, Justice Edmond Cowan. So, if the process goes as planned Sierra Leone would have a new national constitution before the next general elections. The review process took three years to complete. In February 2016 the Constitution Review Committee of Sierra Leone published an abridged version of its first draft report. The draft was subject to public discussion and ratification through a national referendum, which was unlikely to take place in due time for the celebration of the country’s 55 years of independence on 27 April 2016.
The Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) proposed a new chapter in the revised Constitution to be titled Citizenship. The 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone has no provision for the definition of citizenship but the word “citizen” is mentioned in various sections throughout that Constitution. The main sections recommended for this important chapter are that citizenship may be acquired by birth, naturalisation, marriage or adoption. A person may apply to be a citizen by naturalisation if that person has been resident in Sierra Leone for a period of ten years; and has made or is capable of making useful and substantial contribution to the advancement, progress and well-being of Sierra Leone.
The Paramount Chiefs and Local Councillors expressed their opinions and views that they wanted to be part of the decentralised system. They wanted their decisions to be heard and integrated. This is in line with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) report of 2002 and the Lomé Peace Accord that the Constitution should have a separate chapter with the title, Local Government and Decentralisation. A National Local Government Finance Commission, which shall ensure equitable distribution of national resource and shall have such other powers and functions as may be conferred on it by the new Constitution or an Act of Parliament.
Private land refers to land in respect of which sovereign title is held on behalf of a community, by family or an individual, groups of individuals or other entity under any one of the tenure regimes in force in Sierra Leone. The Land Tenure System continued to pose tremendous division, and the CRC brought the matter back to the people for further deliberation.
The President and Vice President should not be removed from office if they lose their political party membership after assumption of office. The President and Vice President should only be removed from office in accordance with the procedures set out in Sec 50 and 51 of the 1991 Constitution. The term of office of the President should remain as it is in the 1991 Constitution - Maximum of two terms of 5 years each whether the terms are consecutive or not.
With most of the debates about constitutional change having focused directly on presidential term limit, parliamentary term limit, clear separation of powers between the presidency and parliament, and the definition of presidential executive powers, the framing of the referendum question becomes even more complex, if parliament is not to lose the essence of what they will be asking the people of Sierra Leone to decide upon.
The BVR (Biometric Voter Registration) exercise across the country started on 20 March 2017, ahead of the 2018 elections. Reports from across the country state that, the exercise has been fraught with a lot of challenges. By early 2017 the voter registration with civic registration registrants were asked a plethora of silly questions that had no relevance to the issue of whether they are Sierra Leoneans who have attained the age of 18 years, which are the only requirements for the franchise. In fact some of the questions — such as whether one was born at night or during daytime - had no relevance to even the civic registration exercise.
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