The Mid-term Census currently tabled in parliament for debate is a big time bomb that can explode at any time. Opposition parties said they were ready to stiffly resist the explosion using whatever means at their disposal.
Investigation mounted by this press has shown that Parliamentarians of the ruling SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party) are inclined to surreptitiously pass the law using the 21-day maturation period.
The Parliamentary standing orders say if any bill laid before parliament takes 21 days without debates, the bill becomes law. It is this rule that SLPP parliamentarians would capitalise on translate the census bill into law.
Despite the desperate move shown by the ruling party, the opposition has maintained that the bill is illegal. The bill’s illegality, opposition parliamentarians say, on its untimeliness.
Most political parties have argued that a lawful census is expected in 2025 after the previous one conducted in 2015. Opposition parties have also alleged that the proposed census is not about economic development, but about creating new constituencies and districts in the south-east of the country.
The international community, opposition parties say, have been hoodwinked into believing the proposed law owing to inadequate briefing. Against all odds, the desperate SLPP seems ready to bulldoze its way through to have the census conducted at all cost.
Opposition parties have raised several concerns which must be addressed before the debates on the census commence. One of the main concerns is about consultation and opposition politicians have always insisted that the leaderships of political parties must be consulted. The parties are of the view that a failure to consult derails trust and breeds suspicion of gerry-mandering.
Although there is a clear guide as to how a national census must be conducted, the ruling party is seemingly not ready to go by the dictates of the law, a recipe for continued violence. If allowed to explode, the violence and lawlessness would have negative impact not only on parliament but also on the streets.
It is argued that the hulabaloo and controversy the bill generates would spiral out of the walls of parliament. Some Sierra Leoneans have informed this press that they would resist the Mid-Term census at all cost anywhere and anytime.
Their position is common: the census bill is a bad law. Suspicions and allegations of gerry-mandering seem to be water-tight. The census has the objective of reducing northern constituencies and increasing south-eastern ones.
It is however not clear the model in which the resistance to the bill would take. The model of civil disorder and sometimes protests could not however be ruled out.
No one could also predict and quantify the scale of violence within and outside parliament in an event surreptitious moves are made to pass the law.
It is clear while in opposition that, the New Direction was totally opposed to the emergence of new constituencies in north-western Sierra Leone. A de-amalgamation process embarked on by the former government resulted into new constituencies in the north and western part of Sierra Leone.
The constituencies also created a situation in which the main opposition All People’s Congress has more parliamentarians than the ruling party. Should the constituencies remain as they are, APC would always have an edge over the ruling party, a situation would hardly augur well for SLPP, the party in governance. It is extremely difficult for a ruling party to govern a state regardless of its size where the opposition has more strength in parliament than the ruling party.
Without any fear of contradiction, the ruling party would hardly tolerate a situation of this nature. SLPP is therefore bent on trimming the feathers of the opposition to reduce its potency in the law-making house.
Such moves were demonstrated almost two years ago when the ruling party stripped the main opposition of nine parliamentary seats through deep political manoeuvrings.
The judiciary played a great role in the political game. Police and military officers were deployed in major parts of Freetown to create an atmosphere of fear.
Armed police officers were also deployed at the headquaters of APC placing the building under siege. Teargas canisters and live bullets were fired.
Indeed, they succeeded, and the nine seats went away.
However, the New Direction is still unsatisfied with the political arrangement in parliament. The only way to destroy the new constituencies and districts is to go for an illegitimate census.
The PAOPA Administration is determined to have the census bill passed regardless of the consequences.
The Mid-term Census was laid before parliament few days back for debate when violence erupted. Parliament was engulfed by deep chaos when the document was initially laid in parliament.
Opposition parties pointed accusing fingers at SLPP members of parliament notably the speaker for not allowing them to express their views on the proposed law. SLPP members of parliament, especially the Clerk, Paran Tarawallie have defended the bill.
Honourable Tarawallie says the laying of the bill at the well of parliament is within the ambit the law. He countered arguments denoting that before such a bill is tabled, the leaderships of political parties in parliament must be consulted.
The parliamentary clerk made reference to several bills passed into law during the Koroma administration without consultations. In what appears a strong resistance to the proposed law, 11 political parties have come together under the umbrella of a consortium. The consortium has previously clearly expressed its stance towards the bill saying they would block it in spite of the outcome.
The consortium is also seemingly determined to tell their constituencies not to participate in a process they refer to as illegal. The resistance to the bill began on 19th April, this year when the document was first tabled in parliament. The tabling of the document, opposition parties said, was a public hearing attended by a cross section of societies including top executives of political parties.
Opposition parties strongly believed that the bill in itself is illegal and its mode of presentation is also unlawful. They argue that it is the Minister of Planning and Economic Development that should table the document and not the Attorney-General.
The demonstration of powers by the ruling party and the resistance of opposition parties led to brawls and scuffles which could have been avoided.
Currently, government is now apprehensive and jittery of re-tabling the bill fearing its consequences. Owing to the fear, government now resorts to a subtle method of passing the Mid-Term Census bill into law using the 21-day period to its advantage.
But, the bill, opposition parties say is a time-bomb that must be handled with care.