By Mohamed Massaquoi
Residents of Sambaia Benduge Chiefdom in Tonkolili District are still pondering as to why their Tribal Authority list was not in the final government Gazette, which was published on Friday 12th February 2019.
The Ministry of Local Government, in collaboration with the National Electoral Commission (NEC), on the 19th December 2018 reviewed the Tribal Authority list and on the 29th January 2019 the first Gazette was published with Sambaia Benduge well intact.
In a protest letter dated 23rd February 2019, nine of the paramount chief aspirants registered their dismay, noting that they have suspected political interference into the entire process
“On the 29th January, 2019 when the first Gazette was published our chiefdom was among. The Gazette was distributed in all the affected chiefdoms, which was corrected and sent back to the National Electoral Commission NEC. On the 13th February 2019, the second publication was made and our chiefdom was still in the Gazette. To our greatest dismay, on 21st February 2019 when the final copy was published, our chiefdom was completely expunged. As a result of this situation, we have written a protest letter to stakeholders including the Minister of Local government to explain more about the reason for the removal of our chiefdom from the Gazette,” the letter stated.
One of the aspirants, Finalalalie Sheku Jalloh, said seven of them were pleased with the list when one of the spirants who is a setting Member of Parliament, Hon. Musa B Jalloh, raised concerns that he was not pleased with the outcome of the revision and promised that he will ensure that the chiefdom’s tribal authority list is again revisited.
“Our positions as aspirants from Sambaia Chiefdom are as follows: That we are not going to accept any re-revisit of the Gazette as earlier requested by Hon. Musa Jalloh. Any attempt by the ministry to conduct another review process will involve a lot of constrains on the side of the aspirants.
We are therefore asking the Ministry of Local Government and other stakeholders to hands-off this election process and allow the people to exercise their rights,” the position ended.