By Ragan M. Conteh
Parliamentary Sources have informed this medium that a bill for seven-year mandate for Presidents and parliamentarians will be brought to the house of Parliament for legislation.
If the bill is passed into law, the mandates of a President and parliamentarians end after every term of seven years.
But, opposition members of parliament seem not happy with the news of the proposed legislation.
One of them says the bill will bring about stiff resistance from not only opposition parliamentarians but from the country’s citizenry.
“Sierra Leone currently suffers setback as a result of poor management of the country’s resources by government,” the opposition parliamentarian alleged.
He said the introduction of the proposed bill had the tendency to cause instability in the country.
However, some members of the opposition, the MP said, were in support of government for the proposed bill that will smear the country’s image.
He told Nightwatch that APC MP’s will resist and will not even participate in any bill that extends the five-year term to seven years.
An SLPP Member of Parliament defends government move.
He said the seven-year plan was started by the then APC government but abandoned it because of pressure from the international community and SLPP, then in opposition.
Many Sierra Leoneans have rejected the passage of such a bill that will cause more problems in the country.
“If we allow dictatorship, tomorrow people will suffer. We will never encourage such a bill. We will denounce such through lawful means,” Mamusu Ngobeh said.
In a related development, the Eastern regional headquarters of Kenema is on the verge of separation into two districts.
Some SLPP members have also told this medium that the creation of another district in the east of the country is sacrosanct noting that Kenema district was divided into two during colonial days.
“The de-amalgamation of the district is not a new development, but a correction of the mistakes APC did to divide Port Loko and Koinadugu leaving Kenema District,” he said.
A government official, Osman Kalokoh sees the division as unnecessary.
Government, he says, finds it difficult to keep government institutions in the districts running effectively let alone creating another district.
“The creation of another district in Kenema is a burden on state coffers,” he opines.
the opposition politician warns government to be careful of any law they pass so that it would not hunt them tomorrow.