The Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law, with support from Action Aid Sierra Leone, is calling on the government and President Julius Maada Bio to immediately resume the Constitutional Review Process of Sierra Leone.
In a press conference held at their office at Brookfield, the Executive Director for CARL, Ibrahim Tommy, said the importance of a progressive constitution that guarantees equality and citizens’ most basic right cannot be overemphasized and CARL and Action Aid have been working on the Constitutional Review process of Sierra Leone for twelve years but nothing has been done.
He said, as an organization, they noted that Sierra Leoneans agreed long ago that the current national Constitution has many gaps, and that changes are needed to make Sierra Leone a more democratic and prosperous society. But they would like to remind the President of his publicly stated commitment to the Constitutional Review Process in his remarks at the State Opening of Parliament in May 2018.
He furthered that, in May 2018, when President Bio was addressing the country he made it very clear that they will do everything possible to get a new constitution, but it has been seven months since the President made the promise and have not seen much on that.
He said that, he wants the government, especially the President, to take active steps to resume the review of the 1991 Constitution and the good thing is that there is a draft of the report and also there is a ground support to that, but what is lacking is the decision by the government to put in place the system to make sure that Sierra Leone has a new constitution.
He stated that, without a new constitution, we cannot be able to transform this country the way that we want it, which is why CARL and Action Aid are calling on the government to make sure that it takes active steps, without delay, to resume the 1991 Constitutional Review Process.
He said no country, in this world, has moved forward without the legal foundation of the constitution; and for changes to occur in a country there has to be a legal foundation of the constitution, which is the heart of every country.
The Director of CARL believes that no matter how much effort is made to fight corruption and other things in the country if the constitution is not changed there will be no effort made in terms of moving the country forward.
He said they are expecting that the President would make a move to the commitment made in resuming the constitution, adding that they are calling on him to listen to this and act on it, but more than that Sierra Leone people need a new constitution.
He explained that changing a constitution should be a very tough one that will remain for a very long time, and amendment will be made along the way and when changing a constitution it involves a lot of good thinking in order to make sure that people appreciate the effort and it will serve the interest of the public.
“The Constitutional Review Process started more than a decade ago, and in spite of the best efforts of local and international actors, the country is still stuck with a Constitution that is, in many aspects, unresponsive to the aspirations and demand of a 21st Century democratic society,” says the Executive Director.
He furthered that they are urging the President to resume the process, among other things, by setting up a small panel of experts to review those recommendations that respond to the aspirations of Sierra Leoneans for progressive constitution and the dynamic nature of society.
He ended up that they cannot let ‘our laws’ become stagnant. They urged the President to resume the review process so that they can produce a new and better Constitution of Sierra Leone.