Is the illegality of the Speaker of Parliament hunting the peace and prosperity of our parliament? Many would recall the way and manner in which the speaker of Parliament was imposed on members of Parliament three years ago.
The showdown had involved the invasion of the legislative house by Para-military Police who arrested and detained senior members of the All Peoples Congress, the country’s main opposition party.
Since then Sierra Leoneans had witnessed drama after drama in the well of Parliament bordering on one unconstitutionality issue to another.
Sierra Leone also recently witnessed the removal of ten MP’s from the opposition through the High Court.
The drama surrounding the passing of the three instruments of the Commissions of Inquiry, hasty passage and reversal of non –Imprest bill and many others.
Parliament had not known peace since the Speaker was illegally imposed on the MP’s.
The speaker seemingly lacks the temerity to strike the balance and bring peace to the first arm of government.
The nicely constituted Parliament with four Political parties, independent candidates and revered paramount chiefs with a youthful population was expected to be one which should have sustained the country’s hard earned democracy.
Parliamentarians are also under obligation to project the suffering of the masses.
The Parliament of Sierra Leone, despite these upheavals, had continued to receive huge support from the UK-sponsored Westminster Foundation.
The aftermath of this support is to enhance the performance of our parliament. But, is this really the case?
Sierra Leone’s son, Hon Sidi Tunis is Speaker of the sub regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Many MP’s are also members of the AU and ACP parliaments.What have they brought to their own Parliament as a way of best practice?
The famous retreat in the southern City of Bo was organized to ensure that peace prevails among the four political parties for the betterment of the country.
The House, despite being on record for violence and unconstitutionality, it could also not be spared when it comes to corruption. Several Public Perception surveys and whistle blowing within its ranks had pointed out that the House is corrupt.
They demand bribes or kickbacks in the process of interviewing presidential nominees. Hon Hindolo Ngevao confirmed the corruption of parliament through BBC.
Clerk of Parliament,Hon Paran Tarawalie and ruling party MP Hon Tawa Conteh had accused each other openly on radio of having involved in siphoning money meant for the running of parliament and their constituencies.
These accusations and counter accusation had led the Anti-Corruption watch dog to mount an investigation on selected MP’s around the use of their constituency Development Fund.
All of these issues surrounding Parliament had actually signalled the fact that all hell had been let loose over the way Parliament is managed. The Leadership of the Main Opposition, All Peoples Congress had also been accused by its supporters of not playing by the rules.
The minority Leader and his Deputy, the Octogenarian Politician and Journalist Ibrahim Ben had many times betrayed their colleagues. Many APC supporters had called for their removal with a view to appoint people with the audacity to resist the madness at the House.
Today’s showdown at Parliament was another test of the resolve of the APC to accept unconstitutionality in their very eyes. The Sierra Leone Police, as usual under the Command of CSP Tawa, was on standby to unleash terror on the main opposition while the Speaker will go ahead and make the proclamation.
Parliamentarians and journalist who had gone to cover the event where under siege as the SLPP was planning to unleash the grand plan of imposing a mid-term census on the people of Sierra Leone.
Why should Government force a census on its people if not for ulterior reasons?
The speaker and his cohorts lack the diplomacy required to get their APC and other colleague to support their bills rather than falling for coercion. The continuous postponement of the census had vindicated the opposition political parties that the timing for the census was inadequate and that Government had an ulterior motive to conduct the census.
Funding from the international community to the tune of US$6M (six million United States dollars} for the conduct of the Mid-term census should be used in other priority sectors.
Parliament now lacks the moral high ground to intervene and bring sanity to what is happening in other sectors such as the Sierra Leone Police which is continuously engaged in heavy handedness and gross human rights violations.
The Bar Association and many other Civil Society Organisations had lampooned the Police for its heavy handedness on opposition supporters and other vulnerable groups.
Trigger happy Police personnel are now in the habit of killing innocent civilians and vulnerable groups with impunity. The Police seem to have lacked the culture of transparency and accountability when it is serving the people of this country for which colossal amounts of the British tax-payers money was injected into the force.
The Independent Complaints Board and many other legally constituted agencies are calling for a review of their acts to be able to meet their mandate.
What has our parliament done to address these legal gaps in the functioning of these institutions?
Corruption allegations are flying all over the place coupled with an open intimidation for the Auditor General’s Office.
Where is our Parliament, the direct representatives of the people in terms of safeguarding our resources and our state institutions?