NEW Could Lose The Moral High Ground
With Ralph Sesay
The National Elections Watch (NEW), Sierra Leone, a coalition of Civil Society organizations observing local elections in Sierra Leone since the war ended, could lose the moral high ground to observe elections in Sierra Leone if they continue to take sides and meddle into the politics of the country.
They have, in the recent past, maintained a very credible reputation for observing elections all over Africa and the capacity of its personnel has also been enhanced through international trainings. This has placed them in a very enviable position in Africa.
But under the current leadership they have come under the spotlight for openly taking sides with political parties on very controversial national issues. This has got the tendency to destroy all these laurels thereby wrecking the gains made by their predecessors.
How can they release a very bogus Press Release twenty four hours after the polls, categorically stating that they have empirical evidence that no political party would go into a run-off? Was it part of their mandate to tally results and make bogus projections?
This press release has made the stakes very high and one side is now using their statements as a very strong basis of denying whatever results NEC would announce.
The press, both national and international, Civil Society and election management bodies have carefully listened to the preliminary reports from ECOWAS, the EU/OM, Commonwealth Observer Group for the Sierra Leone Elections 2018 and the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA), headed by experienced and renowned election experts.
Citizens Observation of the elections, a process spearheaded by NEW, was highly acclaimed as local observers were visibly seen in all the polling centers they have visited, according to them, but they have also repeatedly distanced themselves from commenting on results even when the press had wanted them to comment on whether there would be a run-off or not.
According to them, the role of Observer Missions, all over the world, is to look at the legal and political environment before and after elections and assess whether they are in line with international best practices, the issue of participation of women and vulnerable groups and the independence of NEC and other election management bodies, to name but a few.
The scope is so huge that a very sober minded civil society monitoring group should preoccupy itself with these issues and do a preliminary report like our international colleagues have done, bringing out the issues surrounding the polls and also proffering recommendations for future reforms.
The NEW Press release merely dwelled into the issue of election results and speculating on whether there is a run-off or not. This has got the potential of sparking off chaos should in case NEC go contrary.
We even have problems with the individuals they recruit to serve as local observers especially in the rural areas. Many of them do not have the pedigree to observe elections. This has continuously watered down the feedback the organization is receiving from the field. Even when these local observers are purportedly supervised by certain individuals they have not lived up to the expectations of citizens.
Speaking during the presentation of the preliminary report by former President Goodluck Jonathan at the Radisson blu Hotel yesterday, the Head of Legal Aid Board, Mrs. Fatmata Claire Hanciles, stated that the statement of NEW and the continuous publication of different results in the social media is already a flashpoint for violence as we await the results from NEC. She has passionately called for former President Jonathan to immediately intervene and talk to Sierra Leoneans and political parties.
NEC is the sole authority to announce credible results which I believe NEW should understand. They should be in a position to encourage all parties currently publishing figures to their members to take this fact into consideration. NEW should not further confuse the process thereby putting the hard worn efforts of the Sierra Leonean public, NEC and other election management bodies and the International Community to the dustbin.