As the five appointed Commissioners for the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone faced the Parliament of Sierra Leone on 20th March,2019, for endorsement, there are increasing calls by civil society players for our lawmakers to refuse these Commissioners, with a view to guarantee the independence of the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone, which is at the brink of being reduced from a Class A status by the United Nations.
The Appointment and Selections Committee, headed by the leader of Government Business, Mohamed Tunis, have interviewed the five Commissioners after a protracted close door meeting and they are now awaiting final approval.
A consortium for Good Governance, Democracy and Human Rights, a group of civil society organizations working around human rights, good governance, Rule of Law and accountability issues, has earlier on Tuesday urged Parliament not to endorse three of the newly appointed Commissioners. This is largely because the President had unilaterally dissolved the Human Rights Commission through a public notice in June 2018 in direct contravention to section 4 (3) (g) of the Human Rights Act of 2004 and section 137 (7) of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone.
The Network of African Human Rights Institutions, a regional body comprising of 44 human rights bodies, have also called on the Government of Sierra Leone to reinstate the three Commissioners and pay them all their salaries or emoluments to avoid embarrassment at the international scene. The lawmakers presently have the option to either dump our hard worn democratic status or approve the three Commissioners.
Sierra Leone’s representative to the United Nations, based in Geneva, Dr. Lans Gberie, was also faced with the task of recently defending the Special Report of the Rapporteurs, which had nailed Government for illegally dismissing the country’s Class A Human Rights Commissioners on political reasons. He has told the United Nations special session that the Government dissolved the HRCSL as part of its broader reforms.
The five Commissioners had appeared on Wednesday 20th March before the Parliamentary Subcommittee on Appointments and the public service. After several delays they have been interviewed and now awaiting final approval.
Civil society players have envisaged that their subsequent approval by Sierra Leone’s legislature will dent the country’s human rights record and the country would also likely face a legal challenge at the ECOWAS Court, as many correspondences, by member Human Rights Commissions in Africa, have called on Government to rescind its decision and reinstate the three Commissioners.
During the preliminary interviews by the Parliamentary Committee on Wednesday the appointed Commissioners were squeezed by NGC’s Kandeh Yumkella and APC’s Chernoh Bah on Section 4 (3) (g), which borders on the completion of a five year term of all appointed Commissioners and also the critical issue of conflict of interest. Members of the House believe that one of the Commissioners, Madam Patricia Nansu Ndanema, is related to the Minister of Agriculture.
Many Sierra Leoneans are watching with keen interest whether their representatives will throw the hard won democratic accolades of the country to the drains and risk the Class A status of our Human Rights Commissions.
Sierra Leone is also expected to face the United Nations 3rd cycle of the Universal Periodic Review in 2020 and it is expected that an endorsement of this grave constitutional violation, by the country, will certainly be a subject of discussion as it has already attracted attention.