Every election in Sierra Leone in recent times is seemingly a time bomb waiting for explosion, with the most recent being the Sierra Bar Association (SLBA) that left many minds pondering as to why elections are hemmed with gross disregards for processes and procedures and characterised by political intolerance, manipulations and machinations, more often than not violence as evidenced in the June 24th elections which is still opaque with citizens waiting for the Tripartite report which is expected in less than a month.
The Sierra Leone Union on Disability Issues (SLUDI), the main Disability Organization in Sierra Leone, is about to hold its AGM and elect its executive officers. However, the pre-election period has been eclipsed by suspicions and distrust against the Minister of Social Welfare, Melrose Karminty, who they accused of meddling in the preparation to conduct the elections ahead of their AGM.
According to the present Executive, the Minister is desperately meddling in their elections to elect an executive that is pro-government instead of having an independent executive that will seek the interests of the general well-being of persons with disabilities.
SLUDI Executive has sent a letter of protest to the United Nations Resident Coordinator in which they registered their dissatisfaction and disappointment against the Minister of Social Welfare, who they accused of meddling with the election as a way of hijacking the conduct of their elections in contravention to the Union’s constitutional requirement. SLUDI Executive accused the Minister of Social Welfare of handpicking certain state institutions to conduct the elections, vis-à-vis the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL), Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone (HRCSL), Office of National Security (ONS) and the Sierra Leone Police (SLP). SLUDI is not comfortable with these institutions, fearing that they will go to lengths to sway the winning on the side of their opponents who have strong political affiliations with the government
It would be recalled that on 8th April 2024, the Minister engaged members of the Sierra Leone Union on Disability Issues (SLUDI) ahead of their general election. Still, the meeting became chaotic and ended in Court. Eventually, the issue was resolved by signing a Communique to settle the indifferences between the parties involved and to conduct free, fair, and credible elections.
According to sources, the Minister slated a time for the conduct of the elections against the will of SLUDI, who challenged the timing of the election.
According to sources, the High Court Order dated 23rd May 2024 has restrained the ECSL and any other institution (s) from participating, engaging, contesting, or conducting an election relating to SLUDI. This suggests that the High Court of Sierra Leone has slammed an injunction on the Government-led election process relating to SLUDI against the manoeuvring of the Union’s constitutional requirement. Before the injunction was slammed, SLUDI demanded that the court case against its executive members be withdrawn before their elections and emphasized that the elections should be conducted according to the provisions of their Constitution. However, their demands were not adhered to as they fell under the deaf ear of the minister. SLUDI’s current executive, therefore, took the matter to Court, demanding the correct procedures to be followed and the removal of the Minister’s self-appointed bodies from the electoral process. The circumstances have led to the High Court Interim Order of injunction.
Instead of the above, elections, which are conducted to enable voters to vote for the candidate of their choice in a democratic dispensation, have become something else by which people in authority use all means possible to undermine elections and choose candidates of their choice against the will of the people. This is bad because it can lead to bad precedents and the implication of impediments that deprive the elected body of its legitimacy.
