• The retirement age of Judges/Justices of the Superior Court of Judicature shifted from 65 to 70 years
• The African Negro requirement to be a citizen of
Sierra Leone should be eliminated
• Stateless children under 5 years found in Sierra
Leone should be granted citizenship status
• The Chief Justice to be appointed by the Judicial
and Legal Service Commission
• The two land tenure systems in the country should
be harmonized
• Members of Parliament should only be qualified
for pension and gratuity after serving two consecutive terms as MPs.
• Education, health and right to shelter are now justifiable
3.2.7 Country qualified to join the Open Government Partnership (OGP)- Sierra Leone under
the leadership of His Excellency the President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma qualified to join the Open Government Partnership (OGP) which was established by
the President of the United States of America (USA),
Barrack Obama and the Civil Society Organizations
(CSOs) in the USA. Sierra Leone has met all it requirements and became a full member of the OGP as the
sixth (6th) African country in July 2014. The passing
of the Freedom of Information Bill paved the way for
all important achievement for the peoples and Government of Sierra Leone. The Open Government Initiative
is a mechanism of “Bringing Government Closer to the
People and the People Closer to the Government”.
In early 2016, the Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) published the progress reports for those
countries who began implementing action plans in
2014. These reports cover the development and first
year of implementation of the action plan of each
country. In Sierra Leone, the IRM researcher Charlie
Hughes summarized his findings:
“Sierra Leone has sought to advance transparency
through adopting an ambitious action plan in strategic
areas such as extractives, land, and finance. Completion of commitments can be strengthened by continued
investment in independent, open oversight institutions”.
The final version of the progress report (2014-2015),
self-assessment report (2014-2016) and the 20162018 Action Plan are available for public comment
and discussion. The self-assessment focused on the following three (3) pillars:
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1. Accountability
Are there rules, regulations and mechanisms in place
that call upon government actors to justify their actions,
act upon criticisms or requirements made of them, and
accept responsibility for failure to perform with respect
to laws or commitments.
2. Transparency
Information on government activities and decisions is
open, comprehensive, timely, and freely available to
the public and meets basic open data standards (e.g.
raw data, machine readability).
3.
Citizen Participation
Governments seek to mobilize citizens to engage in
public debate, provide input, and make contributions
that lead to more responsive, innovative and effective
governance.
3.2.8 Strengthening the National Electoral
Commission (NEC) of Sierra Leone for efficient work in conducting elections. NEC is a
corporate independent Election Management Body
(EMB) responsible for the organization, conduct and
supervision of the essential elements of public elections
and referenda. It is comprised of a board of five (5)
Commissioners (i.e. one Chairperson and four Commissioners) and a secretariat. In 2015 Regent Village
Head bye-elections was conducted including 5 Local Councils / Wards elections and 1 Parliamentary
Constituency election. In 2016, Parliamentary ByeElections were conducted in Constituencies 001 and
050 in Kailahun and Port Loko districts, on Saturday
9th July, 2016 following bye-elections in Ward 303 in
Moyamba district, Ward 112 in Bombali district and
Ward 337 in the Western Rural district.
Legal electoral reform was identified as a priority
project in the NEC’s restructuring or transformation process. Thus it formed part of its electoral reform matrix
(seven steps) in the 2005-2009 electoral cycles, and
in the 2010-2014 and 2015-2019 strategic plans. In
May 2012, the Public Elections Act (Act No. 4) was
passed in Parliament.
Key objectives of the electoral reform process were:
• To consolidate elections related legislation into a
single document to enhance ease of reference for
stakeholders and election administrators. Before
the passing of the Public Elections Act, 2012 elections laws relating to technical matters were scattered into various legal documents: e.g. the 1991
Constitution of Sierra Leone, the Local Government
APRM Sierra Leone | Annual Progress Report