Campaign for Good Governance News

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The Campaign for Good Governance in its bid to promote issues of good governance in Sierra Leone has chosen to carry out monitoring of the Paramount Chief Elections scheduled to commence on the 2^nd December 2002 and end on the 20^th January 2003 in sixty-three chiefdoms across the country. We have proposed to monitor a minimum of thirty out of the sixty-three chiefdoms, amounting to over a third of the prescribed vacancies.

The first round of actual elections took place on the 2^nd December 2002 in the following Chiefdoms and Districts in the country:

Unfortunately, due to the severe lack of adequate communication systems, we have only received a detailed report from the Dama Chiefdom in the Kenema District. It is however understood from monitoring the local newspapers that the following were the results in the other two elections:

The Declaration of Rights and actual elections for the Paramount Chief of Dama Chiefdom were held in the Chiefdom Headquarter town of Giema. Seven candidates had been victorious during the Declaration of Rights Process[3] and so there were seven aspirants on the day of elections. According to the Code of Conduct on Procedures for the Election of Paramount Chiefs which was made available to us by the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development; a candidate had to obtain fifty-five percent (55%) of votes from the Councillors before being declared the winner. None of the seven candidates were able to get the required votes for the first round and results were as follows:

Mrs. Lois H. Fomba was the National Electoral Commission’s Presiding Officer and she issued out the ballot papers. There were two NEC officials present who called out the eligible Councillors on the Councillor’s List whereas the District Administration’s role was to cross check the Councillors List as it was being called out in order to ascertain who was present; who was absent and who had died.

As mentioned above, none of the seven candidates acquired the required fifty-five percent (55%) vote so, according to the Procedures, another round of elections was to take place. Here however is where the first point of concern should be highlighted.

Mr. Kemoh Mansaray, who we understand was the National Electoral Commission Official in charge of the elections in this Chiefdom declared that this second round should be conducted on the principle of a simple majority vote, however the Acting NEC Commissioner overruled this, stating that this second round should also be judged by the winner getting fifty-five percent (55%), failing which then the simple majority rule would prevail.[6] Further, after the first ballot was cast, all contestants save the two with the highest votes were dropped instead of being eliminated after two ballots.

Finally, in the third simple majority vote round (which brought the elections to a close at 2a.m) Mr. Prince Dakowa got twenty-two (22) votes whilst Mr. Sandy Fowai polled three hundred and fifty-eight (358) votes and was thus declared the winner.

Two days before the elections, the Field Officer, Kenema District sought out the views of residents of Dama Chiefdom and they highlighted the fact that three of the ruling houses i.e. the Dakowa, Dasama and Hakawa Houses had protested the inclusion of the Fowai House as a ruling House on the following grounds:

Ø The Fowai Section was not a ruling house because in the 1800’s they had been granted a ‘short staff’ which only qualified them to become a Chiefdom Speaker as opposed to a ‘long staff’ which was what qualified one to contest Paramount Chief Elections.

Ø In a letter written in 1958 by the then District Commissioner (Peppis Cokerill) to the Provincial Commissioner East and copied to Madam Kanda (Of the Fowai House) the District Commissioner apparently stated that Madam Kanda had no right to the staff and was therefore not eligible to contest the pending elections.[8]

One of the protestants stated that he had visited the Senior District Officer (SDO) in Kenema and produced a copy of this letter and he alleges that the SDO agreed that the said letter was also in the file in his office. The three Ruling Houses putting up the protest stated that they had forwarded a petition to the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development after the Declaration of Rights process but the Ministry had responded saying that after due investigation, they had no claim and the elections should proceed.[9]

The Fowai Ruling House on the other hand claims that their House contested the Paramount Chieftaincy Elections in 1917 and although they did not win, the fact that they were allowed to contest meant that they were eligible to.

Ø A letter appealing to the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development for the issuance of a clear mandate on exactly how these elections should be conducted so as to guarantee that the same rules are applied across the board in order to ensure as free and fair an elections process as possible.

Ø Events in the Chiefdom will continue to be monitored to see if the petition by the three Ruling Houses that lost will be looked into again.

[1] Haja Meama Kajue therefore won the elections in Dasse

[2] Amadu Conteh thus won the elections in Paki Masabong

[3] This process took place on the 15^th October 2002.

[4] On polling day, this candidate informed the NEC officials present that he had decided to step down so that his brother could contest instead. This request was declined by the NEC officials and so the candidate had to proceed.

[5] This individual is currently an Under Sheriff in the High Court of Freetown

[6]Under item 7 titled ‘When will a Candidate be Declared Duly Elected’ section (ii) it states that,

“When there are several candidates and no one of them obtains the required 55% of the votes cast, (an) elimination process of candidates with the least votes will apply and after two ballots with no winner emerging, the third ballot will be conducted on simple majority.”

[7] There were thirteen spoilt ballots

[8] A copy of this letter from the District Commissioner was sighted by our Field Officer and subsequently by Head Office

[9] Letter from the Ministry was also sighted by our Field Officer and by Head Office