By Francis H. Murray
A coalition of rights-based Civil Society Organizations (CSO) has called on the leadership of Parliament to reinstate four of its members who were suspended from participating in parliamentary committee proceedings.
‘‘We hereby urge the Speaker of Parliament and the leadership of all the political parties represented in parliament to immediately take steps to re-instate all parliamentary entitlements and privileges to the affected parliamentarians,’’ the coalition noted.
The call came following a recent decision of parliament to suspend the lawmakers over allegations of intimidation and verbal abuse, indecent and derogatory text messages sent out to female MPs, unverified corruption allegation against Parliament on a BBC Focus on Africa programme and alleged arm-twisting by the leadership of Parliament resulting in the resignation of one of the sanctioned MPs.
In a joint press release issued on Friday 23rd October 2020, the coalition of eighteen local rights groups, including Amnesty International-Sierra Leone and the Center for Accountability and the Rule of Law (CARL), described the decision of Parliament as atrocious, saying it went against strides towards democratic good governance and accountability.
‘‘This decision to suspend them is not only atrocious for our collective effort to strengthen democratic governance, but it also sends a very unfortunate message about our parliament’s attitude towards persons who raise their voices for accountability and institutional integrity,’’ the release noted.
The rights groups say that they are gravely concerned about recent happenings in the Parliament of Sierra Leone, especially those bordering on the suspension of the four members, including Hindolo Moiwo Ngevao, an anti-corruption whistleblower, from participating in parliamentary committee proceedings even without having found them culpable of any wrongdoing.
The Parliament in its statement however noted that the members of parliament in question were presumed innocent until proven otherwise by the investigation and recommendations of the committee.
The right defenders said although it may be legitimate for parliament to probe into the issues raised against the MPs, they also have not given any legal basis to justify their unwarranted decision to suspend them from their legal duties.
‘‘While it may be within the powers of parliament to inquire into the general conduct of the Members of Parliament, we fail to see the legal basis for hurriedly suspending elected officials from performing their functions especially for whistleblowing on corruption. It is simply unjust and profoundly repugnant to all the guarantees of due process and presumption of innocence enshrined in our Constitution,’’ the CSOs said.
They said that corruption is persistent issue and remains a major obstacle to all collective efforts to address poverty and deliver basic social and economic services, despite the best efforts of the Government of Sierra Leone and its partners.
The rights defenders also said that they had learnt with dismay that even before the completion of the investigations of the committee, the suspended MPs and the public are unanimously complaining about Parliament’s decision to punish the whistleblowers by suspending them from their committees.
‘‘It is, therefore, quite worrying that the leadership of Parliament has reacted angrily to public opinion on corruption and went further to punish MPs either for expressing their views about corruption in parliament or complaining about attempts by the leadership of Parliament to scupper their efforts to address the scourge,’’ they noted.
Citing a recent Afrobarometer study which showed that 61% of citizens fear the risk of retaliation for reporting corruption, the rights activists said they’re worried that arm-twisting and unjustly punishing MPs for whistle-blowing on corruption will have detrimental effects in the fight against corruption and will in turn dampen the zeal of ordinary citizens who want to report corruption.
They pledged their support to deepening the culture of accountability and integrity and urged the leadership of Parliament to demonstrate extra commitment in the fight against corruption by protecting persons who speak up against the scourge, rather than punishing or suppressing their voices.
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