By Joe Hindovei Pemagbi
I am extremely delighted that you all responded to the invitation by the National Election Watch to launch the Citizens’ Situation Room.
Indeed, today marks another special day for Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) in Sierra Leone as we continue to support this nation’s journey towards accountable governance.
To those of you who are new to us, OSIWA is part of the global network of autonomous Soros Foundations established and financed by Mr.
George Soros. OSIWA is dedicated to supporting the creation of open societies in West Africa marked by functioning democracy, good governance, the rule of law, basic freedoms, and widespread civic participation. OSIWA believes that it best serves by sustaining catalytic and innovative initiatives that add value to the efforts of West Africa's civil society. We also want to see systems where governments are accountable and corruption is on the wane.
In order to achieve this, we have identified three strategic Outcomes: The strategic direction of OSIWA’s programming derives from three inter-related strategic outcomes (SO):
SO 1: Strong governance institutions, processes and structures that are transparent, accountable and intolerant of impunity;
SO 2: Greater capacity of civil society organizations and vigorous citizen participation in public decision-making; and
SO 3: Robust protection of fundamental rights and citizenship groups exposed to discrimination.
To promote civil society organizations and vigorous citizen participation in public decision-making processes, OSIWA initiated the Situation Room concept in Nigeria’s last elections that brought President Goodluck Jonathan to power following the widely criticized flawed elections that saw the election of the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua in 2007. We deemed it appropriate to support civil society organizations to
ensure that every vote counted in determining the choice of the electorate. The Situation Room initiative is a rapid response mechanism that helps civil society respond to elections issues in a coordinated and timely manner. The Citizens’ Situation Room (CSR) which we are supporting in partnership with UKAid was an experiment that was improved upon in Liberia through our civil society partners – Elections Coordinating Committee. We decided to amplify civil society’s voice through the Situation Room initiative that was rolled out during the widely acclaimed credible Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Senegal in February 2012. In essence, the CSR provides a better platform than what OSIWA has funded in the last five years in the sub-region.
The objectives of the Citizens’ Situation Room project implemented by NEW are:
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To increase the credibility of the electoral process by engendering the participation of the electorate in the process
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To provide information to the populace on the elections on a near real-time basis
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To promote public confidence and reduce tensions during the electoral process
Our Board of Directors accepted our recommendation to support the National Elections Watch (NEW) because of the body’s track record which speaks for itself. NEW has the infrastructure and technical expertise that is supported by the service provider – Talking Drums, Search for Common Grounds which I would like to give tribute to for the hands-on support that they are providing for the implementation of the Citizens’ Situation Room.
The Open Society Foundations fund a range of programs around the world, from public health to education to business development. In Sierra
Leone, OSIWA is supporting the Law Officers’ Department – for the improvement of the documentation and archiving systems of the Ministry of Justice, supporting the Independent Radio Network (IRN) for Media Reportage and Democracy while utilizing radio to promote independent elections Reportage in Sierra Leone, funding the National Elections Watch (NEW) project on Civil Society Engagement in Elections and Electoral process in Sierra Leone, supporting the Center for Coordination of Youth Activities (CCYA) to organize Youth to Engage in Democratization Process, supported a project on Procurement Monitoring in the Education Sector implemented by a coalition of partners hosted by the Sierra Leone chapter of Transparency International, worked with Center for Accountability and Rule of Law on a project geared towards monitoring the implementation of the Local Government Act Implementation Monitoring project hosted by the Center for Accountability amongst others.
As we approach November 17 every Sierra Leonean must demonstrate nationalism and patriotism in all our endeavors. In the last two years and in most elections held in the history of this country, we have witnessed situations of violence and irresponsible politicking. Chapter II section 13 (b) to (j) require us all as citizens to ‘cultivate a sense of nationalism and patriotism so that loyalty to the State shall override sectional, ethnic tribal or other loyalties’.
I wish to remind political parties especially their leaderships to demonstrate patriotism and nationalism.
The Sierra Leone Police (SLP), as you all will agree with me has come under enormous fire recently. Let me remind the SLP that they owe mama Salone the sacred duty of protecting life and property in a professional manner; this means you must work towards earning the confidence of the public by demonstrating nationalism and patriotism with the national pledge in mind. You must be impartial. Well, the SLP will not and cannot do it alone! For a police force to succeed, they need the support of all Sierra Leoneans. SLP, the use of unmarked vehicles/vehicles without license plates is a security risk, help us address this as part of your law and order mandate.
The National Electoral Commission (NEC) has worked hard to earn our credibility and hopefully deliver credible elections. On behalf of OSIWA’s Board of Directors, I wish NEC the very best and encourage you to continue the wonderful work as we all look forward to credible
elections. We also forward to a wonderful partnership between NEC and NEW as they implement the Citizens’ Situation Room to ease the
tension that comes with the process and enhance the credibility of the process.
Going forward, OSIWA’s has identified the need for political party development as a crucial one for deepening democracy. Some innovative programming work will need to be done to focus political parties to developing policy platforms and engaging their constituencies on substantive policy issues to which the parties will be linked to, as opposed to the over-reliance on political personalities. This way, we can ensure that political parties work to continue to support and follow the democratic principle, embracing accountability, political tolerance,
citizens’ participation, consensus building, compromise and transparency in decision making.
OSIWA recognizes the important implications for its work and will continue to build alliances with and sustain its commitment to supporting
women and young people’s development in order to enhance their meaningful participation in helping to put into place institutions needed to establish a strong, sustainable democracy, including an electoral system, a formal legal system and active civil society.
To NEW and other civil society actors, demonstrate your objectivity in the process and show all Sierra Leoneans that you deserve to be respected. While you have a right to belong to a political party, we expect you to be impartial and objective in what you do under NEW.
With these words, I want to thank NEW to taking up the challenge of monitoring the November 17 elections as they have done since 2002 and
for carving out strategic partnerships to support NEC and other stakeholders in ensuring that the elections are peaceful and credible. I thank you all for listening and urge all Sierra Leoneans to work towards sustainable peace and development by conducting themselves peacefully in the days leading to, on and after the November 2012 elections.
Thank you!
The author of the Country Officer of OSIWA in Sierra Leone and this is a slightly abridged version of a statement he made at the launch of Citizens’ Situation Room on 12 November 2012.
