- Christiana Thorpe, NEC boss
By Alpha Daramy Sesay
The Governance Adviser in the British Department of International Development (DfID) has told civil society groups that only the National Electoral Commission (NEC) has the rights and responsibility to announce election results.
Launching the Citizen’s Situation Room (CSR) in Freetown yesterday, Bryan Welham said CSOs must be mindful of taking on a number of roles that would not be appropriate with NEC without considering a great deal about confidentiality.
He however pointed out that the roles of CSOs in the 17 November elections would include communicating what’s happening by using their extensive networks of grassroots organisations throughout the country, challenging election management institutions, donors and external observers using the information they had been gathering in real-time in the field, reporting on what is happening during elections and bringing events to the attention of the government and the media.
“This is what the Citizens' Situation Room will exactly be doing on polling day,” he said.
The National Security Coordinator at the Office of National Security (ONS), Rtd Brigadier Mustapha Dumbuya, said Sierra Leone was currently grappling with a lot of national issues ranging from the lack of a cutting-edge networking technology to facilitate its electioneering process and
allow a voter to register in Gendema in the far east and vote in the far south or vote in the Western Area. He observed that closely related to this problem was the time between polling day and the announcement of results amid “a rudimentary tally process”, stressing that the implications of all of this was the possible delay of the expected time for the release of the result.
Dumbuya said this would heighten tension and create room for malpractice and unprofessionalism.
Elections focal person of the Sierra Leone Police, Superintendent Francis Joe Songun said they supported the establishment of the CSR and were ready to provide liaison officers in all their incidental command offices in the country.
“We will continue to provide our traditional role in the electioneering process so that we have elections that will be accepted by all,” he assured. He warned Sierra Leoneans to be mindful of the law, saying that they should not target red or green but those who want to disrupt the fragile peace.
