Many Sierra Leoneans are anxious to have a new constitution. Many think the 1991 Constitution has long outlived its usefulness. Having come after an obnoxious One-party Constitution, the 1991 constitution has some vestiges of one party authoritarian undemocratic principles. One such area is that the Presidency has a stronghold over appointments for all the critical positions in state craft. The Police is a sound example. In all the structures that strengthen Democracy, the president nominates the Heads and most times Parliament approves the nominees without much ado.
Technically we are told that laws become obsolete at 20 years and thus need review. In Sierra Leone we have laws that have existed before independence in 1961, laws handed over by our colonial predators who had long reviewed such laws in their home country. For long there have been advocacy to review some of our laws. The 1991 constitution is one such which has been around for some 30 odd years.
During the former President Koroma Administration, an 80-man strong constitution review Committee was set up in 2012 and given terms of reference and given the go ahead to review the 1991 Constitution. After almost 5 years, the Committee presented its report to President Koroma on 24th January, 2017. The draft report was studied by the then Government and they had quite some objections to many aspects of the recommendations.
After a long time what government came out with was nothing less than an obnoxious White Paper which rejected the major recommendations that spoke to the people’s will. It is so disappointing that out of a total of 138 recommendations carefully worded by the Review Committee, only 31 were accepted by Government, even here government did some adjustments.
Well with the ascendancy to power of the Bio Administration in April 2018, citizens have been anxious that some priority is given to the new constitution issue. The Bio Government is said to have set up a committee to look into the CRC report. However the public is yet to know much about this Committee, their exact terms of reference and whether they have started work. The good news is that long before becoming president, President Bio knew that too much power in our presidency was not good for our democracy. See what is in his Party’s Manifesto: “A presidency that is powerful beyond the limits of democratic governance is dangerous for any democracy. Sierra Leone can ill-afford an elected autocracy in our presidency.”
This piece is focusing on the security Sector, the Police in particular as the President’s powers affect them and their work and how this impinges on the tenets of democracy and good governance. It is interesting that in the Kenyan Constitution, one of the functions of their Police is to prevent corruption and promote and practice transparency and accountability. The main duty of the police is to protect the lives and property of the citizens of the nation. Our police have lived a chequered history, the bulk of it replete with political influence and interference. However the law puts the Police outfit directly under the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) is nominated by the President.
For a very long time, including the one-party dictatorship, the police entirely served the whims and caprices of the Head of State. Our Para- Military wing of the police, the Operational Support Division (OSD) has had a very interesting history. When it was first set up, they were called the Internal Security Unit (ISU). These were Cuban trained mostly former political thugs whose loyalty was to the President and him alone. Their main specialty was firing at unarmed and defenseless civilians at the slightest excuse. In the 1970s the ISUs were nicknamed “I Soot U” because they were too trigger happy. Later when their name was changed to Special Security Division (SSD), again people quickly called them Siaka Stevens Devils. They carried this name until the return of Democracy when the new set was renamed Operational Support Division (OSD). These were reasonably educated and trained under Keith Biddle, the British Inspector General Of Police who oversaw the transformation of the Sierra Leone Police Force during the first term of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.
I must say never mind the challenges, the Sierra Leone Police has remarkably improved in professionalism and integrity. What we need to know is that some of the foot police are working under sometimes strenuous conditions with meagre salaries. We may ask why the police are most times judged as biased in the way they handle law an order in Sierra Leone. Our police in Sierra Leone find it difficult to act independently mainly because they are directly under the supervision of government officials.
One major challenge we have in Sierra Leone is that some of our laws help to negate democratic and good governance ideals or principles. Our Constitution, in chapter X, Part II Section 155 talks about the Police Council which comprises: the Vice-President who is Chairman; the Minister of Internal Affairs; the Inspector General of Police; The Deputy Inspector-General of Police; the Chairman of the Public Service Commission; a member of the Sierra Leone Bar Association who shall be a legal practitioner of not less than ten years standing as a practicing Barrister and shall be nominated by that Body and appointed by the President.; two other members appointed by the President subject to the approval of Parliament; the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry responsible for matters relating to the police is Secretary of the Police Council. In our case the Ministry is that of Internal Affairs.
As you can see the 8-member Board are all in one way or the other appointed or caused to be appointed by the President. This makes it very difficult for this Council to be independent and thus for the police to work efficiently and effectively doing justice. With the Vice-President chairing the Police Council, the police cannot possibly be independent. We all know that in Sierra Leone the Party that wins elections behaves like winner takes all. It is so unfortunate that even in the smallest socio-economic Group entities’ elections are politicized.
In some countries, in order to accord the police a free hand to operate, an independent and neutral body, through a credible system, appoints the leadership of the police. This way their loyalty is to the People and the Constitution.
We have witnessed uncountable instances where civil confrontation with the police end up with civilians killed by the police. This is true of almost every government, past and present. When police commit atrocities against the people, it is often attributed to what is called “orders from above.” It should be noted that it is the Police Council that takes decisions on state security matters and the Inspector- General of Police implements. Because they are all appointed by the President, whatever untoward act the police commit, is blamed squarely on the president and his government.
The Inspector- General of Police is responsible for the operational control and Administration of the police force under the direction of the Police Council. With all the foregoing, it is very easy for the government to micro-manage the Police Force. This is why a lot of Sierra Leoneans think that the Police council should be appointed by an independent body. We have a chance to do this when the Constitutional Review Committee report is hopefully reviewed by the Bio Government. It will be an honorable feat for the sitting President to reduce his own powers. Well the constitution is not only for the current generation but also those yet unborn.
By Beny SAM.