Sierra Leone News: CSOs validate ACDEG position paper

Business

Members of the Sierra Leone chapter of the West African Civil Society Forum (WACSOF) have concluded a one day validation of a position paper to be presented to the House of Parliament reminding government of the full implementation of the African Governance Architecture (AGA). The validation drew members from across the country where issues on advocacy tools, popularization of the document at community and districts levels formed part of the engagement. The WACSOF in the past years have been working in partnership with other organizations like Action Aid, in organizing public awareness fora and press conferences to enlighten the general public on the African Governance Architecture (AGA) and African Charter on Democracy, Election and Governance (ACDEG). The country position paper on the full implementation of the articles of the African Union (AU) in 2012 came into being because since the articles were adopted, Sierra Leone is yet to fully implement most provisions. Even though some aspects of the elections and governance provisions have been accepted, yet Sierra Leone has not submitted any report for presentation at the AU summit. Based on that backdrop, at the validation over the weekend at Grassroots Empowerment Movement (GEM) hall in Freetown, civil society members highlighted that adoption of articles of the AU does not mean acceptance, which according to them was the reason why they were calling on government for full implementation of all articles in the charter. Augusta A.O. Ademokula, Project Implementation Officer for AGA CSO Mobilization said, questionnaires were given to their members across the country to sound opinion of people on their knowledge in the implementation of the AU Articles. She said from what was gathered they were able to come out with the people’s manifesto on AGA implementation, which according to her was as well followed by expert reviews and interpretation on the document. Ademokula said it is the information from the citizens across the country which they had put together for onward presentation to the House of Parliament to draw the attention of government to the full implementation of AGA in the interest of the country in the area of democracy, good governance and the rule of law. The General Secretary of the West African Civil Society Forum (WACSOF) Komlan Messie, in one of the engagement revealed that, “WACSOF is running a project related to the African Governance Architecture (AGA). The AGA was established by the AU Commission as a structure for the successful implementation of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG), which has contributed an important part to the fostering of democratic principles across the continent.”

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