During the State opening of Parliament, President Maada Bio said, “Media and civil society have become the bedrock of modern governance. In Sierra Leone, the media and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are at the forefront in holding state actors accountable.” However, the Development Cooperation Framework (DCF) which was submitted to Cabinet in December last year, seems to be in direct contravention to the President’s view. There are numerous provisions in the DCF that impose severe restrictions on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and impinge on the exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and association. Provisions in the DCF such as, “assistance channeled through NGOs must be aligned to national priorities,” may result in preventing funding to projects, do not align to national priorities such as good governance, advocacy and human rights,” remarked the Executive Director of Campaign for Good Governance (CGG), Marcella Samba-Sesay, on Monday 21st January 2019 at the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) office on Campbell Street in Freetown. She added, CSOs are not against being accountable, however the provisions are intruding into the space of CSOs and seemingly controlling NGOs. “The space has suffered a lot. If government brings a draconian law it would squeeze the space even more.” Some people see the framework provisions as a deliberate attempt to muzzle CSOs. “When you have a regulation like this it is subject to varying interpretation,” remarked Marcella. Another provision of contention is the mandatory administrative structure, which stipulates that 70% of all donor funds to an NGO must be directed to target beneficiaries and 30% towards administrative costs. Marcella explained this administrative structure can not be feasibly applied to all projects noting that there are projects that focuses on capacity building of civil society, operational support to NGOs, advocacy and projects that requires ongoing payment of Sierra Leonean professionals whose service directly benefit target beneficiaries. She said a number of countries across the globe have kicked such regulations out, noting that such regulations are a cutback in the progress Sierra Leoneans have made in this space. “If government wants to come up with a document like this, they should have engaged with us.” She added that the provision that states mandatory membership with Sierra Leone Association of NGOs is a violation of organizations freedom of association. Executive Director of Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL), Ibrahim Tommy also explained that in the President’s speech he made an undertaking to provide the space for civil society. Tommy noted his dissatisfaction in the consultative process that was carried out to review the Development Cooperation Framework. “We feel this process could have been significantly more robust, inclusive and transparent, and that it denied the involvement of many civil society organizations across the country.” Hannah Yambasu contended the provision on the DCF calling for a mandatory signing of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with ministries. She explained that this raises concerns about the content of these agreements and requiring NGOs to conform only to government activities and plans, which may not allow projects relating to policy or advocacy. She added that this is antithetical to the idea of an independent civil society sector and violates organizations’ freedom of association and right to choose their lawful areas of activities. Representatives of national and international NGOs expressed their deep commitment in promoting and complementing governmental initiatives that will support the development of Sierra Leone and human rights for all. Tommy said they are appealing to the President and his administration to listen to their concerns and support a process whereby civil society actors can contribute more fully to constructing a framework that will promote true development, cooperation, inclusivity, transparency, multi-directional accountability and respect for international and regional human rights treaties that Sierra Leone has signed and ratified.
OG/21/1/19
By Ophaniel Gooding
Tuesday January 22, 2019.