The Leader of the National Grand Coalition (NGC) in Parliament Honourable Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella has questioned the timing and procedures used to approved the new Anti Corruption Commissioner Francis Ben Kaifala.
“You don’t interview the ACC Commissioner for 13 minutes, not in this nation nor in any country that I’ve seen” he said, stating that the interview lasted for 13 minutes for the person who is going to be making sure that people don’t steal millions and millions of dollars in the country.
According to him there were 13 Committee members present for the meeting on Tuesday 26th June 2018 at around 3:20 pm and 7 had objection to the procedures and they had votes in their favour so the process was stopped so that they can discuss within the Committee, which they did and scheduled to meet later that day by 5pm.
“I have stated severally in Parliament for us to do our work right, document should be given to us in advance. The meeting was ad hoc as some of us didn’t know there was going to be a meeting’” he said, disclosing that it was by accident that he came around for other issues after the proposed sitting had been adjourned earlier on Tuesday.
According to him they were suddenly entrusted with the document and time was not in their favour to do due diligence. Secondly he said if they have an important position like that they need to give the public time to feed them with information about the candidate.
“Some of us did not understand the rush, given the importance of the Anti Corruption Commission. So we raised that, discussed it and agreed to take a break for us to do some consultations and to reconvene at 5pm the same day with an agreement of meeting again in close door to decide whether to continue or not with the interview process,” he said.
According to him when they returned from the break the candidate was suddenly called to take the oath and they raised an objection again as that was not their agreement ‘but some of us were shut down not to speak and the process continued even when the Leader of the APC objected’.
He disclosed 11 of them were present for the meeting with 6 against 5 and he and the APC Leader kept reminding the others that the procedure is wrong and they should try to address the issues first before coming to the candidate proper, but they refused and continued with the interview.
“We have a Constitution and also an Act of Parliament establishing the ACC and the procedures are explained there. An Act of Parliament does not supersede the Constitution, it is true but they give effect to the Constitution on how things should be done” he said.
Hon KKY disclosed that there are 4 key positions in this country that are protected by the Constitution and Acts of Parliament for good reason to ensure their impartiality, independence and effectiveness…the Chief Justice, Governor of the Central Bank, the Vice President and the ACC Commissioner as provided for in the ACC Act 2008.
According to him the ACC Commissioner has to be very very independent and confortable, “I feel very sorry for the young man, a brilliant young man subjected to a process that in itself is being questioned by many.”
“The Majority Opposition Leader was correct, when we debated it was contentious after the meeting and we agreed to meet in the morning of Wednesday 27 June 2018 before the session to discuss further and no report was approved but a report was brought to the Well that makes a lot of claims” he recalled.
“I stood up 4 times, I’m a leader of a party, and it doesn’t matter how many people you have. I’m recognized in the Parliament as a leader but I was stopped 4 times to express my view on an issue that is not only an important legal issue of the country but also a constitutional one”.
He claimed the practice of deliberately refusing some of them to speak in Parliament means their party’s would be speaking outside, “we cannot tolerate it, we were elected and there are privileges and immunity we enjoy in this Parliament like anybody else here”.
“The new direction cannot follow the old direction. People keep telling me everyday that they used to do that and they give you many examples and we say we were not here, this is the new direction and we cannot repeat the bad habit of the past,” he emphasized.
The NGC Leader said by the procedures of Parliament in any major debate Leaders of Parties are allowed the privilege to do the closing as well, “but today I was denied again”, explaining that SLPP walked out of Parliament on the 4th December 2007 for the wrongful dismissal of the Bank Governor J. D. Rogers.
Quoting the Minority Leader of SLPP in 2007 Momoh Pujeh before the walk out of Parliament at that time, Hon KKY read… “the sacking of Dr J D Rogers contravened Section 15(2) of the Bank of Sierra Leone Act…we have nothing against Dr Samura but the procedure used to remove his predecessor is what we are kicking against. We don’t want to be part of this illegality”
According to Hon KKY, the APC also staged a walkout when Kanji Daramy was appointed to NATCOM, adding that when former President Ernest Koroma wanted to change his vice President some of them spoke out for the appropriate procedure to be followed.
“Nobody questioned the actions or the President right to appoint but for the sake of due process, legality and constitutionality let us not begin to do the things others did against the constitution and Acts of Parliament and then we justify that it is expedient, we have to do it fast,” he maintained.
He explained that a tribunal could be set up in no time, ‘what is the rush here, will somebody die tomorrow if the ACC Commissioner is not approved today’, stating he feels sorry for the brilliant young man who has been subjected to a cloud it is on record you cannot say 86 members of APC are irrelevant they say they don’t agree what a huge number.
Hon Kandeh said he thinks some people deliberately tried to misadvise the government to rush things, to do things and “they force some of us now to take a moral position.”
“This is worse because they are using Parliamentary procedures as well to justify and in the future people will say there is a precedent which is why they are now speaking out to say “no wrong is wrong, let us follow process so others don’t do the same.”
“Why should I be denied the right to speak in Parliament, is that correct, so the only recourse we have is to go to the media as my party is very strong on this and we have consulted Lawyers on it, disclosing MP’s have the responsibility to provide oversight to help the President when he appoints to help him chose the right person”.
According to him the drama in Parliament will definitely affects the country’s democracy as those against the approval were in the majority but the vote was changed in the presence of everyone including the media.
MPs are supposed to check the separation of powers, we have to check the excessive use of power and if we cannot do it here and we cannot be allowed to speak and our votes are turned then our democracy is at risk.
By Alhaji Manika Kamara
Friday June 29, 2018.
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