2021 – THE YEAR OF ‘ACCELERATED DELIVERY
‘As we are about to welcome a new year dubbed by the Government as the ‘The year of Accelerated Delivery’ let us reflect on the reason for the establishment of this social media group and why you have all decided to be part of this progressive forum to bring changes to our governance system by contributing to the reform of our Parliament. The group is now almost 55,000 subscribers strong and as our Constitution clearly states “Sovereignty belongs to the people’ – meaning you and me.
We ushered in this new government in 2018 with hope for a change and a ‘New Direction’ as declared by the President in his inaugural speech to Parliament. In his own words, he clearly stated that:In the New Direction, Government will commit itself to adhere to the rule of law and institutional reforms to maintain law and order in society.
This will mean I will lead by example, demonstrating the necessary discipline to refrain from acting unconstitutionally and scrupulously respecting the rule of law in the best interest of national development and stability, Therefore we will endeavour to:
- review unlawful acts of the last government by way of judicial and Parliamentary review to facilitate the quick restoration and maintenance of the rule of law
- Strengthen judicial independence to avoid the current embarrassment engendered by the ECOWAS Court Ruling in the Sam Sumana case
- avoid the reckless use of Supreme Executive Authority and so-called orders from above
- examine the recommendations of the Constitutional Review Commission and the accompanying White Paper with a view to giving effect to them as much as practicable
Parliament works on our behalf to try to make sure that Government decisions are:
- open transparent – by questioning ministers and requesting and requesting information
- workable and efficient – by examining new proposals closely and suggesting improvements, checking how public money is being spent and tracking how new laws are working out in practice
- fair and non-discriminatory – by checking they comply with equalities and human rights laws and by speaking on behalf of affected individuals
All in all, Parliament is there to represent out interest and make sure they are taken into account by the Government. The Government cannot make new laws or raise new taxes without Parliament’s agreement.
Parliament is made up of people we have elected and people who have been appointed by us in accordance with founding principle of our Constitution that “sovereignty belongs to the people.
As we about to start a new year let us start by asking our President to fulfil his promises cited above. Let us write to our Members of Parliament and get them to commit to the review of our Constitution so that we can all enjoy the freedom of expression, the right to life and equal opportunity in accessing employment.we can only do that if we are fully informed. We have a law that grants access to information and that is – Right to Access Information Act 2013:Being an Act to provide for the disclosure of information held by public authorities or by persons providing services for them and to provide for other related matters.
PART II–THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION 2.
(1) Every person has the right to access information held by or is under the control of a private body where that information is necessary for the enforcement or protection of any right.
(2) Nothing in this Act limits or otherwise restricts the disclosure of or the right to access, information pursuant to any other enactment, policy or practice.
(3) Any person making a request for information to a public authority shall be entitled–(a) to have the public authority confirm or deny whether it holds information of the description specified in the request; and (b) where the public authority holds information of the description specified in the request, to have the information communicated to that person(4) A public authority shall be deemed to have complied with subsection (4) if it has communicated the information to the applicant.(5) In this Act, the duty of a public authority to comply with paragraph (a) of subsection (4) shall be referred to as “the duty to confirm or deny.The power is in our hands and we need to use it responsibly and in the interest of all Sierra LeoneansI will end this end of year message from the Administrators of this group by referring to the two last verses in our National Anthem Knowledge and truth our forefathers spread,
Mighty the nations whom they led;
Mighty they made thee, so too may we
Show forth the good that is ever in thee.
We pledge our devotion, our strength and our might,
Thy cause to defend and to stand for thy right;
All that we have be ever thine own,
Land that we love, our Sierra Leone.
Wishing you all a happy and prosperous 2021 as we look forward to celebrating 60 years of independenceYour Humble ServantVictor
Ako Mengot
Creator and Administrator of SLPW
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