By Brima Michael Turay
Section 77 of the SL Constitution, Act No. 6 of 1991 – Tenure of Members of Parliament.
A Member of Parliament shall vacate his seat in Parliament—
(E). if he is absent from sittings of Parliament for such period and in such circumstances as may be prescribed in the rules of procedure of Parliament;
(L). if by his conduct in Parliament by sitting and voting with members of a different party, the Speaker is satisfied after consultation with the Leader of that Member’s party that the Member is no longer a member of the political party under whose symbol he was elected to Parliament;
Section 93 of the Sierra Leone Constitution – Act No. 6 of 1991.
(6) For the purposes of effectively performing its functions, each of the Committees shall have all such powers, rights and privileges as are vested in the High Court at a trial in respect of—
(a). enforcing the attendance of witnesses and examining them on oath, affirmation or otherwise;
(b). compelling the production of documents; and
(c). the issue of a commission or request to examine witnesses abroad.
SL Constitution: – Regulation of Procedure in Parliament.
94. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, Parliament may regulate its own procedure, and may in particular make, amend and revoke Standing Orders for the orderly conduct of its own proceedings.
(2) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Constitution or in any other law contained, no decision, order or direction of Parliament or any of its Committees or the Speaker, relating to the rules of procedure of Parliament, or to the application or interpretation of such rules, or any act done or purporting to have been done by Parliament or by the Speaker under any rules of procedure, shall be inquired into by any court.
SL Constitution of 1991 – PART IV — RESPONSIBILITIES, PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES.
Responsibilities of Members of Parliament.
97 (B). All Members of Parliament shall regard themselves as representatives of the people of Sierra Leone and desist from any conduct by which they seek improperly to enrich themselves or alienate themselves from the people.
PARLIAMENTARY STANDING ORDERS:
SO – 77:
Miscellaneous (Absence of members):
Paragraph (e) of Sub-section (1) of Section 77 of the Constitution;
(1) Any member who, for good cause, is prevented from attending a sitting of parliament shall acquaint the Speaker in writing as early as possible of his inability to attend and the cause thereof
(2) (a) Any member who, without good cause, during any session, is absent from the sittings of parliament on a number of days amounting to an aggregate period of 30 days shall vacate his seat.
(b) For the purpose of the Order, the expression “good Cause” shall mean any urgent and pressing business which, in the opinion of a Committee, shall constitute a reasonable excuse for such absence and shall include ill health, illness in a member’s immediate family, domestic afflictions, absence on official delegations from the house or otherwise representing Government abroad: Every such cause shall be substantiated by such evidence by witnesses, affidavits, medical certificates or otherwise as the committee shall in the circumstance of each particular case, consider requisite.
(c) Absence from sittings occurring during periods for which Mr. Speaker has granted permission, cannot be counted in the computation of absence for the purpose of this order. For the avoidance of contention, however, a member’s submission to the committee of a written request to Mr. Speaker for leave of absence and a written approval of Mr. Speaker to that request will be admissible as reflective of good cause for his absence.
(d) Alternative to the mandate of the committee on privileges and standards to address the conduct of members, Special Select Committee may be appointed by the House, from time to time, to decide on cases of absenteeism. Such committees shall consist of the Speaker, and members nominated by each political parties and groups of paramount chiefs and independent members such as to reflect, as much as possible, the strength of the three groups in the house.
(e) If the committee referred to in sub paragraph (d) reports that a member has been absent for the periods specified in sub paragraph (a) without good cause, the speaker shall declare his seat vacant and this self disciplinary measure, capturing the import and spirit of sub sections (1) and (2) of section (94) and section (97) of the Constitution, shall be a privilege of Parliament.
SO – 82:
Anyone or more of these Standing Orders may, after notice, or with the leave of Mr. Speaker, be suspended on a motion made by a member at any sitting.
Section 35(1) (3): OF THE SIERRA LEONE CONSTITUTION, ACT NO. 6 OF 1991 STATES:
“A statement of the sources of income and the audited accounts of a political party, together with a statement of its assets and liabilities, shall be submitted annually to the Political Parties Registration Commission, but no such account shall be audited by a member of the political party whose account is submitted”.
However, In Chapter 7, Article 67 (4) (d) of the June 7th 2022 APC Constitution, it is clearly stated therein that:
“The party shall maintain a Separate National Elections Account”.
For this reason, an ordinary fully paid up member of the party could inquire as to whether or not there has been such account for the recently concluded June 24, 2023 National elections.
Additionally, each of the 58 Members of Parliament of the APC in the 5th Parliament was contributing Le1, 500,000 every month throughout the 5-year period. This is Le90, 000, 000 a month and multiplied by 5 years, it would amount to Le5, 220,000,000 (Five Billion Two hundred and Twenty Million Leones) or thereabout.
I think it would be fair enough for the membership of the party to know how these monies were spent to where the party did not have enough money to give to Regional, District and Constituency Chairpersons for the conduct of the just concluded June 24, 2023 National elections. Except for other Constituencies, the leadership of constituency 058 did not receive direct funding from the party for our campaign activities. We received monies from individuals and some of us had to spend money out of pocket to run the campaigns throughout the 54 days that I spent in that Constituency. Can any attempt by anyone to probe into these very important pecuniary matters be also regarded as Anti-Party Activities?