His Excellency President Dr. Julius Maada Bio has informed that Sierra Leone’s next Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Council Elections will be held in 2028.
He warned those “political big guns” circulating false statement to their supporters and members that there will be an election rerun in June this year, to stop forthwith.
Some members of the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) Party have been claiming that the Tripartite Committee was set up to ensure that a rerun of June 2023 is held, a claim the U.S Ambassador has denied on public radio as one of the initiators of the Committee that was set up following concerns on the conduct of the June 2023 elections.
The Tripartite Committee on Electoral Systems and Management Bodies Review which comprises the opposition APC, the ruling SLPP, and the government is expected to complete its work and present a report to President Bio next month.
President Bio said: “Sierra Leone is a democratic state where state leaders are elected through the ballot box and not by any other means. So, if you want to come to power with the bullet, you will be met with the bullet. In this country, the next presidential, parliamentary and local council elections will be held in 2028”.
The President was speaking during coronation of twelve newly elected Paramount Chiefs, among them two women, in the Bo, Bonthe, Falaba, Kailahun, Kenema, Koinadugu, Kono, Moyamba and Port Loko districts.
He appreciated the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs and provincial staff for successfully conducting the peaceful elections, adding that he would continue to support them for the government to operate properly.
The President said he had always held the institution of Chieftaincy in very high esteem, not only because he was the son of a Paramount Chief but also because he was conscious that the local government architecture was the bedrock upon which national governance operated.
President Julius Maada Bio said he strongly believed that the building blocks of the country’s national architecture, which included governance and security, started with the chiefdoms, emphasising that a well-governed chiefdom was a strong building block for a stable country.
He added that the recognition and coronation of the newly elected Paramount Chiefs were in line with a provisional requirement that was enshrined in the Chieftaincy Act 2009.
He encouraged the chiefs to continue to keep the peace as the most important function of their traditional institutions, thereby leading to improved national security and sustainable development. He also called on them to be law-abiding and to refrain from taking the law into their own hands.
“As Paramount Chiefs you must embrace all your subjects to live in peace. I also urge all citizens to always live in peace with their authorities, their communities and their fellow citizens and to refrain from all forms of violence,” he said.
President Bio, while reminding the audience about the government’s flagship Feed Salone initiative, called on the Paramount Chiefs and landowners to make available land for farming and encouraged Sierra Leoneans to go into farming because it was the way out of poverty.
Minister of Local Government and Community Affairs, Ambassador Tamba John Sylvanus Lamina, described the ceremony as another historic milestone in the country after the successful conduct of chieftaincy elections. He cited Section 72 of the 1991 Constitution on chieftaincy.
He said the Constitution had carefully built a system to ensure that there was stability in the respective chiefdoms and the country in particular. He added that they were happy that among the elected Paramount Chiefs were two female Paramount Chiefs, a demonstration that those chiefdoms had trust and confidence in women.
Minister Lamina also reminded the gathering that the ministry’s main mandate was to maintain stability nationwide through traditional leaders and assured PCs that they would continue to work with the institution of chieftaincy to achieve their objectives and the aspirations of President Bio.
He thanked President Bio on behalf of the Paramount Chiefs for his continued support to the chieftaincy institution.
