By Joseph S. Margai in Freetown, Sierra Leone
As Sierra Leoneans prepare for general elections in March next year, the National Elections Commission (NEC) has set the fees for the nomination of presidential candidates at Le30 Million, an equivalent of $4,000usd. The Parliament of Sierra Leone is expected to debate the fees for all positions.
Already, the country’s National Electoral Commission has passed on the information to all political parties that the sum of Le30m to be paid as nomination fees for all presidential candidates in the various political parties in Sierra Leone.
The other nomination fees proposed by NEC include Le250, 000 ($33.33usd) for Village Headman, Le500, 000 ($66.67usd) for councilor, Le1,500, 000 ($200usd) for Mayor/District Chairperson and Le3m ($400usd) for a Member of Parliament.
The current fees fell below the nomination fees that political parties paid in the November 2012 general elections that brought President Ernest Koroma to power.
During the 2012 general elections, NEC requested for Le100m for presidential candidates, Le25m for Members of Parliament, Le5m for Mayors/Chairpersons, and Le2m for councilors. The fees at the time were greeted with an outcry from members of the public especially supporters and aspirants of smaller political parties that were not having the financial muscles to tackle such a huge sum of money.
At the moment, there are 12 registered political parties in Sierra Leone and all of them have to pay the fees for any of the positions their various aspirants would want to contest for.
The document for the proposed nomination fees was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, September 19, 2017. The Deputy Minister of Justice, Arrow Bockarie made the request to table on behalf of the Chief Electoral Commissioner, Nfa Alie Conteh.
Mr. Ansumana J. Kaikai and Mr. Foday Rado Yokie respectively moved the motion for the “Statutory Instrument No. 115 of 2017” to be debated.
The Speaker of Parliament, Sheku Badara Bashiru B. Dumbuya called on the Majority Leader of Parliament, Mr. Leonard Fofanah to expedite the process of debating the Statutory Instrument on nomination fees by next week.
In moving the motion, Mr. Kaikai said, “The Instrument on nomination fees should be debated before the expiration of 21 days,” whilst referring to the document as “dead on arrival.”
The statutory instrument will become part of the laws of Sierra Leone after a period of 21 days, without annulment by Parliament.
Media Relations and Outreach Officer at NEC, Albert Massaquoi, said they decided to reduce the fees after several consultations and discussions with all political parties especially the smaller ones who threatened to boycott the 2018 general elections.
He said in order not to disenfranchise any political party in the November 2012 general elections, the president and the government of Sierra Leone decided to subsidize the proposed nomination fees for all political positions.
