February 27, 2018 By Ishmael Sallieu Koroma
PRO SLBA Aminata Sillah speaking during the workshop
The Sierra Leone Bar Association (SLBA) yesterday, 26th February, at a workshop, enlightened civil societies, social workers, students, youth groups and paralegals on the handbook on Electoral Laws and process in Sierra Leone.
The workshop took place at the Peace Museum Hall, Special Court in Freetown.
The workshop was geared towards sensitising and popularising the handbook on Electoral Laws in Sierra Leone.
Welcoming participants to the workshop, Public Relations Officer of SLBA, Aminata Sillah said as an institution that protects the rights of citizens, it was important for them to relate with people on elections law.
She said a democratic state makes for elections and elections are not a war.
“We have travelled to Bo, Makeni and Kenema engaging stakeholders on the electoral hand book,” she said, emphasising that SLBA has met with key stakeholders countrywide.
The SLBA PRO said their door would always be opened to the public and urged people to come to them if they have questions on electoral laws because ‘we are ready to help anyone in contact with the law on electoral issues.’
President of the association, Rhoda Sufian –Kargbo Nuni, said the workshop was the last of meetings with different stakeholders across the country.
She said SLBA’s 2018 elections project was part of their commitment to fostering electoral processes in Sierra Leone, promoting awareness on electoral laws and providing legal representation and advisory services to the most vulnerable during electoral processes.
“The handbook is divided into three stages of the electoral cycle-the electoral offences courts, and election petitions and elections dispute,” President Nuni said.
She revealed that the National Electoral Commission (NEC) has accredited them as election observers in the March 7th elections, adding that it was important for them to be part of the electoral process.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) representative, Mamoud Alpha Conteh, said the 2018 elections project was part of many projects the UNDP is supporting in the country.