The Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL) today welcomed the release of the white paper that provides the Sierra Leone Government’s position on the report of the Justice Cowan Constitutional Review Committee. Today’s publication of the whitepaper marks an important step forward in the country’s effort to amend its 31-year old Constitution that most citizens believe doesn’t respond to their governance aspirations and the demands of a 21st Century democratic state.
“It is an important milestone in the constitutional review process, but the job is far from being done, said Ibrahim Tommy, Executive Director of Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law, adding that “the Government must now ensure that it undertakes public consultations and education on the document with the view to enhancing legitimacy and public ownership of the process and its outcome”.
The whitepaper adopts many of the recommendations in the Cowan Report, including the addition of new chapters to the Constitution on citizenship and local government, a fixed date for parliamentary elections, abolition of capital punishment, reduction of the detention period prior to being brought to court to seven days and forty eight hours for heinous and other offences, respectively. Read full text of press release here
