By Aminata Abu Bakarr Kamara
As part of a nationwide stakeholder engagement process, the electoral commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) has concluded a two-day consultation meeting in Makeni aimed at shaping its 2025–2029 Strategic plan, the session, held on May 20, 2025, at the Bombali District Council Hall, focused on gathering feedback from civil society actors, political representatives, and local authorities, particularly on incorporating recommendations from the recently concluded Tripartite Committee.
The engagement in Makeni followed an internal consultative meeting on May 19 with ECSL staff from the northern region, that closed-door session, held at the commission’s regional office, was designed to review the outgoing 2020–2024 strategic plan and prepare for broader discussions with external stakeholders.
ECSL Executive Secretary William Davis emphasized the purpose of the engagement, noting that the Commission was seeking stakeholder assessments of the previous strategic plan and ideas to improve the next, we’re here in Makeni to listen to stakeholders on how they evaluated
the last five-year plan and how we can collaboratively build the roadmap for 2025 to 2029, Davis said. He added that similar engagements had already taken place in Kenema and Bo.
Davis also referenced the Tripartite Committee’s recommendations, which were jointly developed by the government, opposition parties, and development partners, several of those recommendations are already being implemented by the Commission, he stated.
ECSL Chairman Mohamed Konneh reiterated the Commission’s commitment to transparency and collaboration in the electoral process, he explained that the Tripartite Committee emerged in response to key issues identified in the previous electoral cycle, and its recommendations are central to ECSL’s new planning efforts.
Konneh noted that the outgoing strategy included ten focus areas and 163 initiatives, of which approximately 85% were completed, he acknowledged that lessons learned and gaps identified during the 2023 general elections are being integrated into the new plan.
One of the key elements of the current planning process is the development of policies on stakeholder engagement and access to public information, with support from the European Union and development partners, ECSL has hired Dr. Francis Sowa as a consultant to draft these new policies.
Dr. Sowa told journalists that his work is centered on two specific recommendations from the Tripartite report developing a formal consultation policy to improve transparency, and reforming ECSL’s information-sharing approach, the idea is that all ECSL information should be public by default, except where privacy or commercial sensitivity is involved, he explained, he added that both national and international best practices are being studied to inform the final policies.
ECSL Regional Commissioner Abubakarr Koroma also addressed the gathering, noting that while the Commission can propose electoral reforms, the authority to enact new laws rests with Parliament, the Commission previously made several reform recommendations even before the Tripartite process, but some of those proposals were not passed by Parliament, Koroma said.
Welcoming participants to the session, Bombali District Council Chairman Dr. Mohamed Sesay praised ECSL’s inclusive approach and highlighted the importance of early and strategic planning in ensuring credible elections, stakeholders at the Makeni event were divided into groups to facilitate detailed discussions, their contributions will feed directly into the commission’s strategic planning framework for the next five years, especially as it prepares for the 2028 general elections.
ECSL Assistant Executive Secretary for Support Services, Gladys Nancy John, spoke to the press following the internal staff session. She explained that the consultations serve a dual purpose: reviewing past performance and collecting ideas for future improvements.
We’ve completed sessions in the East and South, and now we’re engaging both staff and stakeholders in the North everyone has a role in elections, and we want to hear their views on what worked and what didn’t, she said.
Copy right –Printed in the Expo Times News on Friday, May 23rd, 2025 (ExpoTimes News – Expo Media Group (expomediasl.com)
