Saturday 3 December 2016

Sierra Leone Gist - Who Will Be Sierra Leone's Next PPRC Chairman




About two months ago Sierra Leone Lost the Chairman of the Political Parties Registration Commission. Since then, everybody have been thinking on who to replace the hardworking Chairman Justice Mainland Rolls Thompson.

Elections are round the corner even though not very soon, the space created by his death urgently needs to be done because the PPRC has a lot of work to be done.The National Elections Watch in a press release called “for the appointment of a ‘substantive chairman’ for the Political Parties Registration Commission,” emphasizing that “this must be addressed immediately.”
Section 34 of The 1991 Constitution states that the President can appoint someone deem fit to such offices.

“There shall be a Political Parties Registration Commission which shall consist of four members appointed by the President, …”
However Section 34 (1)(a) further indicates that the Chairman of the PPRC “shall” be “nominated by the Judicial and Legal Service Commission.”
So it appears the first step in getting a ‘substantive chairman’ is for the Judicial and Legal Service Commission (JLSC) to sit and deliberate on possible candidates and then forward a name or names to the President to chose from.
So the select group of people who are charged with the task of nominating the next PPRC Chairman are according to Section 140 (1) (a) The Chief Justice who shall be the Chairman Justice Abdulai Charm, (b) The most Senior Justice of the Court of Appeal Justice Deen Tarawalie, (c) The Solicitor General Ms Martina Kroma, (d) One practicing Counsel of not less than ten years standing, nominated by the Sierra Leone Bar Association and appointed by the President Lawyer Easmon Ngaqui, (e) the Chairman of the Public Service Commission Dr Max Sesay (f) two other persons, not being legal practitioners to be appointed by the President, subject to the approval of Parliament.

The team will meet and look at individuals who match up to criteria used for the selection process according to the 1991 Constitution which states that “ the Chairman of the Commission, … shall be a person who has held Judicial office or is qualified to be appointed a Judge of the Superior Court of Judicature …”


Edited from Awoko

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