AWARENESS TIMES Sierra Leone News & Information State House | Press Union | Lumley Beach | AllAfrica | SL-Web awarenesstimes Giving Knowledge to the People welcome to sierra leones premier news source Last Updated: Dec 4th, 2013 - 16:17:10 Front Page NEWS Breaking News Local News Politics Photo News Video News EDITORIALS FROM OUR TEAM COMMENTS & OPINIONS Moiies Column SPECIAL REPORTS Afsatu Kabba FEATURES ENTERTAINMENT PROFILES Role Models Awareness Lady Common Man THE ECONOMY NOTICES & DOCUMENTS Special Messages Legal Matters Obituaries PAID SUPPLEMENTS ADVERTISEMENTS SATIRE Search All Categories NEWS Breaking News Local News Politics Photo News Video News EDITORIALS FROM OUR TEAM COMMENTS & OPINIONS Moiies Column SPECIAL REPORTS Afsatu Kabba FEATURES ENTERTAINMENT PROFILES Role Models Awareness Lady Common Man THE ECONOMY NOTICES & DOCUMENTS Special Messages Legal Matters Obituaries PAID SUPPLEMENTS ADVERTISEMENTS SATIRE Advanced Search Published online by Sylvia Blyden Dot Com 17 Garrison Street, Freetown, Sierra Leone. Tel: +232-77-772001 Tel: +232-88-321000 Tel: +232-76-350077 Tel: +232-30-321001 Email: [email protected] Website: awarenesstimes NEWS : Local News -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In Sierra Leone, Chieftaincy Election Threatens Peace in Tambaka Chiefdom By Aruna Turay Dec 4, 2013, 17:18 Email this article Printer friendly page You May Click Here To Read or Discuss Views About This Article The forthcoming Paramount Chieftaincy to be held in the Tambaka chiefdom has already posed a very big threat to the unity, peace and security of the chiefdom, after the “spontaneous disqualification” of seven out of the fifteen candidates already set for the election. Aggrieved residents of the chiefdom have called on His Excellency President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma to kindly intervene and address what they referred to as the “speedily crawling political unrest” that is about to broke up in the chiefdom. They referred to the sanctioning of the seven “potential candidates” as unconstitutional. This was according to some of the disqualified candidates who spoke to this newspaper in Freetown on Sunday 1st December 2013. One of the aggrieved candidates, Alhaji Momodu Kamara said the way and manner in which the entire process in going on in the chiefdom has the tendency to put a total collapse in the entire Tambaka chieftaincy election 2013 and further pose insecurity and political unrest in the chiefdom. He said Tambaka chiefdom has been peaceful since the amalgamation of the Upper and Lower Tambaka Sections in 1950 and that since then, these Sections have been working amicably in electing their traditional rulers/authorities to lead them. Mr. Kamara explained that according to the chiefdom’s recorded Traditional and Customary Practices, as agreed upon by authorities of the Upper and Lower Sections, when the chieftaincy crown falls vacant, the ruling houses of each of these Sections have the right to put forward candidates to contest for that crown and represent the two Sections as one. He said this has been the method of electing paramount chiefs in the chiefdom for decades now. He said this system has seen the people of Tambaka chiefdom (Upper and Lower) living as one family, sharing similar ethnicity, traditions and identical socio-economic values before, during and after elections. Alhaji Kamara further explained that the election’s authorities earlier on accepted and endorsed all fifteen candidates from both the Upper and Lower Sections to go through all the election’s criteria, including payment of declaration fees and traditional loyalties without any objections. He said as they were now about to go for the declaration process, the Committee members informed the seven of them representing Lower Tambaka Section that they have been disqualified. He said when asked why, they were told that the decision was based on the point that the former paramount chief (now dead) was elected from Lower Tambaka and that now was the time for Upper Tambaka Section to rule the chiefdom as paramount chief. Mr. Kamara went on that the election Committee should have made this information known to candidates before accepting their fees and not after they have gone through all the required procedures involving lots of finances. Members of the election Committee contacted by this writer confirmed the disqualification of the seven candidates, noting that the 2009 Chieftaincy Act was practicalised in Tambaka chiefdom. They said the position of Paramount chief should be seen circulating between the two Sections. Resident say currently, there has been a divide between residents of the two Sections and candidates qualified to vote, according to the Committee, from Upper Tambaka are not allowed to conduct campaign in the Lower Section. © Copyright by Awareness Times Newspaper in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Dec 2013 20:49:37 +0000
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