A report done by the Office of the Clerk of Parliament has concluded that the damage done to parliamentary property when scuffles broke out in the chamber on 23rd November is valued at new Le 380 million. The items damaged included android computers and microphones, chairs belonging to MPs and the local area network connections.
The report, relying on “eye witnesses coupled with official parliamentary footage captured by our CCTV cameras, cameramen and ICT department named three APC Members of Parliament – Aaron Koroma, Lahai Marah and Abdul Karim Koroma as being the main “perpetrators” of the attack.
According to the report, the Speaker of Parliament Abass Bundu must now decide what to do about the “the three Members of Parliament and one stranger who led an attack on the Chamber of parliament subsequently causing injury to others and destruction of public property, the malicious damage to parliamentary properties …and the affront on the Mace, the utmost authority of parliament.
Meanwhile officers from the Criminal Investigations Department have visited parliament and requested permission to speak to the MPs named in the report.
But one of the MPs accused of fomenting the trouble, Lahai Marah has accused the Clerk of Parliament of acting outside the Parliamentary law.
The lawmaker said this in relation to the report made by the Office of the Clerk of Parliament, calling on the speaker to allow the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of Sierra Leone Police to investigate the three Parliamentarians and a driver of one parliamentarian, Marah informed Politico via phone on Saturday 26th November 2022 that parliament has what they call “committee on privileges, “which he said is responsible to investigate the conduct of lawmakers.
The parliamentarian said it is based on the report of that committee that the Police can be invited.
“Until that committee report to the plenary, I think the Clerk acted on his own account” he said.
Marah described the request by the Police for investigation an abuse of sections 98, 99 and 100 which he said point out the dignity of parliamentarians.
He also accused the Clerk, Umarr Paranh Tarawallie of being biased in his report about the destruction and injuries saying there is video footage showing one of the securities of parliament using the stand of the mace as a missile hitting a parliamentarian.
He also talked about parliamentarians from the governing bench pelting missiles at the opposition, but that those acts were not captured in the report addressed to the speaker.
The lawmaker also accused the Police of beating up parliamentarians and arresting a particular lawmaker right in the well of parliament, which he condemned.
He also promised to apologise if the privilege committee indicated that they indeed acted dishonourably.
Another member of the main opposition that was accused of involvement in the scuffles,Abdul Karim Kamara, contacted by Politico, could not comment further on the issue, saying he hadn’t been served any document.
The Speaker of Parliament Abass Bundu last week promised “severe consequences” for Members of Parliament that were involved in what he described as an affront to the dignity of parliament and his office. Dr. Bundu told parliament that “the conduct that I observed … in this well will not go unnoticed and will not go without consequences and those consequences will be severe”. He warned that such an act will no longer be tolerated because “enough is enough”.
Bundu read section 97 that speaks on MPs responsibility to protect the dignity and image of parliament within and outside through their acts and activities. He added section 99 talks about the limits of their privileges, explaining that no civil or criminal proceedings shall be instituted by members of parliament by anything said by them in parliament.
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