Sierra Leone: EU Delegation considers Hon. Emerson Lamina’s statement against its Ambassador as unfortunate and misleading 

The European Union (EU) in Sierra Leone has debunked the statement made by the leader of the Coalition For Change (C4C) party, Hon. Emerson Lamina, in a framework meeting for Parliamentarians of the EU-ACP group in Brussels on March 1, 2023. Hon. Lamina in his statement alleged that the EU Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Manuel Muller is violating the rules that govern the election process in the country and that he should be called to order for political interference. 

In a European Union Delegation statement released on March 2, 2023, they considered the statement of Hon. Emerson as misleading, unfortunate and an unnecessary incident which does not reflect the longstanding good relations between the European Union and Sierra Leone. 

“The tone and content of the statement of Hon. Emerson Lamina do not correspond with the strong partnership and good relations between Sierra Leone and the European Union, which showed a clear alignment in principles, values and interests between the EU and Sierra Leone,” the EU states. 

Moving forward the diplomatic mission stated that it has participated in several watch exercises coordinated with other international partners in recent by-elections, including in constituency 056 in the Tonkolili district. They also mentioned that all EU Delegations and other partners who participated in the electoral watch, including the ambassador, were officially accredited by the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone as “International Observers” and followed the usual code of conduct for observers.

However, the EU also mentioned the quote by Hon. Lamina with regard to Ambassador Muller’s statement regarding voter registration and that August 10, 2022, incident does not correspond with the facts.

Finally, it was also stated that the EU and its Member States have committed over 7 million Euro to support transparent, inclusive, credible and peaceful elections in Sierra Leone this year, and do not favour specific political parties or candidates. 

“The EU believes that a strong democracy, with free, transparent, peaceful, credible, multi-party and multi-candidate elections, which give a chance to all voters to express their will and to all candidates to contest without impediment, greatly contributes to long-term peace and stability,” said the EU.