IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 548 

Encouraging the Government of Sierra Leone to abide by their promise 

to a peaceful and credible electoral process. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 23, 2023 

Mr. ALLRED (for himself and Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Encouraging the Government of Sierra Leone to abide by 

their promise to a peaceful and credible electoral process. 

Whereas Sierra Leone held four successful elections, including two transfers of power to the opposition since 2002, 

following the end of a decade-long civil war that claimed 

more than 50,000 lives and countless casualties; 

Whereas the people of Sierra Leone will return to the polls 

in 2023 for the country’s fifth general election, which will 

include a Presidential, parliamentary, and local council 

races; 

Whereas the upcoming elections will take place amid the 

country facing economic challenges and rising inflation; 

Whereas the African Development Bank (AfDB) reported Sierra Leone’s inflation rose to 26.1 percent in 2022 from 


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•HRES 548 IH 

11.9 percent in 2021, driven by food and fuel inflation, 

and depreciation of the leone as a function of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the COVID–19 pandemic; 

Whereas Sierra Leone has a long history of politicization 

along ethnic lines with ethnopolitical cleavages identified 

in electoral results; 

Whereas the Afrobarometer reported a noticeable decline in 

welcoming attitudes toward people of different ethnicities 

and political affiliations over the last two years; 

Whereas, in 2020, the Armed Conflict Location & Event 

Data Project (ACLED) found that Sierra Leone has 

been experiencing a slow increase in political violence as 

early as 2014, peaking around the 2018 elections and remaining at high levels since; 

Whereas the country’s police force has been implicated in the 

excessive use of force, notably during an August 2022 

protest in which more than 20 protesters and several officers were killed in Freetown; 

Whereas, since 2018, the International Republic Institute reported trust in the Sierra Leone’s National Electoral 

Commission (NEC) has fallen by 49 percent with only 18 

percent of Sierra Leoneans polled identifying they trust 

the NEC ‘‘a great deal’’; 

Whereas independent journalists, media outlets, and press 

freedom advocates expressed their ongoing concerns over 

political elites’ use of libel and sedition laws to subvert 

reporting on elections and high-level corruption; 

Whereas women’s participation in politics, including representation in Parliament, key appointments as ministers or 

other senior administrative positions in the government, 


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•HRES 548 IH 

remains at unequal levels and ‘‘a big issue’’, according to 

the country’s Ministry of Gender and Children Affairs; 

Whereas women who participate politically in the country report ‘‘suffocating intimidation’’ by the country’s security 

forces, including through arbitrary arrests and other 

forms of intimidation by police presence; 

Whereas despite upticks in political and social challenges, the 

Global Peace Index still rates the country as the fifthmost peaceful country in Africa and 50th in the world as 

of 2022; 

Whereas Afrobarometer reported that among 30 African 

countries regularly surveyed since 2011, Sierra Leone is 

the only country where support for democratic elections 

increased significantly by 11 percentage points over the 

recent decade; 

Whereas, in February 2023, Sierra Leone signed into law the 

Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act 

(GEWE), a historic and monumental bill that establishes 

a 30-percent quota for women’s participation in government for both appointed administrative positions, ambassador roles, and elected positions in Parliament and local 

council seats; 

Whereas the United States and Sierra Leone share a deep 

and entwined relationship with thousands of Sierra 

Leoneans and their descendants residing in the United 

States today; 

Whereas the United States and Sierra Leone are linked by 

a complex history stemming from the Atlantic slave trade 

in which large numbers of African slaves from presentday Sierra Leone were sent to the then-colonies of Georgia and South Carolina; 


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•HRES 548 IH 

Whereas many descendants of former slaves in the United 

States, known as the Gullah, still reside in the same region of the former southeastern colonies that were able 

to preserve much of their Sierra Leonean cultural heritage such as a dialect of creole similar to Sierra Leone 

Krio, and other customs; 

Whereas Sierra Leone is a recipient of significant United 

States foreign assistance to improve the lives of Sierra 

Leoneans through strategic investments in democracy 

and governance, health service delivery, and economic 

growth; and 

Whereas the United States underscored its commitment to 

expanding and deepening its partnership with African 

countries and working to bolster democracy and strengthen electoral processes during the 2021 Summit for Democracy and the 2022 United States-Africa Leaders 

Summit: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) reaffirms its long standing commitment to 

3 deepen relations between the people and the Govern4 ments of the United States and Sierra Leone; 

5 (2) supports the continued efforts of the people, 

6 civil society, and members of the diaspora of Sierra 

7 Leone in their undeniable rights to free, fair, cred8 ible, and transparent elections; 

9 (3) urges all parties to pursue electoral peti10 tions through appropriate channels in an impartial, 

11 efficient, and timely manner; 


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•HRES 548 IH 

1 (4) strongly encourages all parties to monitor 

2 and mitigate the use of inflammatory rhetoric that 

3 could incentivize political violence and contribute to 

4 greater ethnopolitical rifts; 

5 (5) calls on the Government of Sierra Leone to 

6 uphold its commitments to transparency, account7 ability, and good governance, including by— 

8 (A) resolving any potential administrative 

9 hurdles to effectively allow elections to take 

10 place in a timely fashion; 

11 (B) implementing necessary mechanisms to 

12 monitor and curb dissemination of misinforma13 tion and mitigate inflammatory rhetoric; and 

14 (C) ensuring that statutes established by 

15 the Gender Equality and Women’s Empower16 ment Act (GEWE) are adhered to; and 

17 (6) encourages the United States Government 

18 to continue necessary engagements with the Govern19 ment of Sierra Leone, underscoring the need to up20 hold free and fair elections in accordance with the 

21 country’s constitution. 

Æ 


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