CONTROVERSIAL CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT BILL OVERWHELMINGLY PASSED: DIRECT THINK TANK CONDEMNS APC WALKOUT AS A BETRAYAL OF ITS PARLIAMENTARY MANDATE:

By David K.Fengai

Freetown, Sierra Leone – 10 August 2026

Direct Think Tank has expressed profound disappointment over the conduct of All People’s Congress Members of Parliament who walked out of Parliament as the controversial Constitutional Amendment Bill was overwhelmingly passed.

For the think tank, this was not ordinary political theatre. It was what it calls “a serious abdication of parliamentary responsibility and a betrayal of the mandate entrusted to those Members of Parliament by the citizens who elected them.”

PARLIAMENT IS NOT A PLACE TO WALK AWAY FROM
Direct Think Tank argues that MPs are elected to debate, scrutinize, challenge, amend, and vote. Walking away at the moment of a fundamental constitutional decision, it says, deprived constituents of representation precisely when their voices were needed most.

The group acknowledges the APC’s right to disagree with the amendments. Vigorous opposition, it notes, is vital to democracy. But opposition must be exercised inside the chamber: expose dangerous clauses, propose amendments, challenge government, and vote.

“Instead, they chose to walk out,” Direct Think Tank stated. “That raises a fundamental question: Who were they representing when they left — their constituents or their party?”

A CONSTITUTION IS TOO IMPORTANT FOR POLITICAL THEATRE
The Constitution, Direct Think Tank stresses, is the supreme framework between State and citizen. Any amendment demands the highest level of scrutiny and public engagement, not walkouts and posturing.

It warned that the passage of controversial amendments must not become a contest of numbers alone. Government must justify changes transparently, while the Opposition must interrogate them rigorously. The APC, the statement said, cannot claim the amendments threaten democracy and then abandon the institution where those threats could be challenged.

DIRECT THINK TANK’S POSITION
Direct Think Tank is calling on the APC to publicly explain: why did MPs leave rather than debate and vote? What provisions did they seek to defeat? What strategies were exhausted before the walkout? How does abandoning the chamber serve the people?

At the same time, it does not absolve Government and the majority. “An overwhelming parliamentary majority does not automatically translate into a constitutional consensus,” it said. Constitutional reform must have legitimacy beyond votes on the floor.

OUR CALL TO SIERRA LEONEANS
Direct Think Tank is urging citizens, civil society, media, legal professionals and all democratic stakeholders to independently examine the amendments. “The Constitution belongs to the people of Sierra Leone — not to the SLPP, not to the APC, and not to any individual political leader.”

It concluded: “Democracy is strengthened when representatives stay, speak, scrutinize, challenge, vote, and defend the people who sent them. Walking away at such a defining moment was, in our considered view, a betrayal of that mandate. Sierra Leone deserves leaders who remain at the table when the stakes are highest.”

Issued by: DIRECT THINK TANK — For Democracy, Good Governance, Accountability and the National Interest