Today is another sad day for the Rule of Law in Sierra Leone

Moses Ben Kanu
Sierra Leone news update

BREAKING NEWS

THE CURRENT SLPP PARTY LEADER AND PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE, HIS EXCELLENCY JULIUS MAADA BIO HAS DECLEARED “OPERATION BRUTALIZED THE OPPOSITION PARTY SUPPORTERS” AFTER THE FAILED BUNTIMANI 3 PEACE TALKS SNUBBED BY ALL LEVEL HEADS AND POLITICAL STAKE HOLDERS IN SIERRA LEONE.

Sierra Leone in complete mess under slpp Bio leadership.

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Is this really what we want for our country. The SLPP are not going to rule for ever….it is just not possible.So all of those who are now blaming Ernest Bai Koroma, next time, when the APC will be reveneging….I take it you will be blaming Maada Bio….Is this really what we want for Sierra Leone?
I hold no brief for Ernest Koroma, but please ask yourself, if what is happening now in Sierra Leone is progressive?

-0:15

Mamu Al Conteh
Maada Bio wanted to use his 1992 tactics to govern. But stupidly enough, his abrasive nature failed to realize that every Sierra Leonean with a smart phone is a potential journalist. Haven’t we all seen governments being toppled by actions of a single citizen?

Look at this picture. Victims as young as 7 years been brutalized, arrested and locked up without any parental supports. This is abhorrently distasteful and no civilized nation should accept such a blatant human right abuse.

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Kamara Alpha
#SierraLeone: Tension in Freetown as 10 opposition APC MP’s lose their seats. It followed a petition from the ruling SLPP party that all of them were receiving money from the consolidated revenue fund less than a year to the last general elections.

Police fired tear gas in the opposition party office and arrested dozens of their supporters.Photo credit: Lama Bah

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SIERRA LEONE IS FACING MULTIFACETED HUMANITARIAN CRISIS. THE POLITICAL INSTABILITY IN SIERRA LEONE CONTINUE TO HEIGHTENED!!!

The SLPP party headed by Rtd. Captain Julius Maada Bio is synonymous with deep tribal/regional divisions which has cause major political issues to be vigorously and violently contested along the lines of intricate ethnic, religious and regional divisions. Issues that raise the most dust are those regarded essential for the existence and the validity of the state. Opposing and contending assemblages have a tendency to assume an exclusionary winner-take-all approach. These issues include the control of state power, allocation of resources and citizenship. As a result, states with such divisions are disposed to be delicate and unstable because almost by definition, they have very little in common with regard to convergence and harmony which are necessary to reduce the centrifugal forces that rip them apart.

We praying for God’s intervention in our Motherland and we are calling on our international guarantors to pay attention to what is going on in Sierra Leone, it looks like Sierra Leone is on a narrow path that lead us to our 11 years civil unrest. Since SLPP party took power controversially our country is high on the list as one of the most unstable states in Africa. Ethnicity is seen as the most basic and politically salient identity of the SLPP government led by Rtd. Captain Julius Maada Bio.

Abdul Rahim Kamara

Any country that has a compliant judiciary complicit in raping due process is a lost cause. Today is another sad day for the Rule of Law. I. have just read that 9 new Members of Parliament have been sworn in to sit in the House as ruling SLPP MPs. They were sworn in today to as ” Replacement ” MPs for 9 MPs from the opposition APC whose election to Parliament in March last year were petitioned. The High Court ruled in favour of the petitioners. These petioners have now been sworn with almost indecent haste.

The Public Elections Act 2012 is very clear and unambiguous on next steps after the determination of a petition matter in the High Court. You don’t have to be a lawyer to understand what the relevant section says.
Section 146 of The Public Elections Act 2012:

(1) If the High Court determines that a candidate returned elected was not duly elected and that the election was void, then the candidate’s seat shall become vacant from the time of the notice of decision of the High Court and if notice of appeal from that decision appeal has been given within fourteen (14) days, the seat shall remain vacant for the period until the determination of the Court of Appeals is given on the appeal or the appeal is abandoned.

(2) Where the question to be decided by the Court of Appeal concerns an election to or the right to remain a Member of Parliament, the Registrar of the Court of Appeal shall certify the decision in writing to the Speaker and the Electoral Commission.

(3) Where the High Court has determined that a candidate was duly returned or elected, or that the election was void, and no notice of appeal has been given against that determination within fourteen (14) days, or where on appeal the Court of Appeal has determined that a candidate was duly returned or elected or that the election was void, then the Speaker shall publish by notification in the Gazette whether the candidate whose return or election is questioned is duly returned or elected or whether the election is void.

(4) IF THE ELECTION IS DECLARED VOID, ANOTHER ELECTION SHALL BE HELD.

This is what the Act says. I haven’t seen the ruling of the Learned Justice in its entirety but it boggles the mind where ” Replacement” comes into play here. I wonder if this country should not enact a law holding judges responsible for any breakdown in law and order threatening the security of the State as a result of skewed or blatantly corrupt rulings they make in their so called ” Considered Opinion ” without regard for the easily discernible provisions of the law. Or have I missed something which empowers judges to go beyond interpreting the law but can amend laws enacted in Parliament following their whims and Caprices.
As for Speaker Abass Chernor Bundu I have this to say to him. HISTORY WILL NOT BE KIND TO YOU. WE REMEMBER AS FAR BACK AS THE DAYS IF THE AFRC JUNTA. But then Sierra Leone is so much of a lost cause that you only need to be in the good books of those who hold political power to expunge whatever chequered past you have.

 

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