SALONE INSIGHT TV | POLITICS
OPINION: President Bio Should Pause and Refuse Assent to the Constitutional Amendment Bill
By Salone Insight TV
Sierra Leone is once again at a critical constitutional crossroads. As President Julius Maada Bio considers whether to assent to the Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2025, Salone Insight TV believes he should withhold his signature until the constitutional and procedural questions surrounding the Bill are fully resolved.
This is not simply a contest between SLPP and APC. It is bigger than party politics. It concerns the integrity of the Constitution, the supreme legal framework that protects every Sierra Leonean.
The controversy centres particularly on the parliamentary process and whether the constitutionally required threshold was properly satisfied. Legal practitioners have publicly challenged the validity of the Bill, arguing that Parliament did not meet the required two-thirds threshold. The matter has also generated calls for judicial clarification.
Section 108 of the 1991 Constitution provides a specific procedure for constitutional amendments, including publication requirements and support by not less than two-thirds of Members of Parliament. The Constitution also provides that where a President refuses to sign an ordinary Bill, it can be returned to Parliament with reasons.
That is why President Bio should pause.
A constitutional amendment should never be rushed, especially when lawyers, opposition politicians, civil society, organised labour and ordinary citizens are questioning the process. Indeed, the Sierra Leone Labour Congress has now publicly appealed to the President not to sign the Bill and has called for broader consultation.
President Bio is often described by supporters as a “Father of Democracy”, particularly because of his role in Sierra Leone’s transition from military rule to elected civilian government in 1996. That history gives him an even greater responsibility today.
Our message is therefore simple: protect the Constitution before protecting political interests.
President Bio should allow the Supreme Court to settle the constitutional questions, if necessary, before putting pen to paper.
We must also be careful with the language of “treason.” Section 108 states that a suspension, alteration or repeal of the Constitution other than on the authority of Parliament is deemed an act of treason. That does not automatically mean that signing a disputed Bill constitutes treason; the legal question depends on whether the constitutional procedure has been lawfully followed.
But politically and historically, the stakes are enormous.
Mr President, if you truly want history to remember you as a defender of democracy, let your signature defend the Constitution—not controversy.
Sylvia Olayinka Blyden
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