SLPP Gov’t May Face Sanction If…
According to a letter written to the Government of Sierra Leone addressed to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice by the Falana & Falana’s Chambers, the law firm that represented Sierra Leone’s former vice president, His Excellency Alhaji Chief Samuel Samsumana, at the ECOWAS Court in the matter between their client and the Government of Sierra Leone, the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) led government of His Excellency Brig. Rtd. Julius Maada Bio may soon face ECOWAS sanctions should it fail to adhere to the judgment and recommendations of the court on the said matter.
It could be recalled that the former Vice President, Alhaji Chief Samuel Samsumana, took a court action against the Government of Sierra Leone at the ECOWAS Court Holden in Nigeria following his sacking as Vice President by the former President, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, after the Sierra Leone Supreme Court had earlier ruled that the then President was right under the Supreme Executive Authority to have sacked his vice.
However, the ECOWAS Court in its judgment of November 27th, 2017 on the said matter ruled in favour of the former vice president and instructed the Government of Sierra Leone to pay in full, all remunerations and other entitlements due to him from the time of his sacking to the date he term of office would have ended. The court further rules among others that the removal of the former Vice President by the president on March 17th, 2017 violates Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.
Although the then All Peoples Congress (APC) led Government of Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma treated the ECOWAS Court Judgment with disdain by not heeding to the court’s decision and recommendations until they were voted out of power in the March 2018 elections, it was expected that the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) led government of President Julius Maada Bio would have comply with the ECOWAS Court decision especially so when members of the SLPP during the 2018 elections campaign earlier considered the sacking of the former vice as unlawful ; and thus one of the reason for which Sierra Leoneans voted massively for the SLPP in order to correct the ills of the previous administration.
But for inexplicable reasons, the Bio led SLPP Government has refused to comply with the ECOWAS Court’s judgment even though the president himself had severally promised before coming to power to honour and comply with the court’s judgment.
While the Bio led government has failed to comply with the court judgment, lawyers for the former Vice President have threatened to initiate administrative and legal proceedings for the imposition of sanctions on the Government of Sierra Leone by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
By Ibrahim Alusine Kamara
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