Justice Nicholas Brown Marke has in a recent letter to the Chief Justice, Babatunde Edwards reacted to the recent decision taken by him (CJ Edwards) for sending him Justice Marke) to an indefinite leave.
According to Justice Marke it was a wrongful application of the provisions of regulation 19(4) of the Judges conditions of service regulations, 1986.
“I refer to your letter dated 31st March, 2020. In that letter, Your Lordship purported to exercise powers supposedly conferred by Regulation 19(4) of the Judges Conditions of Service Regulations 1986,” excerpt of Justice Marke letter states, adding that Regulation 19(4) states “the authorities responsible for approving vacation leave Judges are as follows: (a) in the case of the Judge, the President, a (b) in the case of Judge, the Chief Justice.”
According to Justice Marke, there is no provision in our Laws empowering, or, authorizing the Chief Justice to forcefully send any judge on vacation leave nor on indefinite leave .
“And for the record, no other Chief Justice has purported to have done so. Further, I am only due for retirement on the attainment of my 65 birthday in 2020,” Justice Marke argued.
“Regulation 19(2) states that vocation leave shall be taken by each Judge during the long vacation, i.e during the period 15th July to 15th September (presently, 1st August to 30th September) in each year. Regulation 19(3) provides for the exceptional situation where a Judge wishes to proceed on vacation leave before or after the long vacation. And lastly Regulation 19(5) provides that a judge could proceed on casual leave not exceeding 28 days in case of an emergency. Such leave will be deducted from the Judges annual leave entitlement,” Justice Brown Marke further lectured the Chief Justice.
He went on, “contrary to what is stated in your above mentioned letter, that I have not gone on leave since 2014, I have in fact, proceeded on vacation (including casual) leave each year since and even before 2014. I have letters to that effect for 2015 – once, 2016 – thrice 2017 – thrice, and twice in 2018. In April, 2019 Your Lordship approved my proceeding on casual leave for a total of 5 weeks – 26th April to 23rd May. 30th May to 3rd June. My respective letters of request addressed to your Lordship are attached hereto for ease of reference. Your Lordship may have forgotten this. Also, as recently as January, 2020, you approved my going away on casual leave between the 12th and 29th of that month.”
It could be recalled that the Chairman of the Renaissance Movement Augustine Sorie Sengbeh Marah Esq. recently condemned the said action of the Chief Justice.
According to Lawyer Marah the action of the Chief Justice will adversely affect the performance of other judges.
In a letter addressed to the Sierra Leone Bar Association (SLBA), Lawyer Marrah condemned the Chief Justice’s action.