By Janet A. Sesay
The Commission of Enquiry’s appeal matter, No. 40/2020 of Dr Ernest Bai Koroma, and appeal No. 77/2020 of Dr Samura Mathews Wilson Kamara, came up on Tuesday 4th May 2020 before three appeal court judges at the Appeal Court in Freetown.
Both appellants (Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma and Dr. Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara) filed in their appeals before the court on the recommendations and outcomes of the White Paper at the Commission of Enquiry by three judges, including Justice Biobele George Will from Nigeria, Justice William Anann Atuguba from Ghana and Justice Bankole Thompson of Sierra Leone.
The investigations, which took from November 2007 to April 2018, took over a year to come into their logical conclusion. This was after it was been established by President Julius Maaada Bio to check the excesses of the previous administration of the APC under the leadership of former President Ernest Bai Koroma.
The three judges include Justice Ivan Ansumana Sesay, Momoh Jah Stevens and Adrian Fisher.
Shortly after the matter was being mentioned, counsel representing the former president, Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara, explained to the court that his client was not present in court because he had travelled.
He also sought for a three weeks’ adjournment so that they will be able to file and serve the court with a written synopsis and also serve the state who are the respondents.
The three judges agreed and made an order that counsel, representing the appellant, should file and serve the court with the written synopsis within twenty-one days and also ordered the respondents to file their synopsis to the court on or before the 15th May 2021 not later than 4pm.
In the case of Dr Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara his counsel, Ady Macaulay, told the court that his client was absent in court because of the shift in the date of the hearing.
“In fact, we were not even sure whether the matter was coming up,” he told the judges.
He also sought for a three weeks’ adjournment so that they will file and serve the court with their written synopsis. The same order was given to both counsels representing the appellant and the respondents, T.J. Freeman representing the state to file in their synopsis on or before the 15th May 2021.
Both matters come up for hearing on the 23rd June 2021.