- 10 Constituencies Robbed
- Hundreds Incarcerated & Brutalized
- Teargas Suffocates APC & Brookfield’s Community
A High Court ruling on Friday last week has robbed thousands of constituents their democratically elected representatives in Parliament in the Western Area. This is due to a petition filed by the ruling SLPP party members a little over a year ago.
It will be recalled that there were counter petitions just after the March, 2018 elections against sixteen APC MPs and 32 SLPP MPs. The High Court was supposed to rule on these cases four months after the petitions were brought before the courts as prescribed by the Constitution.
Many of the petitions from both sides have bordered on the allegations that most of the MPs were on salaries, which is against the one year cut off point. Others were also accused of having perpetrated violence and intimidation during the conduct of the polls, which subsequently deprived supporters of the other candidates from casting their votes.
The nine vacant seats were, according to the High Court ruling, given to the ruling SLPP party automatically, thus making it the majority in Parliament with 58 seats against 57 for the APC.
Legal minds have described the removal of the APC MPs and the subsequent swearing-in of the SLPP MPs as a violation of sections 145 of the Public Elections Act, which states that the seats should have been declared vacant for a rerun of the polls. The High Court has no mandate to impose candidates on the people.
The immediate swearing-in of the MPs was also reportedly to be illegal as the various MPs have 14 days to appeal their case to the Appeals Court as provided for by law.
The two judges have based their rulings on case laws and judicial precedents set by a Judge of the High court during a similar petition case during the last APC regime.
As it now stands, Hon Kemokoh Conteh of Constituency 108 was replaced by Ahmed Joseph Kanu of the SLPP; John Sartie Kargbo of Constituency 111 replaced by Horace Vincent; Hariaytu Bangura replaced by Emmanuel Sahr Gbekie; Momoh Kamara of Constituency 120 replaced by Tennyson Hindolo Sandy; Ahmed Mansaray is being replaced by Abdul Munir Lansana; Mohamed Kasim Carew is being replaced by Alieu Ibrahim Kamara while Siraju Rollings, Abubakar Sillah and Osman Timbo of Constituencies 127,128 and 130 were all replaced by John T. Koroma, Benjamin Turay, Abubakar Sillah and Abdulai Morray Conteh, respectively.
This judgment has robbed the APC of its majority in Parliament.
Ibrahim Tommy of the Center for Accountability and Rule of Law has stated in his facebook page that it is no business of the Court to select or impose MPs on the people. The mandate, he continued, solely rests with the people. Many have questioned the ruling and the audacity on the part of the judiciary not to hear the cases brought by the APC before the court.
Few hours after the ruling, Police of the Operational Support Division of the Sierra Leone barricaded the offices of the APC on orders from above, firing hundreds of teargas canisters against peaceful supporters. The persistent firing made the entire Brookfield’s community dark many people, especially the aged, were suffocated and currently admitted in different hospitals in Freetown.
Police arrested hundreds of supporters.
Some women, according to the BBC, were dragged practically naked from the building to waiting Police trucks. Hundreds, including the Secretary General, Osman Yansaneh, and the Deputy Chairman and Leader, were also trapped at the building.
The ruling has left the people elected MPs dropped and the court had literally imposed its own MPs on the people. It is speculated that problems are bound to emerge in certain constituencies where these actions have been taken, against the backdrop that there were already tensions in some of these constituencies prior to the March 2018 and the latest action would just add salt to injury.
Many say this will continue to deepen the already divided country along political lines.