Justice Manuella Harding is known to have stood and still stands up for the cherished value of justice in Sierra Leone. She always delivers justice to the people without fear or favour, and such quality has brought her the love and admiration of a great many Sierra Leoneans.
It therefore goes without saying that she would leave no avenue unexplored for a bright light of justice to shine on the corruption trial of the embattled president of the Motor Drivers and General Transport Workers Union (MDGTWU).
The case against Mr Bah, by no exaggeration, is one of the most famous corruption trial in the country’s recent past.
The sum of money which is at the centre of the trial is too huge with a great potential to wreck the organisation.
Documents seen by Nightwatch shows that the money that has been allegedly misappropriated stands between Le10 and Le15 Billion Leones.
The case has been in the court for over a year now, and the prosecution and the defence had opened and closed their cases. What is now left is for the court to say Mr Bah is either guilty of corruption or not. Friday is a day a great number of the union membership wait to see.
The verdict in the temple of justice would determine what further action to take by the plaintiffs. However, a credible source has informed Nightwatch that adjournments for the long-awaited verdict have been made on several occasions.
Days for the verdict have come and gone, and by all indications, Justice Harding is ever determined to do justice to parties to the case, but interference from behind the scenes brings the contrary.
But, hopes continue to ride high that today will be the final day for the verdict. The union unanimously says no amount of pressure would stop the learned judge from handing down the verdict. What is clear in the case is that a strategy of delay has been employed to stop the trial from reaching its final journey.
Should the move be sustained and the objective held, Mr Bah tramples with freedom from the shackles of the law. A deterrent effect which is the overriding aim of any judicial or legal system will be considerably thwarted.
Suffice it to say other would-be offenders would not be restrained, and the gates for kleptocrats widely opened.
It is terribly bad for a nation that prides itself with one of the strongest anti-corruption laws on the continent.
The principal argument is that a prolonged case would soon cease to generate the interest it deserves.
Put in plain terms, parties to a case would stop cooperation with law enforcement institutions if signs of reaching a logical conclusion are not seen.
Apart from the case of corruption hanging over the beleaguered Driver’s Union president, Mr Bah is on record to have allegedly manipulated elections to his favour.
In his vaulting ambition to stay at the helm of Union governance, fundamental provisions of the union’s constitution were also allegedly not respected.
The elections, to a large extent were not seen as free and fair by some union members who have not allowed the matter to be swept under the carpet but to challenge it in the courts.
After gaining the seat of the union presidency, the defendant Mr Bah was also accused to have also handpicked cronies that would not hesitate to do his bidding.
The cronies are yes-men with myopic loyalty to the presidency with hopes that one day they too would sit at the apex of the ladder to enjoy the large of power.
In all the manipulations, the source says, there are ostensible and latent objectives.
The ostensible side is for Mr Bah to display the aura and cult of personality that is usually associated with power.
Perhaps, the latent side is much more important, he is confident that with a permanent grip of the union’s presidential power, he would be safe from prosecution.
Corruption indictees always share one thing in common with indicted war criminals-Power ambition.
They are of the firm conviction that with power they are safe as resources are their disposal.
They fail to realise that no matter the length of period and distance of the scene of crime, the long arm of the law would reach them.
The fight against corruption has always been one of the flagship projects of the New Direction government.
Trends show that it will not waver in its relentless chase of those indicted for corruption.
Every passing day, the New Direction Government tightens the screw and the knots, and there will be no hiding place for corrupt officials.
It says woe on to those who choose corruption as the path to success, and assures a bright future to those who subscribe to the campaign against it.
Justice Manuella Harding has subscribed to the fight against corruption by her unblemished record in the justice system.
She thus consciously treads on the road to justice and the fight against corruption, and a bright future in the New Direction awaits her.