It can be recalled that in September 2015, the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone made a ruling on the same matter giving the president the authority to sack his vice president. Sam-Sumana took the matter to the Regional Justice Body of the ECOWAS Court.
Presidential Spokesman, Abdulai Bayraytay said the ECOWAS Court does not have the competence to hear the matter. He said the Government of Sierra Leone will not countenance the judgment from the Court.
Sierra Leone the government spokesman went on is a sovereign state guided by its own constitution, citing Chapter 2 Section 14 of Act. 6 of the 1991 Constitution which he said guaranteed the decision of the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone in the September 2015 ruling that gave the authority to President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma to sack his former vice president.
The country’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara said whiles awaiting the full correspondence from the ECOWAS Court Registry on the said matter, his Office wish to reiterate its legal position that the ECOWAS Court lacks competence and jurisdiction over the aforementioned matter.
He said the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone did rule on the matter and therefore, no other court is competent to overrule it except itself. He said this was why the Government of Sierra Leone refused to participate in the proceedings and now therefore does not accept nor recognize the decision of the ECOWAS Court in respect of the specific judgment.
Nevertheless, Minister Kamara noted that upon receipt and review of the said judgment, government will be advised accordingly on appropriate actions.
Sacked Vice President Alhaji Samuel Sam-sumana told the BBC in an exclusive interview that he was pleased that justice has been served in the area of restoring the dignity of the Constitution of Sierra Leone that the president was not correct to remove me from office.
He said the fiscal issue is not paramount to him but that he was very much pleased with the judgment received.
Responding to question about the importance of the money to his presidential bid campaign, Sam-sumana said Sierra Leone needs the money better than he does, adding that that was the decision of the Court and that Sierra Leone being a member state of ECOWAS, he is not expecting the country or its president to walk away from the legal decision.
He concluded that if that being the fact, he is definitely returning back to work and will continue to serve his people as Vice President of Sierra Leone.
He demanded that he should be paid 210 million dollars in damage. The Court has yesterday 27th November, 2017 made its ruling on the matter and the State of Sierra Leone lost to its former vice president.
Sierra Leone has been dragged to the Court on three occasions now and has honoured one of its rulings to pay for a gunboat.
