By Aminata Phidelia Allie
Minister of Information and Communication, Alpha Kanu, has hit at critics of the controversial sacking of Samuel Sam Sumana as Vice President of Sierra Leone.
Kanu sounded particularly critical of lawyers who have cited constitutional provisions challenging the decision by President Ernest Bai Koroma which has thrown the country into a constitutional crisis. Lawyers, he said, are “characters in a play” and that a character cannot interpret a book more than its author.
The sacking of Mr Sumana as VP came following his expulsion from the ruling All Peoples Congress Party on grounds of deception, among other offences.
Sumana has since indicated he was challenging his sacking through his lawyers.
Speaking at the weekly government press briefing in Freetown on Thursday, Kanu, who doubles as the official government spokesperson, said parliament was the writer of the Constitution and so no one else could interpret it more than its members.
A writer knows about his book far more than its readers, he said.
Alpha Kanu accused lawyers of encouraging dispute, saying that without a dispute they had no job.
He said:”they will encourage you to create a dispute so that they can get a job, but you should not listen to them.”
Kanu used a football match as an analogy to explain the current political crisis in the country, referring to President Koroma as just being “a good goal keeper” who prevented an offside goal. He said it was now left with the judiciary, which he referred to as the referee, to decide whether or not there should be a goal.
He however stated that there would be uproar from the opposing team or fans should the referee make a bad judgment.
Asked whether he meant that the vice president had a chance of reinstatement, the government spokesman responded thus: “he should first of all start his appeal process, which is in line with the constitution. To be a vice president is a continuous process and anyone who neglects that responsibility should be replaced immediately.”
Khanu said the sacked VP had already defaulted in two out of the four necessary conditions one should fulfill to be a VP. One of those factors, he went on, was that the VP should belong to a political party and the second being that he should be a citizen of the country for which he wanted to become a vice president. Khanu said Sumana lacked those credentials.
“The VP gave up his citizenship to this country when he sought asylum from the American Embassy on Saturday, March 14. Sam Sumana therefore lacks the legitimacy to continue as vice president of Sierra Leone,” the government spokesman said.
He said that was the government’s and the ruling APC`s interpretation of the constitution. Though concerned about criticisms from the public over the president’s decision to sack his deputy, the minister said that it was the majority that count, not the minority.
He said he was optimistic that by the time everything worked out, the public would understand that President Koroma had made a right decision in relieving the vice president off his position.
When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of Sierra Leone’s Bar Association, Julian Cole, said he would not comment on any of the issues yet. But he revealed that his association was set to meet Friday to take a position on the issues surrounding the sacking of VP Sumana.
Cole said they would issue a press statement afterwards but could not say when exactly the statement would be released.
© Politico 20/03/15
