By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
After holding a requisitioned Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), aggrieved lawyers have set a 30- day ultimatum to convene an Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the year 2023 by a caretaker board appointed at the EGM.
A press statement issued by the Lawyers after holding the EGM at the New Brookfields Hotel in Freetown on the10th July 2024 stated, “despite challenges, including attempts to obstruct and prevent the meeting from holding by the Sierra Leone Police, the event was attended by well over the required number of requisitions both virtually and in person.”
During what many described as “chaotic meeting,” the lawyers resolved to remove the 2023 directors of the Sierra Leone Bar Association (SLBA) led by Eddinia Michaela Swallow who they claimed “in dereliction of their duties failed to hold the AGM in Kenema for 2023.”
They have appointed Lawyers E. Shears-Moses, Musa N Kamara, Elvis Kargbo, Basita Michael and Rhoda Suffian-Kargbo as a five member caretaker board of senior members of the bar with a minimum of 15 years’ experience to guide the SLBA forward.
According to the aggrieved lawyers’ statement, the EGM was brought about following a requisition signed by over 500 members, as outlined in the notice dated May 27, 2024.
“Despite efforts to intimate the New Brookfields Hotel management to cancel the event, and subsequent preemptive police intervention, including the use of pepper spray to disperse the crowd, the meeting proceeded at the entrance of the Hotel as members were barred from accessing the Hotel by the Police,” part of the statement reads.
It pointed out that the members of the SLBA remain committed to “transparency, accountability, and good governance.”
The statement assured that the newly formed caretaker board takes immediate steps to address the resolutions passed during the EGM.
It could be recalled that sometimes this year, members of the Sierra Leone Bar Association held their Annual General Meeting in Kenema and Tuma Gento Kamara was declared President of the Association. However, her main challengers, Wara Serry-Kamal and Augustine Sorie Sengbeh Marrah condemned the election, citing electoral irregularities and hence called for a new AGM.
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohamed-Lamin Tarawalley in his capacity as Titular head of the Bar invited to a meeting both the aggrieved parties and the declared president of the association in an effort to address the impasse.
Copyright © 2024 Politico (15/07/24)
