By Abubakarr Bah, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,
A Sierra Leone High Court ruling of Wednesday, 17th January, 2024 in favour of former President, Ernest Bai Koroma, who is charged with treason, to travel abroad on medical grounds, has raised mixed feelings among the Sierra Leonean populace both at home and abroad, especially those within the circles of the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP). In as much as I respect the various views of people and the public outcry or concerns of my brothers and sisters in the SLPP, permit me to pen down my take regarding this highly publicized matter.
Let me start by reminding my reader that the government of Sierra Leone had refused the political deal that was proposed by the President of the ECOWAS for the charges against the former President to be dropped to make room for the former president to go to Nigeria on exile. Sierra Leone’s Foreign Minister, Timothy Musa Kabba on 3rd January, 2024, told the BBC’s Umaru Fofana that “the government did not countenance the content of the said letter written by the President of the ECOWAS Commission because it is a unilateral proposition.”
This clearly manifests the position of the government of His Excellency, President Dr. Julius Maada Bio regarding the treason matter of the 26th November 2023.
Besides, during the interfaith services on 6th December 2023 for the 21 security officers who lost their lives during the failed coup attempt, President Bio made a strong commitment to bring justice to the victims and hold the perpetrators accountable, regardless of their status or ranking in society. One would agree with me that since President Bio made that commitment, the police have been doing their job of investigating the matter by following the evidence wherever it takes them.
As I write, 12 suspects are standing trial for treason and other related offences. Also, we have witnessed for the first time in the history of this country for a former president to be put under house arrest and charged with four counts of treason, which is a clear manifestation of the Bio administration’s commitment to holding the perpetrators accountable, regardless of their status or ranking in society.
Secondly, the recent High Court ruling is neither an acquittal of the former president nor a closure of the matter; equally, the treason allegations against the former president do not make him guilty straightaway. In law, it is a cardinal principle of our system of justice that every person accused of a crime is presumed to be innocent unless his or her guilt is established beyond a reasonable doubt. This explains that former President Ernest Bai Koroma should be presumed to be innocent and accorded the requisite privileges of a statesman throughout the trial process until he is found guilty. This was how the state handled the matter of retired Major Palo Conteh, who was charged with treason in 2020, but was later acquitted and discharged by the High Court of Sierra Leone.
Against that background, let me also mention that the High Court verdict of bail in favour of the former President states that the matter is adjourned to the 6th March, 2024, and that the former president was granted bail following an application made before the court by Koroma’s lawyer, Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara Esq backed by a medical report exhibited as SB 001 and supported by an Affidavit sworn to on the 12th January 2024. Now, all this was done by a competent court of law which authority is guaranteed by the Constitution of Sierra Leone, and not by the Executive arm of government. This clearly explains the doctrine of Separation of Powers, which some of us learnt in our government and politics classes both in senior school and university.
It seems this recent bail verdict in a matter of treason to allow the 70-year-old former president to proceed for medical attention is highly in favour of the opposition APC, whose lead defence counsel, J.F. Kamara’s application was granted against the possible wishes of the prosecution team led by the Attorney General and Minister of justice, who represents the state. But what we should all celebrate is the loud message sent by that High Court ruling- telling the doubting Thomases that the Rule of Law is Supreme, and our democratic institutions, including the Judiciary, are allowed to operate independently in the State.
Sierra Leone’s Minister of Information and Civil Education, Chernor Bah, re-echoed this point recently when he said that the court’s decision to grant bail to the former president is consistent with the government’s determination to allow the Rule of Law to take its course. Hon. Bah emphasized that the treason trial will continue in Koroma’s absence as there are other accused persons who have been charged with treason and are making their court appearances. The minister noted that the charges against former President Koroma will remain open as his trial is expected to resume in March 2024 when Koroma would have returned to Sierra Leone.
Moreover, we should allow the leadership and supporters of the main opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) to celebrate what they now see as a judicial victory, as they were the same people, who, six months ago after the June 2023 elections, cried down the country’s Judiciary. Their perceived unfairness by the Judiciary was the reason they gave for refusing to petition the June 24, 2023 elections at the Supreme Court, claiming that the Judiciary had lost its integrity. However, we all know that President Bio clearly won the election; which was the only reason the APC did not go to court.
Members of the SLPP should know that President Bio is a battle-tested leader. He is the hero who brought the party from the wilderness to the pinnacle of power in 2018 and 2023 just as Moses saved the Israelites from King Pharoah by taking them across the Red Sea. It is shocking to see that some members of the party have become so angered because His Excellency President Bio as Father of our hard earned democracy is allowing checks and balances and the Rule of Law to operate independently. Allowing these governance systems to operate independently also means it is a must for His Excellency President Bio and his government to accept the court’s decision. I am sure that those expressing anger do not expect the president to overrule the court decision.
However, let’s assume that President Bio had defied the court’s verdict or interfered or influenced the High Court to refuse bail to the accused former president, even after Sierra Leone’s renowned Professor of Medicine & Consultant Cardiologist, Dr. James B.W. Russell had stated in a letter to the Judiciary dated 11th January, 2024 that the former President is suffering from hypertension, Diabetes Mellitus, and dyslipidemia. As Dr. Russell stated “…the increased frequency of chest pain is a warning signal of an imminent heart attack (Unstable Angina).” Let us assume this advice was defied, and God forbid ex-President Koroma dies suddenly of heart attack whilst in house arrest facing treason charges. Do you know what that means for the peace and security of our nation? There would surely be a public outcry that President Bio has killed former President Koroma, and that would even destabilize our peace and tranquillity. Even if we tend to care less about the consequences of such a refusal, let us also know that the former president is a former leader that ruled Sierra Leone for 11 years for two consecutive terms and he is also the immediate past Chairman and Leader of the main opposition party in Sierra Leone.
Therefore, when dealing with such a personality in a treason trial, a leader should exercise wisdom and patience by allowing the Rule of Law to prevail, especially when the trial is yet to properly commence. On the other hand, the former president that is being presumed innocent would like to clear his name in court, especially so when he is a senior statesman and immediate past president of Sierra Leone.
Before I drop my pen, I urge Sierra Leoneans to have faith in the governance decisions of President Bio, who is the country’s Father of Democracy. He is a democratic leader who believes in the principles of the Rule of Law in which there is Separation of Powers between the Executive, Legislature, and the Judiciary.
Abubakarr Bah is the government Information attaché in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (+966567766322)
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