By Mohamed Foday Conteh
Justice Adrian Fisher of the High Court in Freetown has ordered that members of the All People’s Congress (APC) party conduct their convention not later than 31st August 2021. The judge gave his ruling on Monday 9th August 2021 in court.
This ruling follows an earlier one that was given by the same judge on the 19th April 2021. It emanated from an application for an interim injunction filed by the plaintiff, Alfred Peter Conteh barring Alhaji Osman Foday Yansaneh and President Ernest Bai Koroma from holding any election, selection or convention geared towards the daily affairs of the APC party.
On the 28th May, just after a month of the said ruling, the defendants had sought the leave of the court to file an appeal of the same at the Court of Appeal. However, Justice Fisher had refused to grant them leave on the basis that the grounds of appeal would fail at the higher court. “The grounds of appeal had no arguable merits, principally on account of the fact that it was the defendants themselves who sought the variation of the injunction,” Justice Fisher stated.
The party went to court again and relied on the affidavit filed by the 2nd defendant, Yansaneh. In the said affidavit, several exhibits which included the 19th April ruling, a proposed activity in furtherance of the court’s earlier ruling, copies of notices extending the tenure of executive members of the party and a list of planning committee members to plan the emergency national delegates conference among other things.
The plaintiff through his counsel, had filed an affidavit in opposition. In that affidavit, Conteh had said that Yansaneh is not the legitimate Secretary General of the APC and even if he was, his term had expired as per the 1995 Party Constitution. The said affidavit also highlighted that the court should vacate the interim orders and proceed to deal with the substantive application speedily and that the extension if granted, the defendants would continue to entrench themselves in office among other things.
The judge also found that Yansaneh was liable for contempt since he lied under oath when he was being cross-examined by counsel for the plaintiff, Jesse Jengo. Yansaneh had told the court that he was not the one that instructed his lawyers to file an appeal of the same at the higher court. However, Yansaneh stated twice that they felt disenfranchised with regards the 19th April ruling. He also was signatory to an affidavit that warranted an appeal of the matter at the Appeal’s Court.
It was against such a backdrop that Justice Fisher ruled that the APC conduct their convention electing their various party representatives not later than Tuesday 31st August 2021.
“The court orders that there shall be an emergency delegate’s conference technical planning committee, consisting of 21 members,” Justice Fisher said. He stated that the APC (3rd defendant) shall nominate 9 members including a chairman other than former President Ernest Bai Koroma. Conteh on the other hand, shall nominate 4 representatives including one serving in the capacity of Secretary.
The judge also ruled that the diaspora shall have 3 representatives to serve in that committee. The National Reformation Movement (NRM) should have 2 members in the committee. All of these actions, according to the judge, should be relayed to and in tandem with the Chairman of the Political Party Registration Commission (PPRC). The court also stated that all nominations should be submitted to the said Chairman of the PPRC not later than 11th August 2021 at 4pm.
Justice Fisher also tasked the Secretary-General to present a drafted constitution as recognised by the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC), Conteh and Chairman of the PPRC early next week. The said constitution is also mandated to be published in two widely circulated newspapers in the country.
Yansaneh and the APC were also charged with the responsibility of ensuring the election of 20 delegates for the women’s congress, 20 delegates for the youth league and 5 delegates from each constituency, all of which should be concluded by latest Tuesday 31st August 2021. The Secretary General is also ordered by the court to publish the full list of all delegates on the 8th September, 2021. A two day delegates’ conference shall follow from 17th September - 19th September 2021.
The matter will be in court again on Wednesday 6th October 2021 for hearing.
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