By Mohamed Foday Conteh
The Supreme Court is set to decide today whether National Grand Coalition (NGC) party 2018 elections Presidential candidate and Member of Parliament, Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella (KKY), will continue to sit in the legislature or forfeits his seat after a citizen, David Fornah challenged his legitimacy, in court.
Fornah had claimed Dr. Yumkella carries dual citizenship in contravention of Section 76(1) of the 1991 Constitution barring from Parliament people holding dual citizenship. The matter has been in court for a while now and the outcome of today’s judgment will be eagerly anticipated by supporters of the NGC leader.
Fornah believes that KKY holds both US and Sierra Leonean passports.
Months before the elections, a good number of prospective parliamentary candidates for the various political parties were denied party symbols to contest after been suspected of holding dual citizenship.
Dr. Yumkella at a well-attended event on the 18th January 2018 produced a renunciation certificate of his dual citizenship to the audience.
The court matter has generated a lot of public interest and if the court were to rule against the former UNIDO boss, he will lose his seat in Parliament to the All People’s Congress’ (APC) party candidate Abu Sankoh who was his closet challenger and who got just 23 percent of votes in Constituency 062, Samu Chiefdom in the Kambia district.
Both the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party and APC each have 58 Members of Parliament and the decision of the court could be decisive in either maintaining the status quo or influencing a shift in party numerical representation in Parliament.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online (03/09/21)
