The Judiciary of the Republic of Sierra Leone has sent out a strong message to politicians in the country that gone are the days of malpractices and violence during elections.

Six of the nine APC MPs that lost their seats following the High Court rulingin the petition cases last Friday were found guilty of perpetrating violence and indulging in one form of electoral malpractice or the other. The courts upheld the petitions of nine of the petitioners while six went in favour of the APC. One of the constituencies, though, will be re-run in three months’ time.

The ruling has been described as a victory for democracy, victory for the rule of law, and victory for the independence of the judiciary which under the new direction administration now dispenses justice without political interference.

The petitioned MPs were found guilty of receiving salaries from the consolidated revenue fund less than a year to elections while holding public offices contrary to law and also committing various electoral offences enshrined in the Electoral Laws Act.

For instance, Osman Timbo while serving as Legal Adviser at State House and also Board member NCP and Ahmed Mansaray as staff of NASSIT took salaries up to December and February 2017 respectively.

Two others faced similar charges but were cleared for insufficient evidence while the rest committed one electoral offence or the other.
In a related development, the High Court in the Northern provincial headquarters of Makeni a couple of months ago dismissed fourteen petition cases against APC members in that part of the country including Hon. Mohamed Bangura.

It could be recalled that APC stalwarts, Alhaji Alpha Khan and Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara aka JFK, had admonished all their candidates vying for the APC symbol to ensure they resign from their jobs at least a year to elections in order not to fall foul of the electoral laws but the High Court rulings indicate that their warnings were not heeded.

The ruling in favour of SLFA President Isha Johansen against the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) few days ago and the fact that the opposition also won six of the sixteen petition cases demonstrates in no small measure that the Judiciary is now independent, executing its functions without interference from the executive as was the case under the previous administration.

Meanwhile, the nine new MPs were sworn in as full fledge Members of Parliament in the well of Parliament last week.