Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice on Monday declared the sacking of former Sierra Leone’s Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana illegal.
Samuel Sam-Sumana, who was fired by the Sierra Leonean president Ernest Bai Koroma in March, petitioned the country’s Supreme Court on in April to block his replacement from carrying out his duties pending a final ruling on the legality of his dismissal.
The Supreme Court ruled that the sacking was constitutional.
The president had dismissed Sam-Sumana as the country’s number two, claiming he had abandoned his duties by requesting asylum at the U.S. Embassy in the capital Freetown. The ruling All People’s Congress had earlier accused him of creating his own political movement and expelled the party.
Victor Bockarie Foh was chosen to replace Sam-Sumana over the objections of the opposition, which said he is not eligible to hold the position.
The ECOWAS court which sits in the Nigerian capital of Abuja has also ordered that Sam-Sumana be paid all his outstanding salary and emoluments since his dismissal in 2015.
Sierra Leone’s Attorney General Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara has filed a response to the court asserting that ECOWAS Court doesn’t have jurisdiction to the case which has been adjudicated by Sierra Leone Supreme Court.
But according to Sumana’s attorney Femi Falana, his removal from office as vice president of Sierra Leone was “unlawful, injurious and deprived him of his right to the protection of the law as well as his right to participate in government and governance.” He argued that Sierra Leone Supreme Court betrayed Mr. Sumana by denying him a fair hearing and he was also prevented by President Koroma to explore the ruling APC party’s “internal dispute resolution mechanism” when he was replaced by Victor Bockarie Foe even before his appeal hearing.
Mr Sumana has maintained that he was wrongfully removed because he didn’t support President Koroma’s ambition for a third term in office and claimed that he has sufficient evidence to prove that the “Timbergate” scandal, a television documentary investigation of illegal logging and alleged bribery in his former office was a setup by President Koroma to demonize and remove him from office.
