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President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah has succeeded in restoring peace to Sierra Leone. He also emerged victorious, with a landslide victory, from the 14 May presidential and parliamentary elections. But now he faces a mountain of problems
In the 14 May presidential elections, President Kabbah won 70% of votes cast, against 22% for his nearest challenger, Ernest Koroma, of the All People’s Congress (APC). In the parliamentary vote on the same day, President Kabbah’s Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) won 83 of the 112 seats, while the APC took 27. The remaining 2 went to the party of Johnny Paul Koroma.
With an overall majority in Parliament, President Kabbah ought to have felt «comfortable», because the Opposition should be unable to block any legislation. But the President was soon perceive that the «Opposition» is not just in Parliament.
Some problems from “Opposition”
His first problem arose when he took the Oath of Office just a few hours after the election results were officially announced. What happened? He faced a barrage of criticism. Some lawyers said that while his swearing-in was not an illegal act, there should have been a breathing space between the announcement of election results and the taking of the Oath. Also, the Oath should have been administered in public instead of at the presidential mansion.
A second problem arose when lawyer Eke Halloway was appointed and sworn-in as Attorney-General and Minister of Justice. without Parliament’s approval. The Sierra Leonean Bar Association (SLBA) took the matter to the Supreme Court. A verdict is still awaited. But President Kabbah’s Vice-President, Solomon Berewa, who was Attorney-General during Kabbah’s previous term of office, argues that there is nothing illegal in the swearing-in. The Bar Association base their assertion on the 1991 Constitution, which states that all ministers appointed by the President must get parliamentary approval. The Vice-President, however, takes as his authority, the Constitution Section 64 (1). He states that this Section creates the offices of Attorney-General and Minister of Justice. And, «Offices created by the Constitution do not need Parliament’s approval. Only those Offices established by the President need parliamentary approval».
Whatever the Supreme Court’s verdict may be, both the SLBA and the APC insist that since Section 56 of the Constitution mentions that ministers must get approval from Parliament, this indicates that all ministers, without exception, must get parliamentary approval before entering Office.
All this indicates that President Kabbah, despite the overwhelming majority enjoyed by his SLPP in Parliament, will face stiff opposition in post-war Sierra Leone. Opposition supporters seem to be afraid that since this is Kabbah’s final term of Office (the Constitution does not allow any President to rule for more than ten years consecutively), he might resort to unconstitutional means to achieve his «selfish aims».
President Kabbah faces any number of problems.
During the war years, many schools and hospitals were destroyed. Corruption is still present everywhere. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) cannot effectively prevent corruption because any cases of corruption must be sent to the Attorney-General’s office for «approval» or «advice» before a prosecution takes place. ACC members openly say that many of their cases sent to the Attorney-General’s Office, never got any further than the front desk.
Sierra Leone’s economy is also in bad shape and is presently «donor-driven». The question is: «How long will the donor community continue to support Sierra Leone». Widespread concern has been aroused when it became apparent that President Kabbah’s government is proving incapable of enhancing a policy that will enhance a beneficial exploitation of mining. Also, smuggling diamonds out of the country is all too frequent!
There has been widespread speculation that President Kabbah will resign half-way through his five-year term of office, leaving Vice-President Solomon Berewa to step into his shoes. But whether or not he resigns early, President Kabbah has many problems to face up to and Sierra Leoneans are expecting some solutions!
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