SIERRA LEONE ASSOCIATION OF JOURNALISTS (SLAJ)
1st Floor, 56 Campbell Street, Freetown, Sierra Leone P.M.B. 724
E-mail: slaj_salone@yahoo.com
President: +232 76 609285
Secretary General: +232 76 652556
Date: 28 October 2009
The Ombudsman
Republic of Sierra Leone
Siaka Stevens Street
Freetown
Dear Sir,
COMPLAINT AGAINST THE SUPREME COURT
In August this year, we wrote to President Ernest Bai Koroma a petition letter against the Supreme Court’s violation of our constitutional right, which we copied you in on. Sir, you may recall that in February 2008, SLAJ took to the court a matter pertaining to an interpretation and possible repeal of Part V of the 1965 Public Order Act which criminalises libel. Final arguments in the matter were made on 9 March 2009 which, by our country’s 1991 constitution, means a ruling should have been given by the 9 June 2009. Rather incomprehensibly, four months since that deadline elapsed, the court has neither given a ruling nor told us why they have not done so.
In reply to our petition letter, the Office of the President wrote back to us stating that a ruling would be given in “mid September” 2009. That has still not been done.
Sir, since you told us in a meeting with you at the time of the protest action that your office was one of last resort, we hereby express our deepest disappointment at this inaction of the country’s highest court, and request your intervention in ensuring that our right to a ruling as enshrined in our constitution is guaranteed by the Supreme Court.
We look forward to hearing from you sir.
Umaru Fofana
PRESIDENT
CC
Chairman, Human Rights Commission Sierra Leone.
Photo: SLAJ President Umaru Fofana.
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