By Thomas Dixon
FREETOWN, Feb. 21 (232news.com) – Just few weeks ago, the government of President Julius Maada Bio accepted most of the progressive reforms that were recommended by the late Justice Cowan Constitutional Review Committee which were rejected by the immediate past government of President Ernest Bai Koroma.
In the white paper, the SLPP Govt accepted some progressive recommendations for which many people have applauded them but there are few controversial ones that people are frowning at or asking questions about.
One such recommendation that the Committee said should be removed is the term “Supreme Executive Authority” which is enshrined in section 40(1) of the 1991 Constitution but the recent published white paper by the government of President Bio rejected it.
The term “Supreme Executive Authority” became very popular in 2015 when former President Koroma decided to relieve the elected Vice President, Samuel Sam Sumana, citing section 40 (1) of the 1991. The matter was extensively discussed in the Supreme Court.
Despite argument put up by legal luminaries that the term “Supreme Executive Authority” was merely a style of describing President and should have no efficacy in law, the Supreme Court Judges thought otherwise.
“…and I hold that the supreme executive authority of the President includes a power to relieve the Vice President of his office…,” Chief Justice V.V Thomas asserted.
With interpretation like the above, maintaining the term “Supreme Executive Authority in Section 40 (1)” will transform a democratically elected President to a dictator.
“The Supreme Executive Power of the President mentioned in Section 40(1) of the Constitution empowers the President to relieve the Vice President of his office and duties in a situation where the Vice President has ceased to be a member of a political party,” Justice Nicolas Brown Marke stated.
The term “Supreme Executive Authority” in the constitution makes the President a superhuman and one that has unlimited power that cannot be checked by anybody or institution.
This is the reason many people in Sierra Leone will tell you the only thing the President of Sierra Leone cannot do is to transform a man to a woman and that the constitution makes Sierra Leone’s President one of the most powerful men on earth just because of the term “Supreme Executive Authority.”
Also, with the term “Supreme Executive Authority,” there will be no difference between Sierra Leone and North Korea and there will come a time when someone will even use “Supreme Executive Authority” to stop the mandate of the people in an election.
Therefore, no matter the good recommendations in the white paper, if the loose term “Supreme Executive Authority” is still maintained in the reviewed constitution it will be a work in futility because the President will still use it to do things that are controversial.
It is my view that if we want a democratic government, we must ensure that all controversial terms that have the tendency of making our leaders dictators are removed from legislations because there will come a time when an extremely ambitious person will become President and he will ensure that he uses some of those loose powers or authority to empower himself against the people.
