By Saio Marrah
The Supreme Court of Sierra Leone has struck out a case filed by Lawyer Sorie Sengbe Marrah requesting the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) to publish certified and verified district level results of the June 2023 multitier elections.
This was indicated in a letter from the Supreme Court’s registry addressed to the plaintiff, Marrah, dated Wednesday 8th November 2023.
The Court said Marrah did not comply with rule 90 (1) of the Supreme Court rules to the effect that “Public notice of No.1 of 1982 in that his statement of case filed on the 23rd October, 2023 was filed out of time”.
It adds that: “A certificate of non-compliance having been issued…2nd November, 2023, the originating notice of motion…filed on 11th October, 2023, by the plaintiff against the first defendant, the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone, the second defendant, the Chief Electoral Commissioner and Returning Officer and, the third defendant, Attorney General and Minister of Justice is hereby deemed to have been struck out.”
In his reaction to the decision Lawyer Marah said on X [formerly twitter] that “a combined reading of Section 36 of the interpretation Act 1971 and Order 3, Rule 4 of the High Court Rules 2007 in summary, is that if the last day of the time required to do an act falls on a day on which the office is closed, the act or thing shall be done in time on the next day on which the office is open.”
He argued further that: “My Statement of Case was required to be filed within 10 days from 11th October 23. The tenth day of that period was Saturday 21st. My Statement of Case was filed on 23rd Oct, the immediate next business day of the Supreme Court Registry.”
According to him, it is therefore “mischievously erroneous” to say and 17 days after the arguments were filed that he did not comply with the Rules.
A judicial source told Politico last Friday that the Supreme Court registry is only closed on Sundays so Lawyer Marah could have filed his case on the Saturday, 21st October 2023.
Marrah's Supreme Court case came after he had used the Right to Access Information Act to ask ECSL for information on certified verified district level results of the June 2023 multitier elections.
He noted, “…As you may be aware, certain concerns, legitimate or otherwise, have been raised by both the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party and the opposition All Peoples Congress party regarding the results announced by ECSL. These concerns, whether in the process or the outcome, have hung doubt over the credibility of the results announced by ECSL and to a large extent ECSL’s electoral integrity. “
He added: “As an institution one of whose cardinal values is transparency/openness, releasing all sixteen districts’ certified and verified results of the last general elections would to some extent address the mistrust and dispel misinformation regarding the electoral process and outcome as undertaken by ECSL.
The Electoral Commission replied saying that the Public Elections Acts 2022, being the most recent, should take precedence over the Right to Access Information Act 2013.
ECSL’s letter further indicated that the commission complied with provisions of the ECSL Act of 2022, which requires the district returning officers to compile and certify summaries of all polling station results in the respective districts.
Among others, ECSL’s letter further noted it also complied with provisions in the Right to Access Information Act by publishing certified copies of summary of all results on the commission’s website.
COPYRIGHT © 2023 Politico (13/11/23)
