By Abubakarr Bah
Sierra Leone’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Franklin Bai Kargbo, has defended the sudden acquittal of Robin Fallay, a former member of the opposition SLPP who defected to the ruling APC recently.
He told Politico in an interview that the charge against the embattled former member of parliament was dropped because “it had to deal with children mostly girls between the ages of 16 and 18 who live more than thirty five miles away from the Magistrate Court in Kenema.”
The government prosecutor argued that “after President Ernest Bai Koroma had expressed interest in the matter and the parents of the children had pleaded with him, he decided to use his Constitutional rights to drop the charge against Hon. Robin Falley.”
As to whether the intervention was politically motivated, lawyer Franklin Kargbo denied, saying “there was no such arrangement. The main reason was for the consideration of the children, adding that the matter was not dropped in the interest of Robin Falley.
But the Executive Director of Centre for Accountability and the Rule of Law, CARL observed that “the acquittal of Robin Fallay left many questions unanswered.” Ibrahim Tommy said although the state had the right to acquit Falley for the criminal offence he allegedly committed, the timeliness of his acquittal would generate lots of unanswered questions from the public.
“If it is in the interest of the children, why were they detained for 6 days in the first place?” he queried, adding that the police would have been brought to book for incarcerating the children against the law.
He said that while the Attorney General and Minister of Justice had the right to drop the charge, the question remained as to what the real motivation was behind the decision? “Is it politically motivated?” he asked, adding that the matter could be brought up again under another government.
When called up, Hon. Fallay expressed his delight about his acquittal saying “justice has finally been done”. Falley said that he was “innocent”. He insisted that he was merely sensitising his people in Segbwema on the voting process when he was “accused wrongly.”
He denied claims that he was blackmailed into joining the APC, saying “I defected to the APC because the SLPP refused to give me any symbol on the grounds that the party was worried about my indictment”.
Publicity Secretary of the opposition SLPP, Hon. Musa Tamba Sam, said even though the state had the right to drop the matter, he was concerned about the procedure of acquittal.
Sam said the manner in which the matter was dropped was “politically motivated and a clear indication that the Judiciary has been politicised.”
The former SLPP Member of Parliament, Robin Falley who defected to the APC was indicted on one count charge of felony for allegedly changing birth certificates of underaged children, mostly girls, in Segbwema to register for the forthcoming multi-tier elections. The children together with him were arrested and detained by the Police for 6 days. Falley was later released on bail and charged to court. But the charge was dropped following his defection from the opposition SLPP to the ruling APC.
(c) Politico 04/10/12
