Upholding the rules lay down by the constitution of any state, by state actors who participate in the day to day running of government, is one of the core principles of any democratic dispensation. The constitution which is an instrument enshrined with the rules and regulations that determine the smooth governing of a state is a significant tool that deserves to be thoroughly consulted by all in governance in any democratic dispensation.
The calculated attempts by those in power, on most occasions, to breach the dictates of our country’s constitution in order to orchestrate their heinous political operations could be regarded as a bad precedent by many political objectives. Such standards are not worth emulating because it derails the existence of the rule of law and consequently encroaches upon the basic fundamental human rights which are the bedrocks of modern democracy.
The Covenant Newspaper is of the opinion that the institution bestowed with the responsibility of interpreting the laws of the state: the Judiciary, must ensure that it abides by its principle of independence so that it will be free from any form of influence from Ministers of the ruling government and other state actors thereby ensuring that justice is not only be done but is to be seen done.
Issues surrounding the unconstitutional sacking of the then Vice president of the almighty APC must not have been lend credence and adherence to by the Judiciary who are vested with the sole responsibility to interpret the constitution of the land without fear or favour.
The Covenant newspaper is, therefore, purporting that the manipulation of the constitution by the legal minds of the Judiciary, by then, was to protect the interest of the then-president Ernest Bai Koroma that was geared towards the unconstitutional removal of his vice president from office on the grounds of anti-party activities.
To us in the Covenant newspaper, this was a clear showcase of an advertent violation of the country’s constitution for personal aggrandizement which is at the detriment of the masses as it destroys the country’s reputation in terms of the right index.
Similarly, the Covenant newspaper is also of the view that the removal of opposition members of parliament from representing their respective constituencies in the House of parliament, on allegations of disqualification to contest their respective parliamentary seats when similar allegations were equally filed into the Chief Justice by opposition party members against MPs belonging to the ruling SLPP, is also a crystal pointer of a situation in which the country’s laws are being tampered with a bid to secure clandestine machinations.
Notwithstanding this, the Covenant newspaper is also of the take that the ongoing saga involving the former Chief of Defense, in the Ernest Bia Koroma’s Government, Alimamy Palo Conteh with regards the snail pace manner at which the court is dragging its feet in determining justice, could be a possible ploy by the Judiciary to delay and consequently denied justice.
We in the Covenant newspaper are of the view that the violation of the country’s constitution by political actors seriously undermines the reputation of the state in the angle of its rights index development indicators as we are of the strong conviction that the unremitting defilement of the laws of our state by our political lords for their hidden political glorification is a pivotal character for our political, social and economic demise and regression. In light of these, therefore, the Covenant newspaper requests that as a nation we should strongly uphold the laws that govern us so that we will continue to live as civilized people in a developed society.
