By Amara Thoronka
Following the perpetration of violence in parliament on Monday 19th April, the Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Abass Abass Bundu, has said the leader of the main opposition All Peoples Congress party, Hon. Chernor Ramadan Maju Bah misled himself, his party and the House of Parliament.
He said the provision in the Standing Order cited by Hon. Chernor Bah, to have informed and consulted leaders of opposition parties, was not applicable because it was His Excellency who summoned parliament and not him. “It was the His Excellency the President who summoned the said setting of parliament as provided for by Section 86(1) of the Constitution of Sierra Leone Act No.6 of 1991. The said provision gives the President the power at any time to summon parliament. The Standing Order of parliament is subordinate to the Constitution,” he explained.
Hon. Bundu noted that after the President had informed him about the emergency summon of parliament, he authorized the Clerk of Parliament to convene the setting. He cited, “Unlike the Standing Order which requires 21-day notice; section 86(1) of the Constitution does not say so and if we are to go by that the phrase ‘at any time’ will not be given credence.” He added that even though the constitution does not say a notice should be given, he authorized the Clerk to give notice which according to him was done the previous week.
The Speaker continued that the essence of the presidential proclamation on the emergency siting of parliament was to table a bill for the conduct of the mid-term census by Statistics Sierra Leone. “Section 2 of the Census Act of 2002 gives the President the power to direct the conduct of a census of the population of Sierra Leone, and once such proclamation is made, it should be laid in parliament,” he cited. He reiterated that the President has the power to summon parliament at any time to legislate or debate matters of national importance that demand the attention of the law-making body.
Hon. Abass Bundu confirmed that the said proclamation has been laid before parliament; averring that the opposition was trying to prevent that from happening; adding that the instrument will only become law after twenty-one days.
In his submission, the leader of the main opposition, Hon. Chernor Ramadan Maju Bah cited Standing Order N0. 4 of parliament, which according to him, says in an emergency summon, the leaders of ruling and opposition should be consulted. “Even though the Standard Order says we should be consulted I was never consulted at all.”