Charles Margai asks for change of Judge

By Elkass I.L. Sannoh

The matter involving members of the Peoples Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) presently in the High Court No. 2 presided over by Justice Abdul Charm, has finally had its first ruling against the Acting Secretary General and the Returning Officer, Mr. Alfred Rogers, who is a defendant in the said matter.

The argument presented by the Plaintiff’s Counsel, Mohamed Pa Momoh Fofanah, was that the first Defendant, Mr. Eric Aiah Jabba, should cease acting as Secretary General while the position of the second Defendant, Mr. Alfred Rogers as Chief Electoral Commissioner to conduct all primary elections within the party lacks legal status.

Arguing against the submission, the Counsel for the Defendants, Mr. Charles Francis Margai, filed an injunction to debunk the submission, insisting that matter to be thrown out of Court based on the grounds that Kenei Formulo, the then Financial Secretary, Bai Sama Sankoh, the Northern Regional Chairman, the Acting National Chairman, Munirr Koroma and the National Secretary General, William Tucker, were suspended from the party before instituting legal action against them.

After listening to the arguments the Judge ruled in favour of the Plaintiffs in which he said that Mr. Eric Aiah Jabba must cease acting in the capacity of National Secretary General and that the party should not hold their national conference.

He also levied a fine of five million Leones (Le5, 000,000.00) on the Defendants and resolved that the matter should be heard in Court.

In another development, in their usual Thursday meeting, the Leadership of the PMDC registered their dissatisfaction over the ruling meted out by Justice Charm.

In his statement, the Leader of the party, Mr. Charles Francise Margai, said that he was not pleased with the ruling and maintained that he needed a change of Judge to continue the hearing.  In an interview with the now Acting Secretary General, Mr. Eric Aiah Jabba, he said that by virtue of his position as the Deputy Secretary General, in the event where there is no substantive Secretary General he should act in the said capacity on approval by the Standing Committee.

“I am the legitimate Acting Secretary General and I will continue to act in that capacity until the conference is held,” he concluded.