The Constitution of Sierra Leone is not subjected to Charles Margai’s Skewed and narrow minded interpretation

Charles Margai

Stressed out, ignored, sidestepped, bitter, angry and now about to be relegated to the dustbin of history: It’s been a rough and tough political landscape for Charles Margai, leader of the PMDC party, who just couldn’t dissipate quietly into thin air – Ferme ta Bouche, Monsieur Margai!

Charles Margai may well go down in the country’s modern history, but it won’t be for the right reasons, as many would hope, nor for founding the third force -PMDC- that will add pressure on the political landscape of Sierra Leone. If Charles Margai does go down as he is on a downward slope now, it will be for playing the role of a political butterfly.

Margai is a man who I believe is antithetical to the idea of a peaceful Sierra Leone, as well as constructive opposition. He seems to advocate remaking society, the government, and really democracy, not based upon the ideals of integrity, equality for all, togetherness, and personal responsibility, but rather on some sort of futuristic utopia (or dystopia) where Margai reigns as the intellectual and political overlord of the ignorant and savage masses. 

On records and like a rat, he deserted the party of his lineage in the last election after the party’s hierarchy decided to nominate Solomon Berewa as the flag bearer for the 2007 election. In his own utopian world, he felt that the SLPP was his personal property and for him, it was his own way or the highway. We all know the consequences of the fallout from the SLPP and the rest is history.

Not surprisingly, he is seen lately, palling around Julius Maada Bio hoping to benefit politically at the expense of the people of Sierra Leone. It is not going to happen. You can stoop all you want and as low as low can be, it is innate in you. But Sierra Leoneans are not your political toys. For a man whose legal brilliance and tenacity I grew up admiring, now attempting to mortgage this country to a ‘par excellence’ rogue is mind blowing to say the least.

The PMDC, which had lots of potentials then, now seems paralyzed, but that should hardly come as a surprise since Margai, the spent political force, who has lost touch with society never wants to bow out honorably. This is the raison d’être for the lack luster performance of the PMDC. Margai, according to some of his key PMDC players who defected to the ALL People’s Congress, had tampered with the party’s constitution to suit what is aptly described as his“dictatorial tendencies”.

“Margai made certain inputs in the constitution that transfer all of the powers of the party’s National Chairman and NEC to his leadership position, and such an undertaking was petitioned to the PPRC by six senior members of the party,” a senior PMDC executive member, explained.

Now, maybe you think that he has changed his ways.  I am seriously tired of the continuing hypocrisy that spews forth from him in his attempts to appear legally and morally sound.  Recently, he oozed hypocrisy, hinting that parliament will impeach the president because in his own hallucinated state of mind, the president has not yet release the Moses Shears report. I find such spiteful politicking not only reproachful but laughable because of his skewed interpretation of the laws of the land, especially when it comes from a so called “legal luminary” now turned political flip-flopper.

If a supposedly legal erudite can’t interpret this simple section of the Sierra Leone’s constitution, I am at loss to know what is left of his legal mind, if there was ever any.

According to the Sierra Leone’s constitution, the publication of Report of a Commission of Inquiry reads.

149. (2) The President shall, subject to the provisions of subsection (4), cause to be published the report of a Commission of Inquiry together with the White Paper thereon within six months of the date of the submission of the report by the Commission.

149. (3) Where the report of a Commission of Inquiry is not to be published, the President shall issue a statement to that effect, giving reasons why the report is not to be published.

Charles Margai, what I understood section 149(3) to mean in simple English is that, “The president is not binded to publish the report within six months, especially if he has a reason for not doing so. However, he owes it to the public to explain his reasons if in the event he fails to publish any commission of inquiry report”.

Although I will readily admit that I don’t know much about what motivates a person to enter the world’s oldest profession, I wouldn’t imagine that Charles Margai engages in political prostitution because it sounds fun or offers promise of a stable career –he is already an attorney – , but rather stems from a desperate hope to do anything to escape his present misery.  Maybe I’m being a little overly optimistic here (and/or naïve depending on your perspective), but there is no good reason.

In the end, I couldn’t bring myself to turn the other way around and listen to him use the constitution of the land to misinform the people because of his personal agenda.  I believe that doing so would have been a tacit endorsement of his unbecoming actions and utterances. The temptation always looms to shrug his comments off, especially in these uncertain times, but we all have to keep reminding ourselves that our Sierra Leone should not be sold to the highest bidder and integrity is worth more than a ton of gold.

Cheers Sir!

© 2012, Christian Foday Sesay Jr. EIC. All rights reserved. Discuss this article on the Salone Forum Salone Forum

By Christian Foday Sesay Jr. EIC