The High Court of Sierra Leone has delivered a landmark judgment overturning an earlier verdict taken in the Sanda Magbolonton Paramount Chieftaincy stalemate that has lasted for nearly seven years.

The November 2024 landmark ruling has brought relief as it invalidates the 5th September, 2018 judgment made by Justice A. T. Ganda in the Chieftaincy matter brought before the Court on eligibility by one Dauda M. Sesay of the Kintor Ruling House in Kinta Village.

Dauda M. Sesay was favoured by the High Court as he singularly brought the matter by petition to the High Court in 2018 claiming to be the only eligible candidate to contest the chieftaincy election from the Kintor (Limba) Ruling House in the Sanda Magbolonton Chiefdom, Karene District.

However, four years after that infamous ruling, as described, that placed an injunction on the electoral process,  the ruling has successfully been challenged by Betts and Berewa Law Firm in the same high Court. Following years of legal battle, the previous ruling made against the Provincial Secretary, North; the Chief Electoral Commissioner, the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development and the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice restraining them from conducting the paramount chieftaincy election in that chiefdom  which was supposed to hold on the 6th November, 2020, has been effectively squashed.

The previous matter was brought by Pious Sesay Esq, counsel for Dauda M. Sesay through a petition in 2018. However, the petition  failed to make any mention of the other interested parties with the same rightful claim.

This omission formed the key point of challenge against the Justice Ganda judgment by Betts & Berewa legal team, insisting that the petitioner had failed to include the other candidates who equally contested from the various ruling houses, including those from Kinta Village.

This and other irregularities in the verdict were picked on as unfair for which Betts and Berewa filed in a Notice of Motion in May, 2022 seeking to overturn the ruling in favour of his clients.

There are traditionally two ruling houses in the chiefdom between  predominantly the Temne and Limba indigenes.; the Kamara and Kintor Ruling Houses respectively.

A 2013 record shows that Tribal Authorities at Kintar voted to adopt ‘Kintor’ Ruling House, not “Kintor (Limba)’ Ruling House to be gazetted. This automatically questioned the legality of the claim by Dauda M. Sesay that only Kintor (Limba) Ruling House had been in  existence since April 1961, and that he is the only eligible candidate to contest from Kinta Village.

This influenced the previous ruling in Dauda Sesay’s favour, thereby effectively excluding other equally eligible candidates to contest from the Limba recognised Ruling House.

That default ruling was made in 2018 but Dauda M. Sesay willfully held on to the judgement to be presented only in 2020 on the day of election, thereby throwing spanners into the process that was well underway with about nine other candidates in readiness.

Everybody was dumbfounded when Dauda M. Sesay brought out the 2018 High Court ruling restraining the Chief Electoral Commissioner and all concerned from conducting the election involving other candidates since he is the only claimant.

Because of this unwitting cancellation of the election by order of the High Court, the other candidates (as interested parties excluded in the verdict), hired the services of Lawyer Elvis Kargbo of Betts and Berewa.

The Legal Firm then filed a ‘Notice of Motion’ in the same High Court challenging the judgment earlier delivered by the learned judge as fraught with irregularities.

The affidavit to the Notice of Motion was sworn to on the 11th day of May, 2022, with all parties served.

Titled ‘Interested Parties Application for Joinder of Parties Pursuant to Order 18 of the High Court Rules of 2007,’ the Notice of Motion filed by Betts & Berewa in 2022 sought among others, to grant an interim stay of execution of the High Court order, dated 5th September 2018, and all subsequent proceedings pending the hearing and determination of the application.

The other prayer in the Motion was for the Court to grant ‘an order striking out the petition dated the 21st day of May 2018, and the High Court order dated 5th September 2018 for reasons of irregularities.’ The Motion sought firstly, that the 2018 High Court order contravenes Section 8(2) of the Chieftaincy Act 2009 and Section 14 (2) of the same Act. Secondly, that the said action instituted by the petitioner/respondent cannot be instituted in the High Court of Sierra Leone without letting the interested parties being part of the said petition.

The motion further challenged that the petitioner/respondent lacked the capacity to institute the petition in the High Court of Sierra Leone in addition to the fact that the High Court order contravened Order 61, Rule 5 of the High Court 2007.

It is therefore, a significant move that the November, 2024 landmark ruling has now completely overruled the 2018 orders in the Justice Ganda Judgment and now allows for a fresh electoral process to start for a substantive Paramount Chief in Sanda Magbolonton Chiefdom, with all candidates included.

News of the verdict sprang Sanda Magbolonton into jubilation as they are now hopeful of having a Paramount Chief in the near future.

This was expressed in an interview with one of the interested parties who identified himself as Retired Superintendent Sankoh.

He referred to the ruling as “the wish of the sons and daughters of Sanda Magbolonton.”

He said they welcomed the judgment and now pray that the government takes the ruling into consideration for speedy action given the time lapse without a Chief.

“We in the entire chiefdom are particularly grateful to Lawyer Elvis Kargbo and team for championing the cause on our behalf. We say ‘a big thank you’ to him. We now urge the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, and all other stakeholders concerned, to ensure the chiefdom is put on the gazette as soon as possible for the next elections timetable.”

He said the people deserve an election now, no matter who wins it.