Former Attorney General Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara, popularly known as JFK, has spoken out about the 2015 removal of former Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana. He made it clear he personally disagreed with the decision.
Speaking on AYV’s State of the Nation programme, JFK stressed that he was not the Attorney General at the time. He was still serving as Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission when President Ernest Bai Koroma removed Sam-Sumana. He also denied giving any legal or political advice to Koroma on the matter, saying he stayed away from the politics surrounding it.
When asked for his personal view as a lawyer, JFK was direct, noting that, “Personally, I don’t think I liked it, and I thought that the judges did not do justice to that decision.”
The comments stand out because JFK later became Attorney General and Minister of Justice under the same Koroma government. In 2017, while he held that post, the ECOWAS Court ruled that Sam-Sumana’s removal violated his rights and ordered Sierra Leone to pay him the salaries and benefits he was owed. The government, through JFK’s ministry, rejected the ruling. They insisted the ECOWAS Court had no power to decide the case after Sierra Leone’s own Supreme Court had already ruled on it.
JFK, who is now seeking the APC flagbearer ticket for the 2028 elections, said if he had been president, he would have handled the whole matter differently.
His words are likely to open fresh talk inside the APC about one of the most disputed events of the Koroma years, especially as the party gets ready for its next leadership race.
About The Author
