Supreme Court Overrules Objection in Constitutional Amendment Cases
Tolulope Aina The Supreme Court of Sierra Leone has dismissed an objection filed against an application by the Speaker of Parliament and the Attorney-General to consolidate three cases concerning the Constitution of Sierra Leone (Amendment) Bill, 2025.
The ruling was delivered on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, by Chief Justice Komba Kamanda and a five-member panel of the Supreme Court.
The three cases, S.C. No. 8/2026, S.C. No. 9/2026 and S.C. No. 11/2026, are related to the Speaker’s ruling of August 10, 2026, and the subsequent passage of the Constitutional Amendment Bill by Parliament.
The objection was raised in S.C. No. 9/2026, which was brought by APC MPs Abdul Kargbo and Daniel Koroma and the All People’s Congress.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs, Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara and Africanus Sorie Sesay, argued that the defendants should first file separate statements of case in all three matters before the Court could consider the application to consolidate them.
The defendants, led by the Speaker and the Attorney-General, sought to have the three matters heard together.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court held that the defendants did not have to file separate statements of case before bringing the consolidation application.
The Court said requiring separate statements of case before deciding whether the cases should be joined could undermine the purpose of the consolidation application, particularly if the intention was to allow the defendants to file a single statement of case covering the related matters.
The Court therefore allowed the consolidation application to proceed.
However, the Supreme Court has not yet decided whether the three cases will actually be consolidated.
The ruling was limited to the preliminary objection and did not determine the substantive constitutional issues before the Court.
The Court has not yet ruled on whether Parliament complied with the constitutional requirements for passing the amendment Bill, the validity of the Speaker’s August 10 ruling, the two-thirds voting requirement, or whether President Julius Maada Bio can assent to the Bill.
The Court relied on previous decisions, including John Benjamin and Others v Christiana Thorpe and Others and Sylvia Blyden v the Chief Electoral Commissioner and Others, in reaching its decision.
The consolidation application is expected to be heard as the Court continues its consideration of the three constitutional cases.