The Supreme Court in Freetown is set to rule on the Proportional Representation (PR) case in the next sitting.

This development came on Monday 9th January when the case made its first appearance in a court presided over by the Chief Justice, Desmond Babatunde Edwards and four other senior judges.

The two plaintiffs in the matter, Honourable Abdul Kargbo of Constituency 77 and Councillor Hakiratu Maxwell-Caulker believe that President Bio acted beyond his powers when he instructed the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) to use the PR system for parliamentary elections in June this year.

Lawyer for both plaintiffs, Dr. Abdulai O. Conteh argued that the PR system must not be an alternative for the conduct of Public Elections in the country. He furthered that the matter is important to the rule of law.

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Dr. Conteh added that both the president and government have failed to provide reason(s) for the use of the PR system and that they are in court in order for the rule of law be “vindicated”.

However, counsel for the first respondent, Robert Kowa said that the matter for which they are in court for is not a law but rather an instrument that was tabled in parliament and that there are parliamentary procedures. He argued that the court should not inquire into parliamentary proceedings.

Lawyer representing the ECSL, Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai argued that the inclusion of his client presupposes that the plaintiffs have questioned the legality of the declaration of the ECSL to conduct elections using either the PR system or District Block System.

Lawyer Abdulai pinned his argument that since boundary delimitation was not done after the previous census, his client is left with no other option but to use the PR system for the forthcoming parliamentary election.

The Chief-Justice, after hearing submissions of all counsels, reserved the matter for ruling with a date to be communicated in due course.