It was two years ago that the Sierra Leone Bar Association (SLBA) held that infamous AGM at which a new Executive was elected in Kenema under a cloud. Controversial antics associated with the AGM included blockading of a main highway, physical brawls, strewing of ballot papers on the floor, unexpected changes in the agenda to bring the elections forward, ostensibly to get out of town before the onset of a bondo initiation ceremony and disputes over proxy votes.

The firestorm of information coming from Kenema on social media did not exactly shower our legal friends in glory. One aspirant was said to have remarked that even Ataya Base organisations run more credible elections.

The aftermath was a divided Bar Association. The birth of the rival Lawyers’ Society, consisting of disaffected lawyers was not without birth pains as its members were denied access to their EGM at Brookfields Hotel and made to disperse.

Bar associations are usually created to provide a unified voice within the legal profession and play other roles including: the regulation of the legal profession; the protection of the rule of law; and engaging in law reform. They defend the independence of the legal profession, ensuring that it is free from state interference and that individual lawyers are able to carry out their work free of harassment or threat. They also should provide support to individuals in accessing the law, particularly the poor and marginalized. Their role to defend the rule of law may sometimes necessitate activities critical of the government in power.

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Another AGM with its associated election of a new Executive looms. The two main contenders for the Presidency have been all over the airwaves. The incumbent, Tuma Gento Kamara touts what she considers her successes over the past two years and calls for the support of the membership to continue what she has started. The challenger, Martina Egbenda who is Registrar General adopts the catchy slogan- “One bar, one voice, one profession” and advocates unity, inclusion, institutional reform and the embracing of diversity of opinion. In an interesting twist, Tuma Gento Kamara has criticized Martina Egbenda for vying for the Presidency whilst holding a government appointed position and says this creates an ethical conflict. She claims criticisms of her vying for the Presidency when she was Board Chairperson of the NRA were unfair as hers was a non-executive position. Is this a case of the pot calling the kettle black? – Be the judge! Several young lawyers have made the rounds on various media programmes as they vie for various positions in the Executive. What is different now is that whereas the last elections were viewed by many to be along partisan political lines, this time round two tough women with deep family roots in “Greenland” are slugging it out.

New controversies have already arisen over the issue of payment of registration and membership fees, complaints about an inaccessible Treasurer to validate fee payments and concerns expressed by the National Investment Board over several irregularities associated with the proposed AGM including its indefinite postponement which it considers illegal. Perhaps the sternest warning to the Executive has come in a directive from the Attorney General and Minister of Justice ordering the immediate withdrawal of its indefinite postponement of the AGM and the announcement of a specific date for the AGM, stating that their mandate had expired and that they are in essence a caretaker body, restricted to carrying out only routine functions.

Meanwhile members of the rival Lawyers’ Society, whose members have performed impressively in vociferously espousing the society’s position on many a national issue in the media, in probably keeping with the adage-“waitin na me yone pan hog money?”, are uncharacteristically quiet about their participation and/or preferences for any candidates.

Judging by the current shenanigans surrounding the AGM, there may probably be concerns in the minds of some naysayers that absurd happenings like blocking of boats mid-sea, kidnappings, poro initiation ceremonies in Lungi or some unsavoury electoral practices may mar the elections to the same extent as previously. Any unfair practices that may not give credence to the Bar Association elections may result in further fractionation of an organization that can already best be described as a “Half-Bar Association”. May this not be their “portion” and may the Bar Association be the winner as there is little doubt that whatever the outcome of this soap opera including two uncompromising women and a rival organization watching from the sidelines, the country needs a unified Bar Association.

Even if one may have no dog in this fight, there is reason for concern. We are currently faced with serious national issues bordering on the law and constitutionality that threaten to dismantle our democracy.

A united Bar Association should find its voice and work alongside government and civil society partners to both strengthen government institutions—with a focus on the justice system—and reinforce people’s capacity to demand justice and accountability-two basic components of sustainable peace. Also, for the rest of us, political considerations apart, the regulation of the legal profession, the protection of the rule of law and engaging in law reform are absolutely essential elements we would like our liars (whoops, lawyers! -sorry for the Freudian slip) to be engaged in, if we are to develop as a nation.

I commend the Attorney General for his recent letter to the Bar Association Executive in which he cautioned that failure to comply with his directive would undermine the Association’s credibility in advocating for the rule of law. “The Sierra Leone Bar cannot credibly advocate for the rule of law in the courts and in national discourse while simultaneously undermining it within its own institution,” he warned. In a no-nonsense stance he reminded them that several legal and constitutional options remain available to enforce compliance if necessary.

I don’t know how this will end but I will quote from the little Chemistry and Physics I learnt at CKC to make my point.
Dalton’s Law, or the Law of Partial Pressures, states that the total pressure exerted by a mixture of gases is equal to the sum of the partial pressures of the gases in the mixture. So obviously, getting together as a group (collective gases of lawyer groups) and exerting collective pressure will help their cause. Martina’s late father who was a renowned Chemistry expert knew this well. Again, Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Therefore, if one object (the Bar Association) exerts a force on a second object (the Lawyers’ Society), the second exerts an equal and oppositely directed force on the first one.

But then these are lawyers. They do not understand Chemistry and Physics and are instead steeped in litigation laced with a little bit of rigging and bending of the rules here and there!

Lawyers of Sierra Leone unite and save your profession from ridicule.

Ponder my thoughts.