THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF SIERRA LEONE IS A BIG DISGRANCE! Chief Justice Umu Tejan Jalloh is bringing the entire judiciary and legal profession in Sierra Leone into disrepute. Nearly 4 months after calling over 20 people to the Bar, the Council for Legal Education is calling those people to return their certificates because according to the Council there was fraud. This shameful act by the Chief Justice is unprecedented in the common law world. Calling people to the Bar means they have sworn an oath which cannot be withdrawn. Its not about the certificates it is about oath. An oath/affirmation is the most sacred thing in the legal profession that dates back to many centuries. Witnesses always take an oath before they take the stand and there are serious consequences for lying under oath. Judges as well as lawyers always have to take an oath. It seems the Chief Justice who is the head of the Council for Legal Education does not even know the sacredness of an oath in the legal profession. The Law School in Sierra Leone is the most backward and corrupt in the common law world. Lecturers like Yada Williams would miss more than half of his classes but at the end of the day would fail more than half of his class. An d worst of it students never get to see their marks. The only way you can remove a practitioner from the roll is if he/she is not a fit and proper person. And to determine that takes more than a pronouncement from the Chief Justice. If there was fraud whose fault is that - the students or the corrupt lecturers. Among these affected practitioners, you have bright students that finished top of their class at World renown Universities like Harvard. If these students can pass the English Bar or the American State Bar exams, what is so special about the Sierra Leone Bar exams. How can the Chief Justice or the Council allege fraud when they dont even let students see their marks or papers. Where is the principle of natural justice which is the most cardinal principle of the common law world. There are unconfirmed reports that the people that are behind this shameful act of bringing the legal profession into disrepute got the Chief Justice to make this decision by blackmailing her on the grounds that she did not pass her Bar exams in London. The decision must be reversed as it has the potential to not only bring the entire judiciary and legal profession into disrepute but also to damage the image of the country to the outside world.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 07:36:08 +0000
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