In Ghana, President Rawlings Beat Up His Own Deputy

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
Garden City, New York
April 11, 2015
E-mail: [email protected]

In Ghana, during the 1990s, when then-President Jerry John Rawlings could not get along with his deputy, the now-late Vice-President Ekwow Nkensen-Arkaah, who had very publicly refused to resign, and would also not be shut out of cabinet meetings, his boss decided to promptly solve the problem the way he knew best - he physically assaulted the man who legend has it was older than Chairman Rawlings' own mother. I don't know that this can aptly be described as "instant justice," for it was not justifiable by any civilized cultural and/or political measure. He would later publicly apologize, shortly after his press secretary, who also happened to be my uncle-in-law, the now-late Mr. Vincent Asiseh, had publicly denied the occurrence of any such uncouth behavior to a reporter from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC-World Service).

This does not appear to have been the case in Ebola Virus-wracked Sierra Leone, where President Ernest Bai Koroma reportedly dismissed Vice-President Samuel Sam-Sumana. The latter has been accused by some key operatives of the ruling All People's Congress (APC) of creating his own political movement, thus seeking to seriously undermine the power and legitimacy of President Koroma (See "Sierra Leone's Fired VP Seeks Court Order To Bar Replacement" Reuters/MyJoyOnline.com 4/10/15). Mr. Sam-Sumana has not publicly denied the charges leveled against him, particularly that which accuses him of attempting to establish a breakaway political party. But like the late Mr. Arkaah, the fired Sierra Leonean Veep insists that his named replacement, Mr. Victor Bockarie Foh, cannot assume office because unlike Mr. Sam-Sumana, Mr. Foh was not constitutionally elected as President Koroma's running-mate.

In other words, about the only legitimate means by which Mr. Foh could be named as Mr. Sam-Sumana's replacement is via the polls. President Koroma claims that his power as Sierra Leone's Chief Executive of State empowers him to replace his former deputy by constitutional edict. Mr. Sam-Sumana has appealed to the highest court of the land, the Supreme Court. A three-member panel of the latter court reportedly conferred on Mr. Sam-Sumana's suit on Thursday, April 9 but could not immediately decide on the matter. Instead, the Court indefinitely adjourned its proceedings. It is not clear whether by its failure to rule on the Sam-Sumana suit, the Court is in tacit agreement with the plaintiff, or that it prefers to look the other way while President Koroma governed according to his proverbial whims and caprices.

Whatever the outcome of the eventual ruling of the Sierra Leonean Supreme Court, one thing is inescapably clear. Mr. Sam-Sumana well appears to have the letter of that country's Constitution on his side. What is also clear is the fact that there is a lot of bad blood between the country's most powerful politician and his deputy. And it may be quite apt to observe that these two giants of Sierra Leonean politics are no longer the upbeat partners they had been in the lead-up to their election as the legitimate pair of the country's foremost governors. Now, it is up to the Supreme Court to determine whether Vice-President Sam-Sumana was justifiably dismissed or the plaintiff has a right to prevent President Koroma from getting on with the people's business, by choosing a vice-presidential replacement he thinks would better serve him and the greater interests and causes of Sierra Leoneans.

Well, knowing what I have come to learn about the workings of African supreme courts, particularly from the recent constitutional cases of Kenya and Ghana, I have my own thoughts and doubts about the likely outcome of Koroma vs. Sam-Sumana. I am just not ready to let on my thoughts on this matter to the dear reader. Not just yet. But I bet my proverbial bottom-dollar that the dear reader may just be thinking the same thoughts as yours truly.

___________________________________________________________