Freetown: Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma has sacked Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana for seeking asylum in a foreign embassy, a statement from the president’s office said on Wednesday.
Koroma said in the statement that Sam-Sumana had abandoned his duties and office as vice-president by seeking refuge in a foreign embassy, adding that he would appoint a new deputy shortly.
“Alhaji Samuel Sam-Sumana is no longer a member of a political party in Sierra Leone and therefore does not have the continuous requirement to hold office as Vice-President of the Republic of Sierra Leone,” the statement said.
The vice-president’s lawyer Blyden Jenkins-Johnson, said they were meeting on Wednesday to decide on “challenging the sacking.”
Sam-Sumana had requested asylum at the United States embassy in Freetown after soldiers surrounded his residence on Saturday following his expulsion from the ruling party this month.
His sacking could stoke political tensions in one of the three West African countries hardest-hit by the worst outbreak on record of the Ebola virus that has killed over 3,600 people in Sierra Leone.
Following an investigation by Koroma’s All People’s Congress (APC) party, Sam-Sumana was accused of creating his own rival political movement and fomenting violence in his home region of Kono, in diamond-rich eastern Sierra Leone.
Sam-Sumana who was not immediately available for comment, has rejected calls to resign and denied the accusations against him, which also included charges of lying about his academic credentials and his Muslim faith.
His expulsion from the party has stirred confusion as Sierra Leone’s 1991 constitution only allows the dismissal of the vice president with the vote of two-thirds of parliament, but it does require the office holder to belong to a political party.
The APC announced on March 6 it had kicked out Sam-Sumana for fomenting violence in his home district of Kono, deceit, fraud and threatening key party officials.
He was accused of lying about being a Muslim, inventing a university degree from the US, attempting to start up a breakaway party and keeping “over 100 groups of thugs to unleash violence against party people in the Kono district”.
Witnesses described how heavily-armed men entered his hilltop home in Freetown while he was away on Saturday and disarmed his security guards, leaving with bundles of files.
He denied all charges and fled into hiding, claiming he feared for his life and applying to the US Embassy in Freetown for asylum, according to his aides.
The government has repeatedly dismissed claims that the vice president is in any danger, claiming his fears for his life were “ludicrous”.
The 52-year-old’s expulsion came a few days after he had put himself in quarantine due to the death of one of his bodyguards from Ebola.
The action against him has been presented as part of a wider crackdown on “anti-party activities” which saw expulsions, reprimands and fines for several other senior members.
But religious leaders have warned that the “strained relationship” between the Sam-Sumana and Koroma threatened the stability of a country still recovering from its ruinous 1991-2002 civil war.
“We are calling on the authorities of the nation to tread cautiously bearing in mind that the country cannot afford to go back to those dark days of our recent past and that stability and security of the state are of prime importance,” the Council of Churches in Sierra Leone said last week.
The sacking comes after a groundswell of anger directed at Sam-Sumana in recent days among activists in his home district.
Francis Bondo, the chairman of the Kono branch of the APC, called for Sam-Sumana’s “immediate resignation” on Tuesday in front of a large delegation of his local members who had travelled en masse to Freetown.
APC secretary-general Osman Yansaneh called on Sam-Sumana to hand over his party membership card and other documents.
“Nobody is above the constitution of the All People’s Congress and the party will discipline anyone who flouts (rules) in the party,” he said.
Opinion was more nuanced on the streets of Freetown as news of the Sam-Sumana’s sacking spread early on Wednesday.
“Yes, he deserves to go and the president acted right. Now the APC can get on with the task of nation building,” said textile trader Abu Sillah.
But taxi driver Alimamy Konteh said Sam-Sumana’s record of success “should have made the president show a bit of leniency and forgive him”.
