Hon. KKY’s Parliamentary Seat at Stake

By Aruna Turay

Sierra Leone’s Supreme Court will next week Wednesday, 1st September, 2021 deliver judgment on the Dual Citizenship case filed by David Fornah against National Grand Coalition’s Hon. Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella of Constituency 062, Samu chiefdom in Kambia districtand others.

It can be recalled that in 2018, the NGC presidential candidate, Hon. Yumkella, was formally nominated and elected by residents of Constituency 062 to represent them as Member of Parliament (MP).

At the election, Hon. KKY won the seat with 14,781 votes representing 67.67% of the votes. He defeated APC’s Abu Sankoh with 5151 (23.58%), SLPP’s Soriba Kamara with 1113 (5.10%), PDP’s Peter Kamara with 452 (2.07%) and C4C’s Sahid Yillah with 345 (1.58).

The Supreme Court on Wednesday may or may not declare that Hon. Yumkella was not qualified in 2018 to contest as MP and therefore they may or may not announce that he was not validly elected.

If this declaration is granted in the judgment against Hon. KKY, it means he is automatically out of Parliament with immediate effect.

The candidate, who had taken 2nd position in that constituency, is APC. If NGC Yumkella is disqualified and the APC replaces NGC on that seat then SLPP with 58 MPs become minority as APC will now have 59 MPs. Also, if a rerun of that election is called by the National Electoral Commission (NEC).

If the judgment goes in his favor, Hon. KKY will continue to enjoy his privileges as the constituency’s parliamentary representative.