Madam Tuma Adama Gento-Kamara, has completed visits to a number of law firms in Freetown to share with voters her planned programs and activities if elected as the President of the Sierra Leone Bar Association.
Madam Gento-Kamara said: “I am in this to raise the Bar by ensuring we raise the standards of the profession, empower our members and take care of their welfare which is a primary objective of any pressure group”.
She said she is into the race to represent the views, interests and aspirations of each and every member of the Bar regardless of political affiliation, class and/or gender, among others.
At the ABT Law Firm, headed by the opposition APC Member of Parliament, Osman Abdal Timbo, it was agreed that it is not about APC or SLPP but about seeking the welfare of every member of the Bar and protecting the rule of law and the Constitution of Sierra Leone.
It was also agreed that there is an urgent need to raise the standards at the Bar, open more opportunities for legal practitioners outside the courtroom and promote respect and camaraderie at the Bar.
Honourable Member of Parliament Osman Timbo and his colleagues were impressed that the Gento-Kamara Team chose to visit them and share with them their message of Standards, Empowerment and Welfare (SEW).
They shared stories of the beautiful days at the Bar when ethics, respect for seniors, camaraderie to name but a few were key values cherished and upheld at the Bar.
Days when elections were not a do or die issue! Days when men and women contested for positions and showed respect for their opponents and were devoted to serve their membership.
It was agreed that raising the Bar is therefore a key thing to achieve in this day and age. Securing our own ultramodern secretariat as the oldest Bar in Sub-Saharan Africa is something laudable and it is long overdue.
Introducing clerkship programs to create more spaces for young practitioners for their legal education is urgently needed and more importantly, we should take the welfare of our members seriously.
Raising the Bar also means holding government accountable and preferring workable solutions to advancing the rule of law and democracy.
The Sierra Leone Bar Association is a Pressure Group and we are therefore different from the political parties, as we neither contest elections nor try to capture political power.