Future of Sierra Leone Presidency

            Ernest Bai Koroma, Sierra Leone’s President will be keeping his Vice President, Samuel Sam Sumana, as his running mate for the upcoming election. This decision for Mr. Bai Koroma is very important for the country because of Samuel Sam Sumana’s series of corruption scandals, which have plagued his career since he first took power. 

Mr. Sam Sumana first showed up on the world radar after being accused of accepting bribes from organizations in order to back an illegal logging project. When the vice President underwent an investigation over the accusations Sierra Leone’s Anti-corruption commission took the lead.  The commission, however, did arrest two people with ties to the scandal but failed to supply any evidence linking the two to the Vice President. The President Mr. Bai Koroma, did release a statement saying "We do not have evidence that he knew about it, or that they were sent by him." 

Even if Mr. Bai Koroma wanted to fire his deputy the Sierra Leone constitution makes it very hard to do.  The only way the President would be able to do this would be all out impeachment, which for how unsteady Sierra Leone is, would be a very rough road to go down. However, according to the Economist, this upcoming election is not the one to be worried about, it is the one in 2017.  If Mr. Bai Koroma wins this election, which he surely will, Samuel Sam Sumana will have two terms under his belt, making him the likely candidate to run for the Presidency.

I chose this because the Sierra Leone democracy is a perfect example of the types of governments we have been studying in class.  Sierra Leone has been constantly plagued by corruption since the discovery of the diamond fields.  Mr. Sam Sumana is just another example of a high government official using the power for personal gain.  If Ernest Bai Koroma wins this next election, which he stands to do, Mr. Sam Sumana stands to gain more power and influence than the past election because of his backing from illegal organizations.  Government officials are going to have to closely watch this vice President.  Another large scale corruption accusation could traumatize the already sensitive Sierra Leone government. 

Article source:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab/2012/10/sierra-leone

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-04-17/business/sns-rt-sierraleone-corruptionl6e8fhbpo-20120417_1_graft-case-ernest-bai-koroma-sierra-leone