By John Gandy-Williams Esq
RE: THE PROPOSED SAFE ABORTION BILL
I, the undersigned, write in relation to the subject matter above –
It could be recalled that during a conference this year in Ghana His Excellency, Brigadier (Retired) Dr. Julius Maada Bio touched on the incipient subject of a Safe Abortion Bill and it seems to me that His Excellency in that conference aforesaid evinced an attitude leaning towards the proposed Safe Abortion Bill coming into effect in this Jurisdiction.
With respects Sir, I must state that I am concerned with the process of how would the proposed Safe Abortion Bill come into being (an Act of Parliament), but I am wholeheartedly more concerned and worried about such a strange proposed Bill coming into effect in a Country that has entrenched religious, legal and traditional beliefs.
It is in this mood and mindset that I write you Sir being that you are the Principal Legal Adviser to the Government of Sierra Leone together with your Learned Brother the Solicitor-General of the Republic of Sierra Leone and him being the worthy Robert Baoma Kowa Esq.
What gave me the impetus to write this piece to you Sir is the Supreme Court decision in the case of THE SIERRA LEONE BAR ASSOCIATION V THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL AND MINISTER OF JUSTICE – 1ST DEFENDANT AND EKE AHMED HALLOWAY – 2ND DEFENDANT (2002) where quondam Chief Justice Honorable Dr. Abdulai Baiparteh Timbo CJ opined that in the performance of his constitutional functions the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice is not answerable to anyone, including the President and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Sierra Leone, but it is only ceremonially the said designated person aforesaid is answerable to the President and that is when he subscribes to the oath of office before the President at State House – though the President can relieve the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of his duties. So, Sir, you are at liberty to do as you feel right in relation to the proposed Safe Abortion Bill aforesaid in terms of the pieces of advice you may proffer to the President.
But before delving into my informed views as to why I want you to advice His Excellency against giving his assent to a Proposed Safe Abortion Bill – I want to put a pressing question to you for contemplation and it is possible that if the due process of the law is not followed to bring the proposed Safe Abortion Bill to fruition I will take this question to the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone for determination –
The gravamen of the question aforesaid is this:
Whether the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, when the Country is under his Excellency’s peace has the right to talk about a proposed Safe Abortion Bill coming into force and thus has legal effects and is thereby binding in Sierra Leone amidst the provisions in the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone , Act No. 6 of 1991 which provides for such a Bill aforesaid to become Law to get a two-thirds majority in Parliament and the Bill aforesaid put to the will of the People of Sierra Leone at a referendum – having in mind the shenanigan that was used to bring into force the “budding” Abolition of the Death Penalty Act, No. 6 of 2022 whereby the full anticipation and leaning of the Constitution of Sierra Leone, Act No. 6 of 1991 were not met in terms of the Death Penalty being an entrenched clause.
Ergo I deem it to proffer my reasons as to why the proposed Safe Abortion Bill should not be permitted to mushroom in our beloved country Sierra Leone.
Sir, though our tool as lawyers is the Law, I want to humbly ask that you permit me to wax religious in dealing with the proposed Safe Abortion Bill –
The Decalogue in the Holy Bible – the Ten Commandments espoused in Exodus 20 verse 13 informs thus:
“You shall not murder.”
The Holy Bible further in the Book of Genesis Chapter 1 verse 28 says:
“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it…”
So, to my mind the practice of abortion I daresay is technically murder and stifles world growth – however it is perfectly proper to reference that there are instances wherein abortion is permitted and these situations include where a pregnant woman’s life is at risk during childbirth, a case of incest, rape and euthanasia (we have not legalized this position as a country).
Section 58 of the Offences against the Person Act, 1861 reads:
“Every woman, being with child, who, with intent to procure her own miscarriage, shall unlawfully administer to herself any poison or other noxious thing, or shall unlawfully use any instrument or other means whatsoever with the like intent, and whosoever, with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman, whether she be or be not with child, shall unlawfully administer to her or cause to be taken by her any poison or other noxious thing, or shall unlawfully use any instrument or other means whatsoever with the like intent, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable to be kept in penal servitude for life.”
Humbly permit me Sir to reference Section 16(1) of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone, Act N0. 6 of 1991 which says:
“No person shall be deprived of his life intentionally except in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence under the laws of Sierra Leone, of which he has been convicted.” (The underlined portion is mine for emphasis).
Now Sir, the combined effect of Exodus 20 verse 13, Genesis Chapter 1 verse 28, Section 58 of the Offences against the Person Act, 1861 and Section 16(1) of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone, Act No. 6 of 1991 all give directions on the preservation of the right to life in the final analysis –
Truth to be told Sir, all the provisions (Biblical and Statutory) I have referenced inter alia in relation to the right to life are key dictates that must be observed without compromise –
So, is it safe to say that upon all the scruple that our Creator used and the scruple the drafters of the instruments referenced inter alia used to pay credence to the sanctity of life they never thought of instances of abortion or other ways through which an individual could take life?
I can simply answer the question in the affirmative – that indeed our Creator (His Omniscience) and the drafters of the instruments aforesaid thought of the likelihood of abortions and other means by which an individual can end his own life. So, I can heartily say that the proposed Safe Abortion Bill is strange to the hallmarks of our beloved Sierra Leone – the proposed Safe Abortion Bill will erode the traditions of our Nation and as such the Safe Abortion Bill is obnoxious, treacherous, spreads lice and undermines the Christian heritage of our great Nation and further begs belief. And Sierra Leoneans are one of the most civilized people that the world has ever seen (sorry for my being a jingoist) – so this proposed Safe Abortion Bill should have no place in this Jurisdiction.
Humbly permit me Sir to bring this piece under the aegis of our history – when the great philanthropists Granville Sharpe, William Wilberforce, John Clarkson and a host of others founded the colony of freed slaves (later Freetown) they founded the said Colony on the principles of the Christian faith. And any attempt to whittle down the religious standards of this Country should not be tolerated.
O Lord have mercy! (Roy C: I wasn’t there but I can feel the pain 1971) – Please permit me to bawl a while.
At this juncture the Learned Attorney-General and Minister of Justice I want to invoke your legal, moral and constitutional suzerainty by asking that you advise His Excellency of the Republic of Sierra Leone Brigadier (Retired) Julius Maada Bio against his brazen efforts in trying to woo this current Parliament seated, being the Fifth Parliament of the Second Republic to bring this Safe Abortion Bill to fruition. My greatest fear now is I do not know what will come next after the proposed Safe Abortion Bill – I guess a gay parade might not be too far off if we allow this proposed Safe Abortion Bill to come into force.
Sooth to say Sir I do not know the ways of politicians but it seems His Excellency Brigadier (Retired) Julius Maada Bio who is also:
– Princeps: chief and first citizen of the Republic
– Optimus: the best in the Republic
– Pater Patriae: father of the fatherland
Seems to thoroughly enjoy his contrivances in relation to the fabled proposed Safe Abortion Bill coming into recognizance and has soften his ways to suit the crazy world (the West) and thereby compromising his own religious and traditional (a tipster reliably informed me that His Excellency came from a chieftain lineage) backgrounds.
O Lord have mercy! (Supra).
Sir I am dispirited because of this fabled proposed Safe Abortion Bill and regrettably the aforesaid Bill has assumed major proportions in our beloved Nation so I will not seek to minimize the seriousness of this issue and my position on this matter aforesaid.
May I humbly ask that you permit me to look at the other side of the divide (the juridical basis of the proposed Safe Abortion Bill) –
Assuming but not conceding (as to my stance inter alia on the fabled proposed Safe Abortion Bill), this Safe Abortion Bill is laid before this current Parliament seated, being the Fifth Parliament of the Second Republic – I would say:
Since the act of abortion is akin to murder it therefore contravenes the right to life couched in Section 16 of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone, Act No. 6 of 1991 – therefore it stands to reason Sir that if this fabled Bill aforesaid is laid before this current Parliament seated it must meet all the constitutional requirements referenced in the 1991 Constitution aforesaid for same to become law.
The right to life is fundamental but I do not know whether suicide buffs know about this – and the right to life is an entrenched clause in our Grundnorm (the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone aforesaid). Section 108 (3) (b) of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone, Act No. 6 of 1991 has intimated me that any alteration of our Constitution aforesaid in relation to a Bill that borders on an entrenched clause in the said Constitution aforesaid shall not be at the President’s desk for his assent and such Bill will not become law unless after it has been passed by Parliament such Bill is later submitted to the people of Sierra Leone at a referendum.
The Learned Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Sir, I cannot more heartily agree with the purport, thrust and leaning of the provisions of Section 108(3((b) of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone , Act No. 6 of 1991 – I guess you may wonder why I am in such a jubilant mood – I am in such a jubilant mood because of the provisions of Section 5(2)(a) of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone aforesaid which is in tandem and not in conflict with Section 108(3)(a) of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone aforesaid – the former reads :
Section 5 –
(2) It is accordingly declared that –
(a) Sovereignty belongs to the people of Sierra Leone from whom Government through this Constitution derives all its powers, authority and legitimacy;
So, the combined effect of Sections 5(2) (a) and 108(3) (b) of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone, Act No. 6 of 1991 are saying that the will of the people through a referendum is needed when matters that fall under the entrenched elements of the 1991 Constitution aforesaid are in question it being that the will of the people of Sierra Leone is supreme.
And Sir for the pillars of justice to remain tall and towering before our faces the anticipation, vision, leaning, thrust, construction and inescapable interpretation of the Constitution aforesaid must be met – and if these expectations are not met, I am afraid the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone aforesaid (Grundnorm) would have been violated. And this is so because Section 171(15) of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone, Act No. 6 of 1991 tells me that:
“This Constitution shall be the supreme law of Sierra Leone and any other law found to be inconsistent with any provision of this Constitution shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void and of no effect.”
Based on the position of the quotation above if the fabled Safe Abortion Bill is to become law, then it must meet all the watershed requirements I referenced inter alia – if the requirements aforesaid are satisfied for less the proposed Safe Abortion Bill will be caught up in the web of Section 171(15) of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone, Act No. 6 of 1991 and hence of no legal effect and thereby becomes a bagatelle.
Based on all I have written in this piece with the religious and legal positions I have taken I am of the humble view that this fabled Safe Abortion Bill should not be allowed to be borne out in this Jurisdiction.
The proposed Safe Abortion Bill if it comes into being will further sweep aside this Nation’s traditional mainstays – our traditional beliefs are premised on the fact that children are gifts from the great Creator.
This fabled Safe Abortion Bill for which I wish the bell tolls it seems to me will be the bastard-child that will lead to other dangerous bills being proposed in this Jurisdiction if it becomes law.
As I round off this piece Sir, I want you to take the admonitions in this piece very seriously and accord to it the currency the proposed Safe Abortion Bill deserves before the said Bill which I am afraid is threatening the very foundations of this great Nation comes into fruition – I say no more on this proposed Safe Abortion Bill.
Yours Faithfully, JJJD-G Gandy-Williams Esq. (1098; 2653)
Cc:
1. The Inter-Religious Council, Sierra Leone
2. The Honorable Chief Justice
3. The Honorable Speaker of Parliament
4. The Learned Solicitor-General
5. Mendewo Chambers
6. Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone
7. Sierra Leone Institute for Justice
