In the case of the former, Dr. Sheriff said he did not receive an official letter from the Local government and Internal affairs ministry restraining him from being paramount chief, but that he only heard his name on radio announcing that government had deemed it fit to annul the results of the elections in which he was declared winner and paramount chief in 2006. “As far as I am concerned, and legally speaking, I am still the undisputed paramount chief of Biriwa chiefdom” he said.
After the controversial 2006 paramount chieftaincy elections in the Biriwa chiefdom, some of the contestants alleged that they had been cheated by the SLPP government of Tejan Kabbah by imposing Dr. Sheriff on them as paramount chief and that he did not belong to the ruling house. Dr. Sheriff is Madingo and those accusing him of being an outsider come from the Limba clan. The government so far has not slated the time for re-run of the elections. Dr. Sheriff, a medical practitioner and philanthropist, has been more resident in Freetown and has avoided making visits to the chiefdom.
With regard to chief Mohamed Kailondo Banya of Luawa chiefdom in Kailahun District, east of the country, his fracas with the law came about when contestant for the chieftaincy elections that were held on January 17, 2003 in which he was pronounced dully elected, Lamin Vonjo Ngobeh instituted a civil suit at the high court challenging the election results. After what appeared to be an endless trial, the trial judge, Justice A. Showers said on Wednesday January 13, 2009, among other things, that she was satisfied that the plaintiff’s lawyer has not only argued his case well but that going by the rule of law, the elections that produced paramount chief Mohamed Kailondo Banya as the dully elected contestant were “fatally irregular, defective and accordingly was and is invalid, null and void and of no lawful effect…”.
Mohamed Kailondo Banya is brother of former foreign affairs minister and special adviser to President Tejan Kabbah, Dr. Sama S. Banya. Mohamed Kailondo Banya has twenty one days within which he can launch an appeal against the ruling of Justice A Showers. Meanwhile, several residents of Kayima town in Sandor chiefdom, Kono District in the east of the country, rioted on Monday last and besieged their paramount Fasuluku’s residence, claiming that the SLPP government of Tejan Kabbah had imposed him on them and that they wanted a re-run of what they called ‘a sham elections in 2006’.
Police had to be called to restore peace.
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