President of Sierra Leone

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President of the Republic of Sierra Leone
Flag of the President of Sierra Leone.svg
Presidential standard
Julius Maada Bio USDA 2021.jpg
Incumbent
Julius Maada Wonie Bio
since 4 April 2018
Style His/Her Excellency
Residence State House (official workplace)
State Lodge (official residence)
Term length Five years
(renewable once)
Constituting instrument Constitution of Sierra Leone
Precursor Queen of Sierra Leone
Formation19 April 1971;52 years ago (1971-04-19)
First holder Christopher Okoro Cole (acting)
Deputy Vice President of Sierra Leone
Salary12,220 USD annually [1]
Website http://www.statehouse.gov.sl/

The president of the Republic of Sierra Leone is the head of state and the head of government of Sierra Leone, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces.

Contents

As the head of the executive branch of the Sierra Leone government, the president implements laws passed by parliament. The president has influence especially over members of the party of the president in the legislative branch of Parliament. The president constitutionally appoints judges of the Sierra Leone Judicial branch, including judges of the high court, the court of appeals and the Supreme Court. The president heads a Cabinet of ministers, which must be approved by the Parliament. The president is the most powerful, and the most influential person in the Government of Sierra Leone. The president of Sierra Leone is formally addressed as His Excellency.

Eligibility for Office of the President

Vacancy in the Office of the President

The Sierra Leone President's Office will become vacant if  

During times of war, a president's term may be extended beyond the pre-determined two five-year terms, but only in increments in half a year at any one time  

Resignations or retirements from the office of the presidency must be given in writing. Written resignations will be given to the Chief Justice. A copy of the resignation will be given to the Speaker and Chief Electoral Commissioner.  

Any factors resulting in vacancy of presidency will result in vice-president taking on duties of the presidency and finishing out the affected president's term. Prior to beginning duties of the presidency, the vice-president shall take the proper oath as outlined in the Constitution of Sierra Leone.  

The president of Sierra Leone is automatically: (Source: https://statehouse.gov.sl/)  

His address is known to be “His Excellency” and is a partnered appointee of Parliament.   [3]

Election

The election is through a cycle of 5 consecutive years/terms. The president is elected by an absolute majority vote and has two different rounds in which he is elected through, but has to be met with a certain step by step criteria:  

The president's election must take place during the state of his office, in which the former's would be expired following a three-month period. [4]  

As of 2021, there is a two-term limit for the president in the Constitution of Sierra Leone. The first president for whom the term limits applied was Kabbah in 2007. [5]

Benefits and Annual Pay

According to the Sierra Leone Constitution, the president receives entitlement and compensation salary within the office he upholds such as:  

Administrative Powers

Residence

The President of Sierra Leone official and principal workplace is at State House, located in Tower Hill in central Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.

The president of Sierra Leone has two official residences. The first is at State Lodge, located in the affluent neighborhood of Hill Station in the west end of Freetown; the second is at Kabassa Lodge, located in the affluent neighborhood of Juba Hill in the west end of Freetown. [8]

The current president Julius Maada Wonie Bio uses the State Lodge at Hill Station as his official residence. [9] The former president of Sierra Leone Ahmad Tejan Kabbah used State Lodge as his residence. Former Sierra Leone presidents Joseph Saidu Momoh and Siaka Stevens used the Kabassa Lodge at Juba Hill as their official residence.

Security and protection

The president of Sierra Leone is heavily guarded by the Presidential Guard, which is made up of a special unit of soldiers of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces and a special unit of police officers of the Operational Support Division of the Sierra Leone Police Force.

Presidential Constitutional History

Siaska Stevens was representing the All People's Congress (APC) party in 1967 when he won the general elections and became the Prime Minister. In 1971, the parliamentary system was abolished in favor of a presidential system. This adoption of a new constitution made Siaska Stevens the first executive President of Sierra Leone.  

Eventually, the APC would become the only recognized political party in the country. In 1978, a new constitution was adopted via referendum. This constitution replaced the multi-party system, instituting a single party state. Additionally, executive powers were increased and the presidential term limits increased from four to seven years.  

In October 1990, President Momoh appointed a thirty-five member National Constitutional Review Commission. This was in response to the growing opposition of a one-party state. The review commission recommends constitutional changes, providing alternatives to the one-party state.  

List of presidents

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sierra Leone</span> Country on the southwest coast of West Africa

Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It shares its southeastern border with Liberia and is bordered by Guinea to the north. With a land area of 71,740 km2 (27,699 sq mi), Sierra Leone has a tropical climate and with a variety of environments ranging from savannas to rainforests. According to the 2015 census, Sierra Leone has a population of 7,092,113, with Freetown serving as both the capital and largest city. The country is divided into five administrative regions, which are further subdivided into 16 districts.

Sierra Leone first became inhabited by indigenous African peoples at least 2,500 years ago. The Limba were the first tribe known to inhabit Sierra Leone. The dense tropical rainforest partially isolated the region from other West African cultures, and it became a refuge for peoples escaping violence and jihads. Sierra Leone was named by Portuguese explorer Pedro de Sintra, who mapped the region in 1462. The Freetown estuary provided a good natural harbour for ships to shelter and replenish drinking water, and gained more international attention as coastal and trans-Atlantic trade supplanted trans-Saharan trade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Government of Sierra Leone</span>

The government of Sierra Leone is the governing authority of the Republic of Sierra Leone, as established by the Sierra Leone Constitution. The Sierra Leone government is divided into three branches: the executive, legislative and the judiciary. The seat of government of Sierra Leone is in the capital Freetown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahmad Tejan Kabbah</span> 3rd President of Sierra Leone (1996–97, 1998–2007)

Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was a Sierra Leonean politician who served twice as the 3rd President of Sierra Leone, from 1996 to 1997 and again from 1998 to 2007. An economist and attorney by profession, Kabbah spent many years working for the United Nations Development Programme. He retired from the United Nations and returned to Sierra Leone in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siaka Stevens</span> Leader of Sierra Leone from 1967-85

Siaka Probyn Stevens was the leader of Sierra Leone from 1967 to 1985, serving as Prime Minister from 1967 to 1971 and as President from 1971 to 1985. Stevens' leadership was often characterized by patrimonial rule and self-indulgence, consolidating power by means of corruption and exploitation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Saidu Momoh</span> President of Sierra Leone from 1985-92

Major General Joseph Saidu Momoh, OOR, OBE was a Sierra Leonean politician and military officer who served as the second President of Sierra Leone from November 1985 to 29 April 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julius Maada Bio</span> President of Sierra Leone since 2018

Julius Maada Wonie Bio is a Sierra Leonean politician, and the current president of Sierra Leone since 4 April 2018. He is a retired brigadier in the Sierra Leone Army and was the military head of state of Sierra Leone from 16 January 1996 to 29 March 1996, in a military junta government known as the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC).

Solomon Anthony James Musa, also known as SAJ Musa, was an important military and political figure in the Sierra Leone Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Margai</span> Sierra Leonean politician and constitutional lawyer

Charles Francis Kondo Margai is a Sierra Leonean politician and constitutional lawyer who served as Attorney General and Minister of Justice of Sierra Leone in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernest Bai Koroma</span> President of Sierra Leone from 2007 to 2018

Ernest Bai Koroma is a Sierra Leonean politician who served as the fourth President of Sierra Leone from 17 September 2007 to 4 April 2018.

Patricia Kabbah was a Sierra Leonean lawyer who served as First Lady of Sierra Leone from 1996 to 1998. She was the first wife of Sierra Leone's third president, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. She is widely regarded as one of the most influential first ladies in the history of Sierra Leone.

The Sierra Leone Anti-corruption Commission (ACC-SL) commonly known as ACC is an independent agency of the Sierra Leone Sierra Leone Government, that investigates and prosecutes corruption cases in Sierra Leone. The ACC is supervised by the Sierra Leone Ministry of Justice. The current Head of the ACC is Francis Ben Kaifala, who has been in office since June 2018.

Sierra Leone Ministry of Defence and National Security is a Sierra Leonean government department in charge of implementing and supervising the Sierra Leone Armed Forces and the territorial security of Sierra Leone's international border and defending the national interests of Sierra Leone.

Peter Alfred Penfold was a British diplomat who was the second youngest governor of the British Virgin Islands and was High Commissioner to the Republic of Sierra Leone. His career began in 1963, when he joined the Foreign Service as a clerical officer. Two years into his career, he was posted to the British embassy in Bonn, West Germany, and two years after that to Nigeria. From 1970 to 1972, Penfold served as a "floater" in Latin America, filling in as necessary for staff at British missions in the region. He served in Mexico during the 1970 football world cup, and on St Vincent, where he was responsible for organising an evacuation after a volcanic eruption. After Latin America, Penfold briefly served in Canberra, before returning to London to take a post in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). He earned early promotion to second secretary in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he was responsible for reporting on the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the Eritrean War of Independence and was still in the country during the revolution, in which the pro-Western emperor was overthrown. After completing his tour in Ethiopia, Penfold served as information officer in Port of Spain and then as first secretary in the West Africa Department of the FCO.

Maigore Kallon was a Sierra Leonean politician and diplomat. A founding member of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), he later served as the chairman of the party. Kallon served as the third Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Sierra Leone from 1965 to 1967. He briefly regained the position of Foreign Minister in 1996 during the first cabinet of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, a member of the SLPP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Bockarie Foh</span> Sierra Leonean politician

Victor Bockarie Foh, CRSL is a Sierra Leonean politician who served as Vice President of Sierra Leone from 19 March 2015 to 4 April 2018. Foh replaced Samuel Sam-Sumana as vice president, after Sam-Sumana was sacked by President Ernest Bai Koroma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constitution of Sierra Leone</span>

The Constitution of Sierra Leone is the supreme law governing Sierra Leone and delineates its frame of government. It entered into force on October 1, 1991, following a popular referendum and approval by President Joseph Momoh. It superseded the 1978 Constitution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Lady of Sierra Leone</span>

The title First Lady of Sierra Leone is held by the female spouse of the president of Sierra Leone. The first lady is a representative of the people of Sierra Leone at home and abroad. The Office of the First Lady is an extension of State House and is responsible for social events and ceremonies at State Lodge. The First Lady’s Office is not established by an act of parliament and cannot receive government funding.

Kabassa Lodge is the former residence of the President of Sierra Leone and currently belongs to the state of Sierra Leone. It is located on 25 acres at the summit of Juba Hill in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

References

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  5. Cook, Candace; Siegle, Joseph. "Circumvention of Term Limits Weakens Governance in Africa". Africa Center for Strategic Studies.
  6. "Constitution of the Republic of Sierra Leone 1991 - Chapter V - The Executive". www.commonlii.org. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  7. "Sierra Leone", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 2 December 2022, retrieved 13 December 2022
  8. "Sierra Leone News - Global Times Online – Government Acquires Kabasa Lodge". Archived from the original on 22 September 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  9. "Sierra Leone President Koroma Says his Vice is a Patriot | IndepthAfrica". indepthafrica.com. Archived from the original on 17 November 2012.