By Moses Kamara
On the 17th October, 2019 the Hon Chief Justice of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Hon. Justice Desmond Babatunde Edwards in a meeting held at his chambers, Law Court building, Siaka Steven Street in Freetown told a cross section of the Executive members of the Sierra Leone Bar Association that his action as stated in a Press Release he put out directing that all students listed as having reference exams for the period starting 2nd October, 2019 to sit reference exams; irrespective of whether they received any letter dated 25th September, 2019 telling them they had exhausted their exams chances pending a decision of Council on the subject, was meant to address several inconsistencies in the application of the section restricting students who had exhausted their chances not to take the exams and to further address several complaints on the conduct of the exams and compilation of grades.
The Hon. Chief Justice said one of the key responsibilities of the Council of Legal Education, of which he is the Chairperson and the School Administration, is to ensure that concerns raised by students are heard, investigated and treated with the utmost fairness they deserve. “The fate of students cannot be left in the hands of an individual or selected individuals who are enforcing laws regulating the conduct of exams in an inconsistent manner”- you cannot be rigid without being consistent.
There is therefore need for full scale investigation on some of these examination issues.
The Chief Justice was responding to concerns raised by members of the Sierra Leone Bar Association through its Executive on the ongoing rift at the Law School and the need for urgent investigation to be mounted as instant and find possible ways of resolving it.
