By: Audrey Raymonda John
Court of Appeal Judge Justice Alhaji Mohamed Momoh Jah Steven has closed the commission of inquiry into allegations of incitement and misconduct of the suspended Paramount Chief of Dansogoaia Chiefdom.
It was just the second sitting of the tribunal during which the Paramount Chief under investigation expressed remorse and apologized to the President for his wrong doing.
The suspended Paramount Chief Alimamy Bockarie Alie Yellan Koroma the third of Dansogoia Chiefdom in Tonkolili district having heard the statement of case against him by state Lawyer Edward Sakho responded saying he had no doubt in all that had been submitted and therefore admitted to be guilty.
He said the situation occurred when his anger outran his reasoning that led him to say things he said in the said in audio and video recordings which the state had tendered as exhibit saying he never meant to say so.
He said he is sorry and therefore deeply regrets his utterances.
“In my 20 or so years of being a paramount chief, this is the first time I have fallen short and this has taught me a bitter lesson such that it has left an indelible pain in my mind that will make me never to repeat it” he said, adding that since the said incident, he had expressed his regret and apologies to several state officials including the minister of local government to plead on his behalf to the President.
PC Alie Yellan Koroma the third in a very humble tone and character before Justice Momoh Jah Steven said he had already made both verbal and written commitment to the Local Government and community affairs Minister. Since then he said he has never deviated from that commitment and did all he could before, during and after the June 24 elections to stand for, by and with the government because his role as a traditional ruler is to support the government.
He said he has never been partisan since his election into that office as a traditional ruler.
“Let me continue to plead with the president, vice president and the rest of government” the chief concluded.
He also presented to the court, a letter of apology written by the Council of Paramount Chiefs in Tonkolili district written on his behalf addressed to the vice-president.
He was accused by the state to have made a statement calling on members of a political party to which they alleged the Traditional Authority belonged to demonstrate, hence, a claim of clear show of unethical behavior and amounts to incitement.
Such traditional authority state Lawyer Edward Sakho said was created by the Constitution and the 2009 Chieftaincy act as a transmission belt for policies of the state.