By: Ilyasa Baa
Native Consortium’s Edmund Abu has threatened that he will lead a protest match around the precincts of the court, precisely the Office of the Chief Justice if Justice Adrian Fisher does not give out his ruling by the end of June on the matter between Africell, Orange and their customers championed by the Consortium.
He said the cheating of customers buying these mobile companies’ product must stop in the country that is why they have been calling on the Judge to deliver the ruling which he had promised to deliver earlier on.
Before his departure to the United States in May to raise funds for the matter to be taken to the ECOWAS Court, Edmund Abu called on Sierra Leoneans to exercise restraint over the matter never mind the “unnecessary delay” he put it.
It could be recalled that the file was withdrawn for ruling on 16th August 2021 and according to Edmund Abu; Justice Fisher has breached Section 120 (Subsection 16) of the 1991 Constitution which states that the ruling shall be given no more than 90 days after withdrawal of a file.
The case started in November 2017, adding that three Judges including the current Chief Justice Babatunde Edwards transferred the file to Justice Binneh Kamara who took eight months with the matter. The file took a whole year with Justice Komba Kamanda before it was finally transferred to Justice Fisher.
The Consortium is sure to win the case on behalf of all
Sierra Leoneans who used mobile sim cards since 2017, noting that they are expecting punitive damage against the companies which will enable consumers to be compensated.
“We are confident that the companies will lose the case on the grounds of the negligence of duty, breach of contract and the statutory obligation NATCOM Act no. 9 (Section 40,41 and 42) of 2006 as amended”, he said.
He further mentioned that their lawyers have already started the ball rolling before the ECOWAS court noting that the sum of twenty thousand dollars has been paid by the Consortium to the lawyers to commence the legal battle and that the same two-pronged approach applied here would be applied before the ECOWAS court where they are sure justice will not be delayed.
Three hundred consumers together with the Native Consortium sued these mobile companies in 2017 after a series of engagements with NATCOM for the companies to decrease their tariffs. Meanwhile, four of the complainants have passed away without justice.
