Regional court rules against Sierra Leone President

A West African regional court has ruled that Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma unlawfully dismissed his Vice-President after he was expelled from the ruling party. Samuel Sam-Sumana was expelled from the All People's Congress (APC) in March 2015 on suspicion of fomenting violence, deceit, fraud and threatening party officials. He went into hiding and applied for asylum in the US, later losing an appeal against his expulsion at Sierra Leone's Supreme Court in September 2015. However, Ecowas judge Chijioke Nwoke said due process had not been followed. The APC constitution includes a 30-day appeals period. The party expelled Sam-Sumana on 6 March, 2015 and he filed his appeal 20 days later. A report on the Sierra Leone Telegraph site notes that the court ordered the government of Sierra Leone to pay Sumana his full salary along with other allowances lost since his dismissal.