FREETOWN, 7th October 2026 – Drama unfolded today around the Supreme Court hearing on the disputed Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2025, after two conflicting explanations emerged for the absence of Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Segepoh Solomon Thomas.
In court this morning, his counsel, Hon. Hindolo Gevao Esq., told the five-man panel of Justices led by Chief Justice Komba Kamanda that the Speaker could not attend because he was ill with diarrhoea.
Hours later, the Parliament of Sierra Leone issued a statement dismissing the illness report as “completely unfounded.”
According to Parliament’s Public Relations Department, the Speaker was not sick at all. He was out of the jurisdiction on official assignment in the Republic of Guinea, and departed Conakry for Freetown today at 12:00 mid-day after attending the State Opening of the 10th Legislature of the 5th Republic of Guinea.
Parliament said Speaker Thomas was given a full Guard-of-Honour mounted by the Guinean Republican Guard and a standing ovation at the precincts of the National Assembly of Guinea, where he was bid farewell by his counterpart, Hon. Dr. Dansa Kourouma, after leading a high-powered Sierra Leonean delegation.
The statement added that, in any event, the Speaker need not attend the hearing as the State is properly represented.
The contradiction has left many Sierra Leoneans confused, with questions being raised about which account is accurate – the one given to the Justices of the Supreme Court, or the one released to the public by Parliament.
Speaker Thomas is a defendant in the matter and presided over the sitting on 10th August 2026 when the Bill was controversially declared passed, after APC MPs walked out. The Supreme Court is now being asked to determine whether Parliament met the two-thirds requirement of 100 MPs under Section 108(2)(b) of the 1991 Constitution.
The Bill seeks to change the presidential winning threshold from 55% to 50% plus one, return to Proportional Representation, and mandate 30% of party executive positions for women.
The historic hearing is being broadcast live on radio and TV for the first time following approval by the Chief Justice.
