13/08/2026
In the ongoing Constitutional Amendment Bill Controversy, the APC Political Party Wrote This Through National Secretary General Esq Lansana Dumbuya.
11TH AUGUST 2026
PRESS RELEASE
APC DISTANCES ITSELF FROM THE PURPORTED PASSAGE OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT BILL
The All Peoples Congress (APC) strongly condemns and distances itself from the purported passage of the Constitution of Sierra Leone (Amendment) Bill, 2025, on 10 August 2026.
The Speaker ruled that the Bill is passed by a simple majority while acknowledging that his ruling remained subject to the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the relevant constitutional provisions. In the considered view of the APC, this ruling is inconsistent with section 108(2)(b) of the Constitution, Standing Order 44(3), and the Speaker’s own earlier position on the voting threshold required for constitutional amendments.
If the Speaker considered the constitutional position uncertain and requiring interpretation by the Supreme Court, the prudent and constitutionally responsible course would have been to obtain that interpretation before ruling on the threshold and allowing the Bill to proceed. Parliament should not first alter the Constitution and leave the legality of the procedure to be determined afterwards.
Section 108(2)(b) provides that a Bill seeking to alter the Constitution shall not be passed unless it is supported, at both its Second and Third Readings, by the votes of not less than two-thirds of all Members of Parliament. With 149 Members, at least 100 affirmative votes were therefore required.
The Speaker had previously recognised the applicability of the two-thirds requirement. His subsequent reversal of that position and decision to permit the Bill to pass by a simple majority created a serious constitutional and procedural inconsistency. A mandatory constitutional safeguard cannot be displaced by a ruling from the Chair, particularly where the Speaker himself acknowledges that the ruling awaits judicial interpretation.
Section 91(1), which generally allows questions before Parliament to be decided by a majority of Members present and voting, begins with the qualification: “Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution.” Section 108 constitutes such an exception. It is the specific provision governing constitutional amendments and must therefore prevail over the general voting rule.
The APC further maintains that the two-thirds requirement applies to every substantive decision affecting the constitutional text. Committee Stage is not merely procedural; it is the stage at which Parliament inserts, deletes, substitutes and amends provisions that ultimately form part of the Constitution. Allowing such clauses to be adopted by a simple majority would permit constitutional changes that never independently secured the required level of support.
Section 171 declares the Constitution to be the supreme law of Sierra Leone. Neither ordinary parliamentary procedure nor a ruling of the Speaker can override or reduce an express constitutional voting threshold.
Faced with a ruling that departed from section 108 and the Speaker’s earlier position, APC Members of Parliament withdrew from the proceedings rather than lend legitimacy to the process. The APC neither authorised nor participated in the purported passage of the Bill by only 96 Members.
The APC calls upon the Government and Parliament to ensure strict compliance with the Constitution. No constitutional amendment should be treated as valid where the prescribed voting threshold remains unresolved and subject to interpretation by the Supreme Court.
No Government, political party, Speaker or Parliament stands above the Constitution.
Signed
Lansana Dumbuya, Esq.
National Secretary General
All Peoples Congress (APC)
.
