Sierra Leone’s vice president expelled from ruling party

The National Advisory Council of the ruling All People’s Congress party in Sierra Leone has in a closed door meeting held Friday expelled the country’s Vice President Alhaji Samuel Sam Sumana from the party.

According to Usman Yansanneh, the party’s secretary general who broke the news to journalists at a press conference Friday, the decision was taken by the Council of the party based on recommendations from a special committee that was set up to investigate certain allegations against the vice president.

He told the media that according to the Council, the vice president holds a graduate degree from a U.S. college which was proved to be incorrect.

Yansanneh also accused Sumana of “being responsible for the wave of unrest in his hometown Kono,” some 400 kilometers from the capital Freetown and was about to form his own party.

Sumana who is on a self imposed quarantine was unable to attend the meeting to defend himself, the secretary general reacted to a question posed to him.

The development caught political analysts by surprise, and some believe the expulsion should not affect his position as vice president according to the constitution.