Constitutional Amendment Bill Proposes New Grounds for Removing President and Vice President

Sierra Leone’s proposed 2025 Constitutional Amendment Bill introduces new provisions allowing Parliament to remove a sitting President and Vice-President based on their status within their political party, a move that has sparked debate among legal and governance experts.
Under the bill, Clause 9 amends Section 49(1) of the Constitution to permit Parliament, by a two-thirds majority vote, to remove the President if he resigns or is expelled from the political party under which he was elected. A similar mechanism is applied to the Vice-President in Clause 12, which amends Section 55(e).
The legislation also includes an emergency provision extending presidential term limits for up to 12 months in situations such as war that make elections impractical.
Proponents argue the changes aim to prevent abrupt leadership vacancies resulting from internal party expulsions while giving Parliament a clear role in cases of political rupture.