Sedi Elrington states a possible choice for next C.J.

And when News Five raised the issue of what next in the judiciary in the context of the possible retirement of Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh, Elrington had his pick. He singled Justice Manuel Sosa, the judge who was appointed the day before the 1998 general election and then removed with the change of administration.

Wilfred Elrington
“I would have liked really to have had Mr. Justice Sosa. I felt so badly that he was in fact removed at the time he was removed, both by the way he did it and he was… I can’t comprehend how you’d find fault with somebody who is as unimpeachable as he is. You know he would have been our first Mestizo judge, eminently qualified.”

Marion Ali
“People might want to contrast what you’re saying there with the same judge you’re talking about earlier who came straight from magistracy and went right up to the judiciary, who in your view is not qualified.”

Wilfred Elrington
“Cheese to chalk. Don’t come close to Mr. Justice Sosa and he was in private practice and did exceedingly well in private practice as well. He’s not a fellow who is always everywhere. You don’t find him hub-lubbing with everybody. He lives a cloistered life, very, very respectable person, very, very intellectual. A person like that on the bench makes everybody proud. I would like to see him there. I don’t have any control over that but I would like to see him.”

Marion Ali
“You have some say in who goes there though.”

Wilfred Elrington
“No, I don’t have some say. The Prime Minister has responsibility for certain areas and he makes it very clear that that is my responsibility. He may, if he chooses, mention it to me but I don’t have an influence.”