S Leone council sacks mayor
2008-01-18 07:25
Freetown - Councillors in Sierra Leone's capital on Thursday sacked their mayor, accusing him of "taking series of lone decisions on critical matters affecting the administration of the council".
Mayor Winstanley Johnson, who had six months more to go before the council folds up for the July local government elections, was not at the session as he had applied for a month's medical leave to the ministry of internal affairs to go abroad.
Councillors said they took the decision "to impeach the mayor as he would never inform us when he goes out of the country, which is a violation of council's administration code".
The council, which was the largest in the country, overseeing close to a million and a half population, elected businessman Herbert Williams as mayor to be assisted by deputy Bobson Kamara, another business entrepreneur.
"We have got rid of Johnson as we want to put our business back on track," one councillor in the heavily dominated ruling All People's Congress (APC) council, which had only three opposition members, added.