The Co-founder of the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CDHR), Mr. Brima Jalloh has threatened to file a legal suit against the new Board of Advisors of the organization. Although there has been a long standing row between Mr. Jalloh and the new board, this recent threat was made following an action by the Board to dismiss Mr. Brima Jalloh.Mr. Brima Jalloh has told the Awareness Times newspaper that he did not ‘recognize’ the new board, as according to him,  he, as a co-founder was never part of the process leading to the appointments of members of the new board.

“As entrenched in the organisation’s statute, I was supposed to be a part and parcel of the entire process leading to the appointment of the board,” he explained, adding that he was not going to respect the board’s decision to dismiss him. He also raised concern over what he described as “the unlawful” dissolving of the former board. He stated that the “due process” was not followed in dissolving the old board.

He went further to describe his dismissal letter, which was allegedly not served him but rather pasted at the institution’s notice board, as “unfortunate” and “illegal”.According to the Chairman of the CDHR new board, the decision to dismiss Mr. Jalloh was reached after the board completed what he described as internal investigations that found Mr. Jalloh guilty of being a machine to tarnish the image of the institution. He added the decision was also reached because Mr. Jalloh had abandoned his duty post for several months without any explanation to the Board.

Earlier, the new board wrote a ‘letter of concern’ to Mr. Jalloh in which the board alleged that Mr. Jalloh was “responsible for the numerous publications in some of the nation’s newspapers…” The letter was addressed to Mr. Jalloh in the wake of series of internal struggles between the Director, Mr. Gibril Massie Bah and Mr. Brima Jalloh over alleged misappropriation of donor funds by the Director.Mr. Brima Jalloh accused the new Board Chairman and the Director of conniving to wreck the institution. He alleged that the Director singularly appointed Rev. Fornah to serve as the new board chairman at a time when the Director and the old board were being investigated by the anticorruption for misappropriation of funds.

The legal representatives of Mr. Jalloh had earlier wrote a letter to the new board chairman informing him that the board’s decision to dismiss their client would not hold, since, according to them, “the new board was improperly constituted and in a manner not consistent with the provisions of the Articles of Association”. The letter from B&J Partners, Barristers and Solicitors had advised the board “…to reverse the decision/action, complained of failing which we have instructions to institute legal proceedings for an injunction compelling you to comply with our client’s demand”.

Meanwhile, the new Board Chairman Rev. Usman J. Fornah has denied the allegations made against him and the new board, whilst describing the letter from the legal firm as “unfortunate”. Rev. Fornah furthered that the decision to dismiss Mr. Jalloh was made by the general membership of the board, adding that the Minister of Labour was also consulted. He further denied knowledge of the process leading to his appointment, stating that he applied and received an appointment letter.Efforts to contact the Director for his comments proved unsuccessful as he was out of the country.