Sierra Leone Telegraph: 28 February 2026:
Two distinguished jurists were sworn in today as Judges of the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone. Justice Komba Kamanda and Justice Fatmatta Bintu Alhadi (Photo above) each subscribed to a solemn declaration to “without fear or favour, affection or ill-will, serve as a Judge of the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone honestly, faithfully, impartially and conscientiously.”
The oath was administered by RSCSL President Justice Richard Brunt Lussick.
Justices Kamanda and Alhadi (Photo) replace Justices Desmond Babatunde Edwards and Eldred Taylor-Camara on the RSCSL’s Roster of Judges. Ten of the Judges are appointed by the United Nations, and six by the Government of Sierra Leone.
The RSCSL Statute provides for a roster of 16 Judges, ten of whom are appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and six by the Government of Sierra Leone. The Judges receive no compensation for being on the roster, but are paid on a pro rata basis if called upon to serve by the President of the Court.
Justices Kamanda and Alhadi were appointed by the Government of Sierra Leone. The declarations were witnessed by RSCSL Registrar Binta Mansaray, representing the United Nations, and Ambassador Asmaa Angela James, Deputy Head of Mission of the Sierra Leone Embassy on behalf of the Government of Sierra Leone.
Justice Komba Kamanda is the current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone, a position he has held since December 2024. In 2020 he was appointed a Judge of the Court of Appeal, and subsequently empanelled to sit on the Supreme Court. From 2016 to 2020 he was a Judge of the High Court of Sierra Leone.
From 2005 to 2015 he served as a Magistrate, and dealt with both civil and criminal cases in judicial districts throughout Sierra Leone. Since 2015 he has also served as a facilitator at the Judicial Training Institute, training Magistrates and newly-appointed judges in various areas of the law.
During this period, he was appointed as a member of the Bail and Sentencing Committee, to draft and promulgate regulations and law regarding bail and sentencing in Sierra Leone.
He has served for more than 20 years as a distinguished jurist in civil and criminal cases in Sierra Leone and is one of the few judges who has sat in all layers of court in Sierra Leone and in all the divisions of the High Court.
In 2025, Justice Kamanda was appointed Chairman of the ECOWAS Judicial Council, which regulates the functioning of the ECOWAS Court. Justice Kamanda attended Fourah Bay College in Freetown, where he earned his BA and LLB degrees.
In 2004 he received a BL degree from the Sierra Leone Law School, and later an LLM (Master of Laws) degree from the University of Salford in Manchester, UK. He was called to the Bar in 2004.
Justice Fatmatta Bintu Alhadi (Photo) has been a Justice of the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone since May 2025. From 2020 to 2025 she served as a Justice of the Court of Appeal and, prior to that, she served as a Judge of the High Court from 2015 to 2020.
From 2018 to the present she has also lectured at the Sierra Leone Law School on various subjects. From 2009 to 2013 and 2014 to 2015 she worked as counsel for Guaranty Bank Limited and, in 2014, served as Head of Legal Affairs for the Financial Intelligence Unit (now the Financial Intelligence Agency) of Sierra Leone.
From 2007 to 2009 she worked as a prosecutor in the Law Officers Department of the Ministry of Justice. From 2004 to 2006 she worked as a barrister in private practice. This included an appointment by the Special Court for Sierra Leone as an independent prosecutor of criminal contempt offences, and later as an investigator.
Justice Alhadi was educated in Sierra Leone and the United Kingdom. She earned a BA degree from the University of Surrey, then studied law at Middlesex University, at the Bar Council of England and Wales, and at the Sierra Leone Law School.
She received her LLM (Master of Laws) degree in 2013 from the University of Liverpool. Justice Alhadi is an overseas Bencher of the Middle Temple in London, England.
In another development, Judges of the Residual Special Court ended their two-day Plenary on Friday by electing new officers to lead the Court.
Justice Isaack Lenaola, the immediate past Vice President, is now President. Justice Andrew Hatton was elected Vice President, and Justice Tonia Barnett was elected as Staff Appeals Judge.
Officers are elected to two-year renewable terms. Justice Lenaola has been a Judge of the RSCSL since 2013. He joined Kenya’s Judicial Service in 2003, and since 2016 has served as a Judge of the Supreme Court.
Prior to 2016 he was Presiding Judge of the Constitutional and Human Rights Division at the High Court in Milimani, Nairobi. He also served from 2011 to 2018 as a Judge and Deputy Principal Judge of the East African Court of Justice.
Justice Hatton was appointed a Judge of the RSCSL in 2013. From 1987 to 2012 he practiced law in the UK, including part-time judicial roles since 2004. From 2011 to 2012 he served as an International Criminal Judge in the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX). He was appointed in 2012 as a Circuit Judge in the UK.
Justice Barnett has been a Judge of the RSCSL since 2021. She has served in the Sierra Leone judiciary since 2017. From 2005 to 2017 she served as Magistrate, including from 2011 to 2017 as Senior Magistrate in the Sierra Leone judiciary. Since 2020 she has been a Judge of the Court of Appeal.
The Judges were briefed by the RSCSL Registrar, the Prosecutor and the Principal Defender. During the two-day Plenary they considered and deliberated on a number of important issues, including on proposed Rule amendments, the draft Stocktaking Report, and funding of the Court. The Judges also deliberated on the RSCSL’s 12th Annual Report, which covers the year 2025
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