The Sierra Leone Bar Association is poised to regain its lost glory with the election of a new President of the Bar on Friday 29th June 2012 at the Hill Valley Hotel. He is J. B. Jenkins Johnston Esq. who beat Floyd Davies for the position.

As he took up office on Saturday 30th June 2012, the newly elected President invited the media to the Bar Association offices at Lamina Sankoh Street. He spoke of how he had once been President of the Bar some 21 years ago and that though he never thought he would come back to run the Bar at this time, his colleague lawyers asked him to use his years of experience to rejuvenate the Bar once more. He lamented of how the Bar had not been run properly for many years now.

Bar Association President laments the state of the Bar he has inherited

He opined that the Bar Association is a country’s “first Civil Society” but because it has not been in the proper hands over the years, it lost its place. He however promised that with the wisdom and experience God has given him, he will place the Association back on the pedestal it deserves.

He spoke of intention to re-establish strong engagement with the Attorney General’s Office and the Judiciary for the betterment of all. He end up by calling on the press to work hand in hand with him as he said they were an integral part of any country.

Other elected members of the new Bar include Rhoda M. Suffian Kargbo (Mrs.) as Vice President, Lornard Taylor as Secretary-General, Martha Sesay as Asst. Secretary-General. Immediate Past Presidents Reginald Fynn Jnr. And Joseph F. Kamara Esq. will serve as Ex-Officio members.

Meanwhile, the just-concluded Bar Conference had deliberated on a theme of “Elections, Accountability and Law – The Legal Practititoner’s Role in the Machinery of a Democratic State”.