Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana sacked for seeking asylum in the US....Sierra Leone

Sierra Leonan vice-president, Samuel Sam-Sumana has been sacked, BBC reports.

According to reports from the president's office, Sam-Sumana was sacked for seeking political asylum in a foreign embassy.

      President Ernest Bai Koroma had dismissed him because he had "abandoned" his duties, although reports out of Freetown allude that Koroma's decision is seen as controversial.


Reports say on Saturday, Sam-Sumana said he had asked for asylum in the United States because his life was in danger, even as government troops surrounded Mr Sam-Sumana's home in Freetown that same day.

He, however came out of hiding on Monday, telling journalists at his home:

"I am safe. We are all safe."

While some people believe that the vice-president can be removed only through a parliamentary impeachment, Koroma said he had the "constitutional authority" to dismiss him.

Earlier on, the governing All People's Congress had earlier expelled Mr Sam-Sumana after accusing him of fuelling violence, and trying to form a breakaway party in his home district of Kono. He however denied the allegations.

The dispute between Mr Koroma and Mr Sam-Sumana has raised fears about the future stability of Sierra Leone, more so as it remains unclear whether the constitution gives the president the power to dismiss his deputy.

Last month, Sam-Sumana became the country's first senior government figure to subject himself to a voluntary quarantine after one of his bodyguards died of the Ebola virus.