Bojang Appeal: Counsel Mboge Raises Preliminary Objection; Matter Adjourned to July

The Court of Appeal has adjourned the case of The State v. Ousainou Bojang and Amie Bojang to 13 July 2026, following the filing of a preliminary objection by Counsel L.K. Mboge, representing the second respondent, Amie Bojang.

The matter came before a three-member panel comprising Justice N. Salla-Wadda (President of the Court of Appeal), Justice B.V.P. Mahoney, and Justice A. Saho-Ceesay on Monday, 15 June 2026, for the hearing of Mboge’s objection to the State’s appeal filed on 29 April 2026.

In compliance with directions issued during the previous sitting, Counsel Mboge filed and served a Notice of Preliminary Objection dated 9 June 2026 and formally moved the application before the court.

Mboge argued that the State’s appeal is fundamentally incompetent and, as such, deprives the Court of Appeal of the jurisdiction required to entertain both the appeal and the accompanying motion. He contended that a motion on notice cannot be heard where the underlying appeal itself is defective.

He further submitted that the State failed to attach a copy of the judgment it seeks to challenge and had not obtained leave from either the High Court or the Court of Appeal prior to filing the appeal. According to Mboge, obtaining such leave is a mandatory condition precedent to the commencement of the appeal process.

Counsel also indicated that the second respondent may raise additional grounds of objection during the substantive hearing of the motion.

Following the objection, State Counsel requested seven days to file written arguments and authorities in response. The court granted the request and further allowed Counsel Mboge an additional three days to file a reply on points of law.

The matter was subsequently adjourned to 13 July 2026 at 10:00 a.m. for further proceedings.

The appeal stems from the judgment delivered by Justice Jaiteh of the High Court on 30 March 2026, which acquitted and discharged both Ousainou Bojang and Amie Bojang.

The State filed its original Notice of Appeal on 31 March 2026 and later submitted an Amended Notice of Appeal containing seventeen grounds on 29 April 2026. Alongside the amended appeal, the State filed a motion seeking leave to regularize the filing.

At the previous hearing on 8 June 2026, Counsel Mboge informed the court that he had not filed an affidavit in opposition and sought to raise his objections orally, maintaining that a motion could not stand where the appeal itself was incompetent.

However, Justice Salla-Wadda directed that any such objections be formally reduced into writing. The matter was then adjourned to 15 June 2026, when Counsel Mboge duly filed and argued his preliminary objection.

The case is scheduled to return before the same panel of the Court of Appeal on 13 July 2026.