The Preliminary Objection was substantially to challenge the competence of the
Court to entertain the Application against the Respondent for want of
jurisdiction. Two legal grounds were raised in the objection as follows:
a.
That the 2nd Applicant is not a corporate body because it is not
registered in Sierra Leone and as such does not possess legal personality
to sue or be sued;
b.
That the court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain this application for
violation of the rights of the pregnant girls.
The Applicants having successfully applied for the 2" Applicant to be struck out
from the suit automatically renders the first ground of the Preliminary Objection
by the Respondent moot.
Since the second ground of the Respondent's preliminary objection is
intertwined with its submissions and arguments on the substantive matter, this
Court deems it proper and convenient to proceed to determine the substantive
matter together with the second leg of the Respondent's Preliminary Objection.
ISSUES FOR DETERMINATION:
1.
Whether the court has the jurisdiction to hear and determine this matter.
2.
Whether there is evidence ofa ban by the Respondent barring pregnant
adolescent school girls from attending school in Sierra Leone as a result
of Pregnancy.
3,
Whether from the facts as presented by the Applicant there exists
discrimination against pregnant school girls in Sierra Leone.
4.
Whether the Applicant is entitled to the reliefs sought.
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