Section 8, The Arbitration Act, 2022

(1) The seat of an arbitration shall be designated - (a) by the parties to the arbitration agreement; (b) by an arbitral or other institution or person authorised by the parties with powers in that regard; or (c) subject to subsection (2), by an arbitral (2) Where the parties have not designated the seat of an arbitration and they have not authorised an arbitral or other institution to designate the seat of the arbitration, then the seat of the arbitration shall be Sierra Leone as the arbitral tribunal may determine, unless the arbitral tribunal decides that a place in another country should be the seat of the arbitration having regard to all the relevant circumstances, including - (a) the country which the parties and the transaction have the closest connection; (b) the law that the parties have selected to govern their substantive rights under the contract, and Separability of arbitration agreements. Death of a party. Seat and place of 14. Only an individual may act as an arbitrator. 15. (1) Where the parties fail to agree on that appointment of an arbitrator or arbitrators, the following procedure shall apply- (a) in an arbitration with a sole arbitrator, an arbitrator shall be appointed by the Court, on the request of a party, if the parties are unable to agree on the arbitrator 14 days after service of request in writing by either party to do so; and (b) in an arbitration with 3 arbitrators, each party shall appoint one arbitrator and the 2 arbitrators so appointed are to appoint the third arbitrator, who shall be the presiding arbitrator and where- (i) a party fails to appoint an arbitrator within 14 days of receipt of a request to do so from the other party; or (ii) 2 arbitrators fail to agree on the third arbitrator within 14 days of their appointment; (iii) the 2 appointed arbitrators fail to agree on the third arbitrator within 14 days from the date of their appointment; the appointment shall be made by the appointing authority upon a request by a party. (c) if there are more than 2 parties, then the procedure in paragraph (b) shall apply, save that the claimants shall jointly appoint one Arbitrator to be an individual. Failure of appointment procedure. (c) any law that the parties may have chosen to govern the arbitration. (3) Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (2), an arbitral tribunal may, unless otherwise agreed by the parties, meet at a place it considers appropriate for consultation among its members, for hearing witnesses, experts or the parties or for inspection of goods, other property or documents. PART III - PRE-ARBITRAL PROCEEDINGS