As Sierra Leone battles against what seems to be the most dreaded enemy in the country’s recent history—the deadly Ebola Virus Disease—it
is important that the government and its development partners keep tabs on other aspects of the country’s development agenda, so that when the fight against Ebola shall have been won, we would not have to start all over. In plain terms, even before the Ebola epidemic, the country has been struggling with numerous challenges to many state institutions, prominent among which is the justice sector. The country has a mainly poor population and it has for so long been grappling with the problem of access to justice for particularly the poor who are in the majority.
In 20012, the Parliament of Sierra Leone, in what was described by many as a “progressive” move, enacted a Legal Aid Act aimed at providing accessible, affordable, credible and sustainable legal aid services to indigent Sierra Leoneans. The law provides an opportunity for indigent Sierra Leoneans to have equal access to justice; and this further strengthens the rule of law as well as brightens the country’s human rights credentials.
Since the passing into law by the Sierra Leone Parliament of the Legal Aid Act in May 2012, the Center for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL) has persistently advocated for the government of Sierra Leone to provide additional funding to the Judiciary to cover the Legal Aid Board, while holding the view that what is most critical to a successful implementation of the Legal Aid Act is the will of government to commit a significant amount of resources towards funding the Legal Aid Board. The Legal Aid Board has been constituted, and a Chairperson for the Board has been approved by Parliament. Even with all this, the Board could hardly start rolling out its implementation strategy in the absence of funds, and until now, there has been slow progress in that direction. Now though, thanks to efforts by the Justice Sector Coordinating Office, which CARL applauds, the Board has finally received a pilot fund to start its operations.
In a laudable move, the Justice Sector Coordinating Office (JSCO), an entity funded by the Government of Sierra Leone, which on the request of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice has been supporting the Legal Aid Board, and by extension, the implementation of the Legal Aid Act. Accordingly, the JSCO has been leading efforts to prepare the ground and set the Board afoot. Such efforts have finally paid off as it has come to our notice that the JSCO and the Chairperson of the newly constituted Board have submitted a budget of nearly one million United States Dollars ($1,000,000) or four billion Leones (Le 4,000,000,000) to fund the Legal Aid Board.
The DFID-funded Access to Security and Justice Program (ASJP) has also committed two hundred and sixty-seven million Leones (Le 267, 000,000) and the Government of Sierra Leone has provided three hundred and fifty-four million Leones (Le 354,000,000) towards ensuring that the board is up and running by January 2015. This start fund will be directed towards providing an office space for the Board; recruiting key staff to jump-start the work of the Board and for other immediate and foundational administrative purposes. This is expected to keep the board afloat till January when the financial year officially starts.
This is a forward-thinking move and a giant stride forward in the implementation process, as it adds much impetus to the progress of the implementation drive. Apart from giving the Board a good start, the move is also expected to serve as a prompter to government for increased efforts at mobilizing resources that would be sufficient to facilitate legal aid services all over the country. It also helps foster hope in poor citizens that they too, like any other Sierra Leoneans, can have legal representation and access to justice.
The Legal Aid Board is the mainstay in the implementation of the law in that it marshals the entire process through administering, coordinating and monitoring compliance with the provisions of the law. Accordingly, the Board requires not only a shrewd leadership, but, equally importantly, considerable financial support from government and its development partners. Sufficient funding is the greatest push the Board needs to fully roll out its implementation strategy, especially so since it involves recruiting paralegals in all the 149 Chiefdoms in the country to provide legal aid services to the many indigent communities and persons who lack the financial resources for legal representation.
Section 15 of the Act asserts that the activities of the Board shall be financed by a fund consisting of monies appropriated by Parliament for the purposes of the Board; as well as monies generated by the Board in the course of its activities. It is therefore prudent that the leadership of the Board adopt a robust and lucrative approach towards mobilizing resources to augment Parliament-approved funds which can hardly ever be sufficient at any given time, considering the many priorities of government. The Board should also intensify efforts at identifying and establishing strong linkages with and devising strategies for donors to be concerned about and inclined to provide support to the activities of the Board and to the implementation of the Legal Aid scheme generally.
The JSCO has done an impressive job in the past in leading efforts to constitute the Legal Aid Board and to have members of the board appointed. We therefore extol the efforts of the JSCO and implore them to continue the good job of providing the necessary expertise and coordination needed to pull together the resources required to fully operationalise the provisions of the Legal Aid Act.
It cannot be overemphasized that the legal aid scheme is an indispensable cog in the machinery of the justice system and a must in the national plan to improve human rights, access to justice and the rule of law. Moreover, one needs not be reminded of the importance of the law as a gold braid in the country’s international image, in the sense that the Legal Aid Act incorporates many of the principles contained in the United Nations Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December, 2012, as the first international instrument that provides standards on legal aid, and which recognizes the imperative role that paralegals can play in a country’s criminal justice system.
This is also a notch up in the Judiciary’s efforts to provide justice to a larger scope of citizens, rather than only a privileged few, as it will definitely help reduce the huge backlog of cases in the courts, which in turn can help reduce overcrowding in particularly the maximum security prison in Freetown, where many folks remain perpetually incarcerated for the simple reason that they cannot afford legal representation. Moreover, in a country where qualified lawyers are in short supply especially in the provincial districts, it pays a huge dividend if the legal aid Board were to start functioning fully across all the regions of the country.
The glorious opportunity given by the Legal Aid Act for indigent citizens to have free legal representation and paralegal services is perhaps the greatest assurance they have that at last, access to justice will cease to be a tall order for the poor.
We therefore urge government and implore all development partners to come to speed with efforts to close the funding gaps in the implementation of provisions of the Legal Aid Act, as the justice needs of poor Sierra Leoneans cannot be put on hold for any longer.