Contributing to the Fight against Ebola: U.S. Embassy’s Funding Supports Quarantined Households in Sierra Leone

by ibakarr | Dec 8, 2014 | Uncategorized

Nearly five months after the virulent Ebola outbreak, the Sierra Leone Government and its international partners have embarked on a number of activities aimed at slowing down the infection rate, and ultimately defeating the virus.

The President declared a state of public health emergency in July, which among other things, restricted citizens’ rights to movement and assembly. The government has also diverted funds previously committed to development projects towards the fight against Ebola. Schools and colleges remain closed, whilemany communities have been isolated and quarantined.  Many businesses have shut down, and the country itself has been effectively isolated by most countries across the globe.

As part of efforts to combat the virus, the government and other agencies have spent enormous resources to promote public awareness on Ebola. Parliamentarians and civil society groups have also been involved in public education campaigns. Although awareness levels about the virus have significantly increased (according to a recent report by Focus 1000 and its international partners), this has not immediately translated into a reduction in the infection rate. Our international partners, led by the UN World Health Organization, have embarked on massive international fund raising to help fight the virus in West Africa. The governments of the United Kingdom and United States of America have been quite supportive as well. Several initiatives have been developed to help stem the spread of the virus, and effective case management is a key part of the global anti-Ebola strategy.

One of the prevention strategies currently enforced by the government is quarantines. Once there is a suspected or confirmed case of Ebola in a house, the entire home is quarantined for a period of 21 days in order to be able to immediately respond to anyone showing symptoms of the virus and to prevent infected persons from spreading the virus. It basically gives the case management teams a head start in terms of response. While quarantine as a control measure is in itself controversial, it has, however, proved to be useful when effectively enforced. Hundreds of houses have been quarantined since the outbreak, but the rising infection rate has raised questions about its efficacy. To date, there have been 3,156 officially confirmed cases, with nearly 1,000 deaths.

These figures suggest that some things need to be done differently. Part of the problem, many citizens have complained, is because quarantined homes are not getting adequate supply of basic food and non-food items. There have been many reports of quarantined (and potentially infected) persons fleeing quarantines in search of food. Apart from those who flee quarantines because of inadequate supply of basic food items, many believe that families and communities are less likely to report suspected cases of Ebola out of fear that their homes will be quarantined. This provides some explanation of why some people engage in unsafe burials and home care giving. The slow response time or lack of response by the government’s case management system is well documented, and the fact that people have to worry about basic resources such as water is bound to discourage persons from reporting suspected cases.We cannot wish Ebola away. We have to defeat it. But, this cannot be done unless we are able to break the chain of transmission. And doing so would require, among other things, willingness by individuals and households to immediately report suspected cases and painstakingly respect the quarantine protocols. This will not happen unless we are increasingly providing needed support to quarantined households. Otherwise, people will continue to break the protocols of quarantines, while others cover up Ebola cases by undertaking unsafe burials and home care giving in order to avoid being quarantined. These practices can only increase the chances of infection.

To help break the chain of transmission, the United States Embassy in Sierra Leone in September, 2014 approved a $25,000 grant to the Center for Accountability and Rule of Law to provide food and non-food items to quarantined homes. The project was first of its kind since the outbreak both in terms of the quantity and nature of items donated to quarantined households. The items,worth Le116 million, were reduced into 103 parcels. Each parcel included a size able quantity of sugar, drinking water, onions, Maggie, tea bags, coffee, sardines, butter, tooth paste, soap, ‘gari’, milk, and baby food.  It also included a blanket and a towel for each beneficiary. Ten separate parcels were prepared for each household, which included items meant to be shared among household members. The items included vegetable oil, ten bags of (50 kg) rice, lamps, torches, transistor radios, batteries, salt, cereals, pulses, cooking fuel, assorted board games, Ebola sensitization posters, and assorted learning materials. Note that the care package currently provided by the government and its partners does not include all of these items. Items like towel and blanket are critical to the safety of persons living in a quarantined home. It defeats the essence of quarantines and our prevention strategy if people are still sharing towels and blankets. The board games, learning materials and transistor radios (and batteries) were included to help inmates relax while waiting out the 21-day period.

The practical benefit of this donation is obvious, but the Center for Accountability and Rule of Law would prefer to focus more on the non-material value associated with the donation. It carries an important message to the government and its partners about the need to scale up support to both quarantined homes and isolated communities. Human beings treasure freedom, and to restrict one’s movement for 21 days without the needed support would almost certainly cause them serious emotional and physical problems. As unfortunate as it is for anyone to be quarantined, there are ways we can make the experience less traumatizing or agonizing.

Ignoring Human Rights and Accountability: Too Costly for Sierra Leone’s Anti-Ebola Strategy

by ibakarr | Dec 8, 2014 | Uncategorized

Five months after the Sierra Leone Government confirmed the first case of the Ebola Virus Disease in the country, the virulent infection is showing no signs of let-up. The human and economic costs are huge, and the cultural and social inhibitions caused by the disease sometimes challenge the very essence of our humanity. It is simply worse than Sierra Leone’s 11-year civil conflict in many respects.

As of November 23, the National Emergency Response  had confirmed 5,402 cases, with 1,333 deaths. In addition to the human cost, the Ebola outbreak has also taken a huge toll on Sierra Leone’s economy. The government has adjusted its growth forecast to between 7 and 8 percent this year, less than half of what had been projected before the outbreak. In October, the Finance Minister said Sierra Leone would need $1 billion to finance the Ebola battle, even though the country has already incurred a revenue loss amounting to millions of dollars. Schools and colleges remain closed, and the world has all but officially shut us out! So much for the global village we claim to live in!

In truth, the Sierra Leone Government’s initial response to the outbreak was weak and uncoordinated. It could have been way better. The Health Ministry got a number of important decisions wrong, particularly the decision to move suspected Ebola patients from Kailahun to the more metropolitan city of Kenema.  Beyond the government’s weak response, the pervasive public denial about the existence of the virus, the slow international response, and a generally weak public health care system made it even more difficult to deal with what has turned out to be arguably the world’s worst public health crisis. While the debate about who should be held most responsible for the  failure to effectively combat the outbreak in the country can be put on hold until the virus is defeated, no one can afford to ignore  the essence of accountability and respect for human rights in our collective efforts to combat the virus. It would be disastrously counterproductive to do so.

Civil society and the media play an important role in ensuring that citizens are better informed, and that human rights are protected particularly during such a period of crisis. Another equally important role that civil society actors in Sierra Leonean can play is to foster accountability in the management of Ebola-related resources. Ensuring that the resources are efficiently managed, and that those who need support are getting it, is absolutely critical. It is as much the role of civil society to press for accountability in the management of public resources as it is an obligation on state actors to open up governance structures and systems to scrutiny. At the moment, both state and non-state actors are lagging behind. I cannot emphasize enough the fact that lack of public trust in state functionaries, particularly the way Ebola-related resources are managed, is part of the difficulty confronting our collective efforts to combat the disease. Whether it is just a function of the rumour mill or these suspicions are based on evidence, it is obvious that the government and civil society organisations have to do a lot more to allay public anxiety about the perceived mismanagement of Ebola funds. Talking alone is not going to change public perception; everyone must be willing to open up their systems to public scrutiny and take onboard meaningful recommendations. In the last few weeks, there have been concerns about flawed procurement of Ebola-related materials and equipment, including ambulances and vehicles. There have also been rumours of unexplained withdrawals of huge amounts of money from the Ebola management fund by some officials, while holding and treatment centers still go without basic needs. There have been confirmed reports of payments, amounting to billions of Leones, to ‘ghost workers’ supporting the ebola response. Simply disgraceful and classless! The well-respected KPMG firm ended its contract (to provide oversight and auditing services) with the national Ebola Emergency Operations Center in October. This only contributed to reinforcing public fear public suspicion about the depth of corruption in the entire national ebola response architecture. Until recently, Rumours aside, there were questions about why quarantined homes were not getting basic food supplies to cover the 21-day quarantine period? Why do we still experience strike actions by frontline workers? Why is it that some holding and treatment centers in Freetown do not have water and electricity supply? Who is ensuring that the hospitals are responding to the needs of non-Ebola patients? As if no one assumed the responsibility of juggling through the list of priorities, the government approved a whooping Le 7.8 billion to parliamentarians to undertake Ebola sensitization. While I appreciate the intention of parliamentarians to help, that decision was wrong for more than a reason. First, there were many more important things that ought to have taken priority over sensitization at the time. Second, there were concerns that it would undermine the ability of parliamentarians to perform their oversight functions in case they failed to fully account for the funds. Third, it would have been much better to work with existing grass root entities such as Ward Development Committees than reinventing the wheel. In simple terms, MPs have no record of working with grassroot communities or undertaking public education.

Addressing the credibility gap in the national Ebola response architecture is the collateral virus that the government and its partners must remain fully committed to. The degree of public distrust is simply unimaginable. Such is the scale of distrust between citizens and public officials that at a press conference convened by Center for Accountability and Rule of Law to discuss food and non-food items worth $25,000 to be donated to quarantined homes through government agencies, journalists kept expressing doubts about whether the relevant authorities can be trusted to distribute the items intact.

It must be said that a general sense of public distrust in state institutions predated the Ebola crisis, but it seems to have gotten worse since the outbreak. Defeating the virus requires a reasonably high level of public trust in the response system. Unfortunately, it does not seem to exist at the moment. It must be said that trust cannot be built in vacuum. It is generally built on verifiable evidence of commitment to transparent and accountable leadership. This is where the government’s response strategy needs improvement. In some ways, the public health system’s inability to prevent the outbreak from evolving into a crisis is symptomatic of a major governance crisis – lack of accountability. For instance, there were reportedly only five functioning ambulances in Sierra Leone when the virus struck in May, even though Health Ministry officials say the government procured 14 ambulances in 2011. It thus begs the question: what happened to those ambulances in less than three years? It defies belief that we claim to have been running a very successful free health care system when there were reportedly no more than five functioning ambulances in May 2014. This represents a demonstrable lack of accountability in the management of public resources. Until public officials understand and demonstrate commitment to the judicious management of public resources, Sierra Leoneans will have to struggle to address many more crises that may lie ahead.

Accountable leadership also enhances respect for human rights. In spite of the country’s post-conflict gains with respect to promoting human rights, there were serious challenges even before the Ebola outbreak. The current health crisis has regrettably brought about additional human rights concerns. Since the public health emergency measures were declared by the President, there are persistent concerns about quarantined households not getting adequate supplies of basic food items. Isolated communities face even stiffer economic hardship as they have been literally cut off from the rest of the country. Suspected and confirmed Ebola patients are unfortunately not getting immediate medical attention, and the paucity of treatment centres means that in some cases Ebola patients have had to be ferried for at least eight hours to get to the nearest health centre. People are still dying of treatable diseases only because there are few available health centres and willing doctors. There are also reports of high-handedness by the police in enforcing emergency regulations, and recent events involving motorcycle riders in Kailahun and Freetown do not help the situation. Reports of pregnant women giving birth at home or dying during labour are extremely unfortunate. This has in many ways undermined some of the gains made since the commencement of the free health care policy. There are very few ambulances to respond to treatable diseases, which has also raised questions about how the free health care could have been successfully run without many ambulances. There are serious issues relating to the welfare of children orphaned by Ebola, and it will take a while before we are able to provide full assistance to them. Addressing stigmatization and discrimination of health workers and survivors remains a huge challenge, and it appears that a comprehensive reintegration plan for survivors has not been developed. The President has declared a state of public health emergency, and has imposed wide ranging restrictions on movement, congregation and social events. Some politicians have even occasionally attempted to exploit the current state of affairs to intimidate media and civil society activists. For example, dissatisfied with comments by some media and civil society practitioners regarding the Le 63 million doled out to each of them, parliamentarians summoned journalists and civil society activists in September and warned them to be more responsible in commenting on the current Ebola crisis or risk facing the law. The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice reportedly told journalists that he would not hesitate to order indefinite incarceration of anyone for irresponsible reporting. These comments may have only struck at the heart of one of our civil liberties – free speech. It’s a serious human rights issue that cannot be ignored.

The Sierra Leone Government and its international partners are currently embarking on a number of ant-Ebola strategies. While we hope for positive outcomes from these strategies, it should be warned that accountability and respect for human rights should constitute a cross-cutting pillar for every anti-Ebola strategy or platform. Otherwise, public confidence and support, which is required to roll out such strategies, will continue to erode.

Funding for Legal Aid Board at Last: A Glorious Step Forward in the Implementation of the Legal Aid Act

by ibakarr | Dec 8, 2014 | Uncategorized

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.

A Light of Hope? CDIID Opens Up On Its Internal Police Discipline

by ibakarr | Dec 8, 2014 | Uncategorized

The Austrian philosopher, Wittgenstein, once said ‘light dawns gradually over the whole’. In other words, time reveals some things that were initially difficult to comprehend.

In Sierra Leone, it is not hard to understand that the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) has an image problem in the eyes of the wider public in the way it protects life, property and prevents crime in the society. Over the years there has been a cloud or secrecy of affairs within the police force, for which most people do not believe they can say with ease and certainty that the SLP is an accountable and transparent institution. But why is this so?

Before the violent civil war in Sierra Leone, the police force was perceived as a critical factor in human rights protection. Has this changed after the war? The debate aside, perhaps one can say the same about the SLP of today, given that human rights violations remain a dire situation in the country. Unfortunately even the police force faces immense criticism from the public for its allegedly poor human rights record, especially with regard to alleged unlawful killings.

Alleged police brutality and human rights violations have been on the increase; notably the beating of one Member of Parliament in 2014, the alleged unlawful killing of individuals in Bo, Bumbuna, Kono; the shooting of a former U.S. Marine who was on vacation in Freetown,  and a five-year old boy. There are allegations of corruption, too, including complaints about some police officers accepting bribes from commercial drivers and demanding money for bail.

With each reported case of police brutality, the clarion call for thorough, independent and internal investigation continues to reverberate across the walls of justice, mostly to little effect. However, the manner and quality of police internal investigations of citizen complaints are not without concern, and this to a greater extent has been responsible for the downbeat police-community relationship. The media and some civil rights groups have called out the police for failing to investigate citizens’ complaints comprehensively, fairly and timely. Many see the police as not fully supportive of efforts to foster accountability and rule of law, by ensuring that things are done in the right way, as well as punishing its personnel who act in unprofessional and corrupt manners.

Even amidst efforts made by the institution to maintain standards by correcting the wrongs and misconduct of its personnel, there is strong public cynicism as to whether the SLP can ever come clean about its own internal accountability mechanisms. But as the saying goes, time changes everything. Also, ordinary citizens can be assured that all is not lost, as the call for a transparent and an accountable police force has become louder and more robust.

Against this backdrop, the Center for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL) has been working with the SLP to help the police to be more open to ensure public confidence in their daily operations. The SLP has opened up a window of optimism by giving CARL access to the Complaint, Discipline and Internal Investigations Department’s (CDIID’s) useful internal investigations information concerning its personnel who have acted contrary to police standards.

The table below is a summary of some of the key human rights related complaints; for the period March–October 20, 2014, of all the six regions, including those directly reported to the CDIID at PHQ.

Source- The Sierra Leone Police-Police Headquarters (PHQ), March – October 20, 2014

Summary of Report: Number of reported cases-940 /number of suspensions-72/number of dismissals-39/number of reduction in rank-0

Key findings

We will now analyse the selected offences from the reported cases between the indicted personnel and citizens.

Lack of civility is a dismissible offence, which refers to unlawful detention and abuse of persons, and failure to show respect for their human rights. Thus, for the period under review, the CDIID at Police Headquarters had 85 reports from Western Area, 24 from the Eastern Region, 5 from the South, and 20 from the North.

Corrupt or improper practice is a dismissible offence, which includes taking bribes or passing information to any person on warrant or summon which has been or is about to be issued against such a person. On record, the CDIID police headquarters had 124 reports, Western Area 51 reports, 30 in the Eastern region, 6 in the South, and 23 in the North.

Act/Conduct: This is a dismissible offence and refers to any unprofessional behaviour not specified in the Police Regulations 2001, but is against common practice, e.g. stealing or unlawful killing of a person. For this offence, the CDIID at police headquarters had 120 reports, including 16 in the Western Area, Eastern region 5, none in the Southern region, and 7 in the North.

Unfair treatment: This is dismissible but depends on the nature of the issue. It is an act of bias or prejudicial treatment, wherein a person makes a report and the police officer in question fails to take action, and where such action to be taken lies in his power. The CDIID, police headquarters had 11 reports, Western Area 1 report, none in the Eastern and Northern regions, and 5 reports in the Southern region.

Neglect of family responsibilities: This is no dismissible offence, which involves male personnel who fail to provide welfare support to their spouse or children. The CDIID, police headquarters had 28 reports, Western Area and Eastern region had 7 reports each, 1 in the North and none in the South.

Neglect of duty: This relates to failure to do official duty or responsibilities under the direct control of personnel. The CDIID, police headquarters had 52 reports, Western Area 28 reports, Eastern region 14 reports, 1 report in the South and 4 in the North.

Absence without leave: This refers to absence from work without permission; and unlike other offences, a dismissal decision is taken by the human resource department of the police. The CDIID, police headquarters had 35 reports, Western Area 17, none in the East and South, and 5 in the North.

Unlawful discharge of firearms is a dismissible offence and refers to the shooting of a weapon without order. There was no reported case of this in any of the regions. It is worthy to note that this does not mean that no incident of unlawful discharge of firearms took place in the period under review. The fact that there were no reports of unlawful killings only raises the question of whether the police can avow that the discharge of firearms or actions that allegedly led to the death of some citizens between March and October 20, 2014, were lawful, or that the victims were culpable and responsible for their own death.

However, when the issue of unreported unlawful discharge of firearms was raised with the department, they responded that strategies were in place to prevent offences of this nature, and that there was no actual intelligence or report that this had occurred.

In conclusion, the CDIID should be commended for creating such a platform to promote transparency and accountability. CARL hopes this understanding and support will continue, and CARL suggests, going forward, that the CDIID state in future the categories of offence for which the suspensions, corrective training and dismissals occurred.