When the Sierra Leone Parliament passed the Legal Aid Act in May 2012, the law was hailed by human rights groups as one of the most progressive laws on the continent and, as a major step forward in the country’s collective efforts at addressing the justice needs of indigent Sierra Leoneans. In the absence of a permanent, nationwide, credible legal aid scheme, the law was meant to provide support in both civil and criminal cases. The law also creates a public-private partnership between government and non-state actors in providing justice services to particularly indigent Sierra Leoneans. Accordingly, it provides that paralegals will be assigned to every chiefdom across the country, and will be responsible for providing information about the relevant law and legal processes, legal education to Paramount Chiefs and inhabitants of the chiefdom, as well as referring and diverting cases to legal practitioners and the formal justice system. The presence of trained paralegals in these communities would help raise public awareness about the laws as well as resolve civil cases that would have otherwise been tried in the courts.
The Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL) welcomed the law soon after it was passed, describing it as “progressive.” CARL also warned that developing a coordinated implementation schedule by the Sierra Leone Government together with local and international partners, as well as devoting significant amount of resources would be critical to a successful implementation. Nearly two years since the law was promulgated, implementation has stuttered. In fact, some would say the government has not made any significant effort at implementing the law. There’s a bit of positive news, though. With funds from the DFID-funded ENCISS project, the Justice Sector Coordinating Office (JSCO) and rights-based organisations in the country have partnered to do the spadework for the Legal Aid Board. First, the JSCO partnered with a working group of local and international organisations to undertake a mapping survey of all organizations involved with the provision of legal aid services, including those that provide paralegal services. Furthermore, a consultant was hired by the JSCO to develop a communications strategy that seeks to promote uniformity in messaging of legal aid-related services. The strategy would advise the Board regarding the local media landscape, and how to utilize resources to optimize output from media activities. The strategy is useful to both the Board and other partners involved in the implementation of the legal aid law. The JSCO also led efforts at ensuring that members of the Board have been nominated by the various member-contributing institutions, each of whom has now been officially appointed by the President.
These are laudable efforts, but the major part of the job has not been done. The state needs to set aside the required resources to set up the Board. The Justice Ministry should take the lead on this, and there is no doubt that local and international support will be available to the Board. At the moment, very little is being done to implement the law. Meanwhile, many indigent Sierra Leoneans still receive either poor quality justice or no justice at all. The Constitution guarantees citizens who come in conflict with the law the right to legal representation, but most of them cannot afford the fees for legal services. In addition, access to lawyers outside Freetown remains a major challenge. There is abundant evidence about the lack of willingness by private practitioners to represent accused persons facing serious offences such as murder. Perhaps the major reason is the paltry amount of remuneration the state is willing to pay. The Legal Aid Board could help provide a solution. It is also exciting to think of the numerous benefits paralegals can add to our collective efforts at improving human rights and providing practical and affordable justice for Sierra Leoneans.
Paralegals provide a safety net for low-income earners, children, veterans, persons with disabilities and victims of sexual and gender-based violence in the administration of and access to justice. The legal aid scheme and paralegals in particular, play a critical role in narrowing the gaps of social inequality; and legal aid is as much an integral part of the justice system and the maintenance of the rule of law as Judges, Magistrates, the Law Officers’ Department and courtrooms are. This reaffirms the need for a supplementary budget by the Government of Sierra Leone to provide additional funding to the judiciary to cover the Legal Aid Board, and for the government to take on greater responsibility in enhancing sustainable legal aid throughout the country in both civil and criminal matters.
Again, the Sierra Leone Government has the primary responsibility of ensuring that the law is implemented. There is immense good will on the part of local and international organisations to help, but the government must take the lead. It is, therefore, disappointing that nearly two years after the law was passed, the Ministry of Justice failed to allocate funds in both the 2013 and 2014 budgets for the setting up of the Legal Aid Board. There is no doubt that the state faces competitive priorities, but unlike some of those priorities, justice needs cannot wait. Any undue delay in delivering justice could water down its quality and diminish its otherwise positive effect on the beneficiaries.
At the moment, there are hundreds of detainees crammed in the maximum security prison in Freetown, and many more in the provinces. Many of them are only there because at the time of their arrests, they did not have access to legal representation. Sadly, since the law was passed two years ago, many more people have been arrested and incarcerated illegally, and have not had access to lawyers. Something can be done about it! This was why the legal aid law was promulgated. It is therefore important that the Sierra Leone government shows a clear commitment to implementing a law that was embraced not only by non-state actors, but even the government.
It must also be emphasised that efforts at addressing the unmet needs of people most in need of legal assistance and representation must not be left to the government and legal aid institutions alone. The judiciary, the Law Officers Department, the Bar Association, the police, and community-based advocacy organizations across the country should all jump on the band wagon to improve opportunities and provide assistance for people who cannot afford or do not have access to high quality legal representation, or any representation at all. After all, justice cannot be said to be done and the justice system cannot be seen to be efficiently working unless everyone–rich or poor, child or adult, far or near, abled or disabled–has adequate representation.
Any further delays in providing the required resources would further raise questions about the government’s commitment to enhancing the rights of citizens and protecting the millions of indigent Sierra Leoneans. The time for genuine action is now!