OGI Takes the Judiciary to Bonthe

The Ministry of Presidential and Public Affairs in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme has held the second open dialogue that was organized and coordinated by the Open Government Initiative (OGI) secretariat at the Matru Jong Court Barry Bonthe District, South of Sierra Leone.

Also as the second secession held in the southern region, with this focusing purely on justice sector reform in the judiciary, the Saturday 14^th November 2009’s interactive dialogue engaged key players from the Sierra Leone Police, the Reform Commission, Law Officers’ Department, the Human Rights Commission, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Civil Society Organizations and the Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children’s Affairs who successively deliberated on issues militating against the dispensation of justice in south of Sierra Leone since afters the civil war.

Led by the OGI/UNDP field team, the usual surgery started with an inspection tour of the 58 personnel-Bonthe Police Division in Matru Jong town, where it was learnt that the division has only five posts in the entire district and can’t even boast of patrolling the river areas of the island nor to talk of patrol on land. This among other complaints of lack of mobility to go to their deployment areas therefore were part of concerns raised by police personnel; “we need more personnel and immediate logistical support to this division”, demanded AIG South.

Speaking further on the policing of the whole region, Mr. David Sesay informed the UNDP/OGI field team that the Family Support Unit of the Bonthe Police Division has been dealing with cases of child abuse and has charged so many matters to court but the “court does not sit”, adding that the Resident Magistrate in Moyamba, circuits Matru and Bonthe respectively.

Owning to the perpetual absence of a magistrate in Matru and Bonthe the police is left with no alternative but to keep suspect-Baimba Mansaray in custody for over five days in cell for allegedly stealing gari from his brother-in-law in Jong chiefdom.

At the newly constructed Matru Jong Prison Yard, officer A.M .Morlahai disclosed that most of the prisoners were transferred from Bo to Matru in order to avoid congestions in prison cells.

In the female cell were two female prisoners; Mamie Lusine who is serving two years sentence for a fine of Le. 300,000 whiles “16” years old Hawa Rogers, who has spent well over a month for reportedly stealing Le.1.3m from her aunt has never appear court.

Addressing participants at the Bonthe Court Barry Chairman of the secession, Justice Ibrahim Fofanah said the forum was held to promote the course of justice by interpreting the law of the land to the Sierra Leone citizenry at grassroots level and how court system operates.

He said the judiciary is building courts in other district headquarter towns where there are no magistrate courts reiterating that they are simultaneously trying to cut down on the adjournment of matters.

For his part, the AIG described the security situation in the south as relatively calm and peaceful and that his men have minimize crime rate in the region, noting that five of the twenty armed robbers who were recently arrested by police have been charged to court.

Mr. Sesay said both SLP and the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces are working effectively under the MACP Protocol to maintain peace and stability in the southern region but however admitted that there is an increase in the trafficking of cannabis in the south of the country.

Although the police boss expects minor political tensions in the forthcoming paramount chieftaincy elections, yet Mr. Sesay maintained that he has already alerted personnel for all elections in the South thus reiterated demand for personnel and logistics. 

As for the Prisons Department in the dispensation of justice in Sierra Leone, the Deputy Director of Prisons Ibrahim Fofanah, said the prison is meant for law defaulters but it does not mean that when once somebody is imprisoned the individual has lost his or her human right.

He said prisoners are no longer kept idling in the jail yards but are now learning skilled jobs in prison cell so that at the end of a prisoner’s jail term will be able to benefit from a skill he or she had learnt in the prison and become a useful citizen of Sierra Leone.

With the Prisons Department now trying hard to discourage congestion in prison cells, Mr. Fofahan disclosed that the Matru Jong Prison presently housed fifty prisoners

On behalf of the Customary Law Office South charged with the responsibility of interpreting the local to the people in the region, Mofreh Sesay advice the police not to delay in the charging and prosecution of law defaulters even though court sittings are far from most of the people come from afar to attend court.

Sefas Williams of the Human Rights Commission said they visited the prison and the polices cells to ensure that the human right situation at all detention centres are up to international standards, whiles the Resident Judge South Justice Naomi Tunis reassured the community of the resumption of court hearings in Matru Jong so thus cautioned all to contain themselves within the law.

She appealed to parents to really take hard stand and bring up their children well so that they will be able to direct them to do the right thing in life. 

For her part the Acting National Coordinator Madam Khadija Sesay gave a brief overview of the concept of OGI which she said came from the vision of President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma.

Well moderated by president of the 50-50 Group Madam Harriet Turay with a strictly laid down ground rules for citizenry participations, she received numerous questions relating to the problems affecting the judiciary in Bonthe. 

It could that the first UNDP/OGI open dialogue with the judiciary was last held on the 13^th October, 2009 at the Kambia court Barray in the north.

Meanwhile the UNDP/OGI open dialogue is expected to also engage the judiciary in Kailahun later this year.

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