By Elkass Sannoh
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Anthony Y. Brewah, has disclosed on the 20th August 2021 that the Judiciary of Sierra Leone will now start the enforcement and implementation of the Local Courts which has been its statutory mandate as provided for the Local Courts Act of 2011.
He said the law has been in existence for the past ten years but the implementation was not enforced.
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice made that disclosure at the Bo District Council, Kakua Chiefdom in administration Bo Town during the ongoing stakeholders engagement to implement the Local Courts Act of 2011.
“Local Courts administration is no longer in the hands of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, not even the District Office but the Judiciary of Sierra Leone,” the Attorney General and Minister of Justice said.
Registering his disappointment over the poor attendance of Paramount Chiefs from Bo District, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice said there is going to be recruitment for all positions and those who are qualified will be shortlisted and recruited to serve in those positions prescribed in the Local Courts Act.
He said a lot of misinformation had been peddled in regard to the status or position of the Local Courts, adding that this one-week tour is to set the record straight by stating the fact as provided for in the Act.
In Kenema, he commended the sacrifices made by all Paramount Chiefs and those stakeholders in the administration of Local Courts. He encouraged them to continue the good work in ensuring the sustainability of peace and security in their Chiefdoms.
In responding to a question asked by the Paramount Chief of Niawa Chiefdom, PC Mariama Jaward Tamia III regarding the appointment of Local Courts officers, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice said he is a lawyer with 30 years standing and the current Principal Legal Adviser to the Government. He said the implementation or enforcement of the Local Courts administration
will not go contrary to the very Act which created it.
In his presentation, the Team Leader Hon. Justice Aiah Simeon Allieu said the 1963 Act was repealed and replaced in tandem with the Sierra Leone Constitution, Act No. 6 of 1991 with specific reference to Section 120 (1) which states that, “Judicial power of Sierra Leone shall be vested in the Judiciary of which the Chief Justice shall be the Head.”
He said the Judiciary has transformed, noting that a lot of reforms are underway and the Local Courts will be well reconstituted in the administration of justice at the local level in adherence with the customs and traditions of the people.
