Legal Aid Board Sierra Leone and the Office of the Attorney General have held a land mark meeting with the various trader groups in Sierra Leone.

Legal Aid Board Sierra Leone and the Office of the Attorney General have held a land mark meeting with the various trader groups in Sierra Leone. The meeting which was geared towards the processes of the formation of an Umbrella Trader Executive, and the a Trader Cooperative Bank, took place at the Ministry of Justice Conference Hall, 3^rd Floor, Guma Building, Lamina Sankoh Street in Freetown.

Leaders of the various trader groups gave the views of their groups for the formation of the two entities. The meeting started with the Legal Aid Executive Secretary’s update and information.

The Legal Aid Board Executive Secretary, Mrs Claire Carlton-Hanciles gave a situational analysis of the Boards activities, regarding the release, bail and imprisonment of indigents, which disclosed that seventy-eight people were discharged in February. She then introduced the issue of the Umbrella Trader Executive which will result to the formation of Trader Cooperative bank. The Cooperative Bank, the Executive Director said, will address the financial issues of traders, such as loans and savings.

Mrs Carlton-Hanciles noted that traders will be kept out of the doors of prisons and cells because they will not be borrowing from commercial banks and other loaning firms, that will take them to the law when they defaulted. She advised on the traders to find solutions to their various problems and care for one another.

The long standing President of the Tawopaneh Cooperative Union, Alimamy Kamara explained the concept, history and methods of a cooperative. He said that a cooperative is the coming together of people to put their finances together to help one another grow financially in business. The twenty year old Cooperative Union, Mr Kamara said, was started with a capital of Le3,000,000 (Three Million Leones), and their capital has grown to Le1.4bn. (One point four billion Leones). He said that the loaning system is 2 to 1 (two to one), which means that someone who saves Le40 000 (forty thousand Leones), will be entitled to a loan of Le80 000 (eighty thousand Leones), for minimal interest, and that members will feel safe because they will never be taken to the police; they would rather be made to work for their fellow traders, in the case of a default in their repayment.  Mr Kamara said that Annual General Meetings should be held to elect executives, and that their watch word should ‘honesty’.

Addressing the traders, the Attorney General thanked His Excellency the President for the confidence reposed on him for his appointment as Attorney General. He said that he will not disregard his humble beginning, which was that of a soda soap palm oil boy, which was his launching pad for his flight to the position he has attained, for which he described himself as a trader of long standing, though he has attained higher heights. Mr Fitz Gerald Kamara pointed out that justice is the deeds of someone that does not interfere with the peaceful living with his neighbour. A neighbour, Mr Kamara said, is someone another person’s every action affects, so traders should be one another’s keeper, because their every action affects another person.

He gave a case of a John Gbenteh who was a Court Interpreter in Makeni, who interpreted an accused person’s plea of ‘not guilty’ Themne as ‘guilty’ because he was not given a bribe. Interpreting the will of the government for the people is part of his assignment, because a relationship between a government and his people without proper interpretation could be misunderstood.  The Attorney General said that his interpretation of the government’s will for traders is that the government means well traders and is ready to promote a level playing field of commerce.    

The Registrar of Cooperatives, Mr Michael Lavaley, pointed out that everybody needs someone as a husband needs a wife because nobody will be able to provide all the needed amenities for himself, except with the help of other people. He therefore pointed out that a cooperative for traders in Sierra Leone is a much needed entity to support the economic standing of the indigenous trade in the country. He cited the former Sierra Leone Produce Marketing Board which was a cooperative which did very well and boosted the country’s economy in the past, which he believed was one of the reasons the Legal Aid Board Executive Director is working towards an Umbrella Executive for traders, which will result to a Cooperative Bank for traders, a bank of their own with minimal interest rate, to protect traders from economic prowlers. He then commended the Legal Aid Boss for her good work and His Excellency the President, Dr Ernest Bai Koroma for the great stride of giving free legal aid to the people of Sierra Leone.

Representatives of the various trader groups, thanked the Attorney General and the Legal Aid Boss for their relentless efforts to see traders thrive in Sierra Leone, and also pledged the support of their various trader groups for a united trader Umbrella Executive in Sierra Leone.