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LAB urge new judge to reduce overcrowding in prisons Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles has urged the outgoing Legal Aid Manager of the Legal Aid Board, Mr. Ansumana Ivan Sesay to take advantage of the proposed Bail and Sentencing Guidelines to reduce the overcrowding in the prisons.  ‘The proposed Bail and Sentencing Guidelines are very good; we believe if it is interpreted to the letter the prison population will reduce considerably,’ she said.   Ms. Carlton-Hanciles lamented that far too many of the Board’s clients charged with minor offences like loitering and ‘mammy cuss’ are denied bail on very trivial ground and where they do it is very difficult to find sureties. She thanked Justice Sesay for the exemplary leadership while serving the Board. ‘We will miss your humility, energy and passion to seek justice for accused persons,’ she said. ‘Be assured the Board lawyers you have trained will continue in your footsteps.’  Mr. An

LAB to train partners on Bail and Sentencing Guidelines The Legal Aid Board and partners in the Western Area will converge on the British Council for a two-day training workshop on the proposed Bail and Sentencing Guidelines on the 11 and 12 July 2017. The seventy participants for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) funded workshop will be drawn from the Council of Tribal Headmen, legal aid service providers, human rights organizations, Sierra Leone Labour Congress, Sierra Leone Motor Drivers Union, Sierra Leone Traders Council, civil society organizations and the Inter-religious Council of Sierra Leone. The Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Claire Carlton-Hanciles has welcomed the proposed Bail and Sentencing Guidelines in changing perceptions about the judiciary which is seen as unfair and punitive. She described the workshop as an opportunity for partners of the Board to be educated on the proposed Bail and Sentencing Guidelines so as to understand ho

LAB and Office of Ombudsman sign MOU The Legal Aid Board and the Office of the Ombudsman have signed a Memorandum of Understanding which formalizes the relationship between the two institutions with the aim of addressing the justice needs of people. The signing took place in the morning in the conference room of the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice on Wednesday, 28 June 2018 in the presence of journalists and staff of both institutions. The MOU will see one institution refer complaints to the other based on their respective mandate.  This means the Office of the Ombudsman will refer complaints which fall within the mandate of Legal Aid Board. The Board in turn will do the same for complaints which fall under the Office of the Ombudsman. In his statement prior to signing the MOU, the new Ombudsman, Lawyer Melron Nilcol-Wilson said his Office has complaints which fall within the mandate of the Legal Aid Board.  He noted that in the past, complaints wh

LAB calls on stakeholders in the East to invest in the Bureaus.                  The Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles has called on the stakeholders in Wellington and Calaba Town in the East of the capital Freetown to do more to support the Community Advisory Bureaus (CAB) in their respective Wards if they should become relevant to the people. The call follows a joint assessment of the fifteen Bureaus in the capital Freetown by the Public Relations and the Outreach and Community Affairs Departments. The report shows that nine of the fifteen Bureaus are performing below expectations in terms of addressing the justice needs of the community. The reports notes that the Bureaus in Wards  391, 393 and 394 covering Pipeline, Thompson Bay, UN Drive, Scan Drive, Caningo, Sheriff Drive, Wilkinson Road and Grassfield in Lumley in the West and Wards 346 in Calaba Town, 355 in Wellington and 356 in Kuntolor in the East of the capital are perf

LAB calls for support to Advisory Bureaus The Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles has called for urgent support to the newly established Citizens Advisory Bureaus in Freetown. The Board has opened fifteen Bureaus since February 2017, all in the capital Freetown. This will continue until they are established in all the 394 Wards in the country.  Ms. Carlton-Hanciles warned that the Bureaus could struggle to create maximum impact if people do not contribute to their upkeep and sustenance.  She encouraged members of the public to copy the example of a staff of the Office of National Security (ONS) who donated money to the Bureau in Ward 393 in Grassfield, Lumley. ‘People should take ownership of the Bureaus because they belong to them, the Board is only the architect,’ she said. ‘The reception has been very positive, but this is not being translated into support needed to keep the Bureaus up and running. The Bureaus need stationery,

AG launch Legal Aid Board in Kono with a promise to empower women The Attorney General and Minister of Justice (AG), Hon. Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara launched the Legal Aid Board in Kono by assuring the people that the government is committed to recognizing the rights of women. The AG traced the history of legal aid to an encounter between the Lord Jesus Christ and a group of Pharisees who had sought his advice in relation to a woman caught committing adultery and therefore doomed to death by stoning. He said the Government established the Legal Aid Board because it believes in providing legal aid to the poor and vulnerable who cannot afford to hire a lawyer and other costs that go with accessing the justice system. ‘For the first time since independence, government is providing legal aid to its people,’ he said. ‘Also, we have a lawyer who is resident in the District to cater for the justice needs of the people.’ The AG noted the government has established a Magistrate Cou

The Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles left the shores of Sierra Leone on Sunday, May 21 for Vienna, Austria to attend a conference to examine challenges to measuring the Sustainable Development Goals (SGD) target 16.3 on access to justice at national and international level. In particular, it will discuss what the current indicators say about access to justice in the various countries and the work of international organizations, government bodies and civil society on how to measure effectively access to justice and pretrial detention practices. The meeting is a side event organized by the Open Society Justice Initiative and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Research and Justice Sections during the UNODC Crime Commission Session in Vienna, Austria. The side event is support by the Government of Sierra Leone and the Legal Aid Board of Sierra Leone. Ms. Carlton-Hanciles will be one of four speakers at the side ev

Southern Africa dele visit LAB Advisory Bureau The Citizens Advisory Bureau (CAB) at the Lumley Community Center in an area called Grassfield hosted two visitors from South Africa and Zimbabwe on Thursday, 18 May 2017.  The two are in the country to finalized discussion for a conference in Kigali, Rwanda for legal aid service providers on the continent. The delegation which includes the Chairperson of the Legal Aid South Africa, Judge President D. Mlambo met with the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Hon. Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara; the Chief Justice, Hon. Abdulai Charm; the Legal Aid Board  and the Justice Sector Coordinating Office on Wednesday, 17 May 2017. Ms. Vuyiswa Sidzumo of Charles Steward MOTT Foundation from South Africa and Brian Tamuka Kagoro UHAI Africa Limited and National Alliance for the Development of Community Advice Office (Nadcao) from Zimbabwe interacted with volunteers running the Bureau in Ward 393 and observed them mediate a land dispute betwee

LAB, Disability Commission to launch campaign on Disability Rights The Legal Aid Board and the National Commission for Persons with Disability are collaborating on rights issues pertaining to disabled persons. The target group includes the Blind, Wheelchair Users, Deaf, Amputees, War Wounded and Albinos. The disabled persons qualify for legal aid without any precondition because they are vulnerable. According to the National Outreach Officer for the Legal Aid Board, Mr. Ibrahim Kamara the Board has had two meetings with the Disability Commission this month.  The two agreed to launch a campaign in the coming weeks. ‘The campaign will draw attention to serious rights issues affecting the Disabled persons,’ he said.   The Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles said the rights issues affecting Disabled persons are many and daunting. She noted that a good number of disabled persons are compelled to live on the streets because they do not have

The Chairperson of the Legal Aid South Africa, Judge President D. Mlambo has said he is impressed with the successes of the Sierra Leone Legal Aid Board at the community level. He admitted this is an area South Africa will need to learn from Sierra Leone.  The Judge Mlambo made this remark at a meeting with staff of the Sierra Leone Legal Aid Board and TIMAP for Justice - a local legal aid service provider - at the head office of the Board in Freetown. The Judge was head of a four-person delegation to the country. Judge Mlambo noted that the scheme in South Africa has achieved a lot in terms of dedicating legal aid in the courts and quality assurance, at the same time it is struggling to create an impact in the community. ‘This is because the Ministry of Justice expect the scheme not to do anything civil,’ he said.  The Judge pointed out that the Legal Aid Act of South Africa allows the scheme to provide legal aid in civil matters. He said he is surprised to learn that local

The Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles has praised WAEC for releasing the results of 253 pupils of the Trinity International Secondary School in Allen Town, less than twenty-four hours after an appeal to the effect. The Board had in a letter dated 22 February 2017 to WAEC appealed for the release of the results while pressure is being brought to bear on the school authorities to pay money owed the Council. The Head of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in Sierra Leone, Arnold Kamara in a telephone call on Thursday, February 23 confirmed to the Legal Aid Board the release of the results. The Board had got the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to arrest the principal of the school, Mr. Abdulai Mansaray while engaging the proprietor who was dodging an invitation to the Legal Aid Board office to produce receipts that will determine amount paid to WAEC so far. The Proprietor had also failed to make himself availabl

Legal Aid South Africa praise LAB The Chairperson of the Legal Aid South Africa, Judge President D. Mlambo has said he is impressed with the successes of the Sierra Leone Legal Aid Board at the community level. He admitted this is an area South Africa will need to learn from Sierra Leone. The Judge Mlambo made this remark at a meeting with staff of the Sierra Leone Legal Aid Board and TIMAP for Justice - a local legal aid service provider - at the head office of the Board in Freetown. The Judge was head of a four-person delegation to the country. Judge Mlambo noted that the scheme in South Africa has achieved a lot in terms of dedicating legal aid in the courts and quality assurance, at the same time it is struggling to create an impact in the community. ‘This is because the Ministry of Justice expect the scheme not to do anything civil,’ he said.  The Judge pointed out that the Legal Aid Act of South Africa allows the scheme to provide legal aid in civil matters. He sa

AG to launch LAB in Waterloo The Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles has told the people of Waterloo that the Attorney General and Minister of Justice (AG), Hon. Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara will serve as the keynote speaker at the launch of the Legal Aid Board in Waterloo in the Western Area Rural District on 6 May 2017. Ms. Carlton-Hanciles pointed out that Hon. Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara has served as keynote speaker in all the launches the Board has had around the country. He noted that the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice is the supervisory ministry for the Legal Aid Board and further underlined the importance of having the holder of the office at such events in terms of availing himself with the challenges ordinary people face in accessing the justice system. More importantly, it provides an opportunity for these issues to be discussed by the cabinet. Ms. Carlton-Hanciles made the disclosure while addressing a