The Legal Aid Board Sierra Leone has held a sensitization meeting on the formation of Citizen’s Advisory Bureaus in all Wards in the Freetown municipality.
The Legal Aid Board Sierra Leone has held a sensitization meeting on the
formation of Citizen’s Advisory Bureaus in all Wards in the Freetown
municipality. The meeting took place at
the Mayor’s Parlor, Freetown City Council, Wallace Johnson Street. Present
were the Mayor of Freetown and the 49 Councillors.
Mrs Claire Fatmata Carlton Hanciles, Executive Director, Legal Aid Board
Sierra Leone lauded the partnership between the Legal Aid Board and the
Freetown City Council, for the Civil mandate they have to resolve issues, some
of which are debt relief, land and tenant, and family and neighbourhood
disputes. She spoke about the formation of Citizen’s Advisory Bureaus which
will comprise retired senior citizens. The Bureaus Mrs Hanciles said, will conduct
daily sessions to deal with these matters in their Wards. The Councillors, she
said, would have to take the lead to maintain the Bureaus in their Wards, while
the retired senior citizens who will be conducting the sessions, will be
volunteers. The Parliamentary Representatives in the different constituencies
will also be involved in the workings of the Citizen’s Advisory Bureaus in
their constituents. Trainings and methods of fund raising at community level,
Mrs Carlton-Hanciles said, will be facilitated by the Board and the capacities
will also be enhanced.
The Mayor of Freetown, His Worship Bodae Gibson commended the Legal Aid
Board for the tremendous work they are doing and admonished the Councillors to
take the work of the Board seriously as it help to solve most of the problems
in communities and highlight the relevance of Councillors in their wards. Mayor
Bodae Gibson called on Sierra Leoneans to love one another and work for the
progress of the nation. He assured the Board’s Executive Director and team that
the Freetown City Council will work hand in gloves with the Legal Aid Board.
Some of the Councillors expressed their delight to work with Legal Aid
Board in their wards, which they said, will help enhance their capacity to
improve the lives of their citizens. Some of them seriously complained that the
police are hampering their effort to solve trivial matters at community level.
The police, the Councillors said, threaten to arrest them whenever they attempt
to retrieve cases from police stations. The attitude of the police, the
Councillors said, rendered them helpless to use the Alternative Dispute Resolution
method in resolving matters in their wards.
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