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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