Dr Valdimir D. Momcilovich of the European Union Visits Legal Aid Board Sierra Leone

Dr Valdimir D. Momcilovich Esq has on behalf of the European Union, paid a fact finding visit to the Legal Aid Board at their offices, first floor, Guma Building, Lamina Sankoh Street in Freetown.

Dr Valdimir Momcilivich said that Brussels wanted to know what the situation was at the Legal Aid Board and on Pro bono matters in Sierra Leone; what the Legal Aid Board was doing, their needs and challenges, strategies to improve and access to support.

The Legal Programme Manager, Mr. Ivan Sesay, informed The European Union Envoy that as a result of the war, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission was formed.

It was during the deliberations that it was revealed that the war came about as a result of injustice perpetrated by the then judicial system; the lacked access to justice because the people were too poor to afford legal representation. It was revealed that most of the rebels were ex-convicts, so it was concluded by His Excellency the President that the provision of Legal Aid to the poor will create a new impetus of attitudinal change in the minds Sierra Leoneans concerning the judiciary. As a result of the President’s observation, the Legal Aid was born in Sierra Leone. 

A pilot phase was started in 2008, and the Legal Aid Act was passed in 2012. Mr Sesay further informed him that the Board gives people access to justice; decongest the Correctional facilities, gives legal advice, settle disputes between individuals and groups using the Alternative Dispute Resolution method, and teams with people, communities and organizations, to sensitize people about legal aid.

The Legal Manager further informed Dr Valdimir Momcilovich that the Board operates with six in-house lawyers, backed up by twenty four from the Bar Association, and the Board has done tremendously well. Some three hundred indigents have been discharged through the representation by lawyers of the Board and their counterparts at the Bar Association. A total of Two Thousand, One Hundred and Ninety-Nine cases are in the hands of the Board, with three Hundred and Fifty–Five cases completed,

 Three Hundred and Forty cases are awaiting indictment, while One Thousand, Five Hundred and Four, are on trial.

Manager Ivan Sesay further told the European Union that the Board is tasked with the provision of Paralegals in all Chiefdoms. Though the Board is in its teething stages, the Board has done tremendous work in the Country.

The Challenges Mr Sesay said, were numerous; the need for more staff, financial resources to provide more Lawyers and Paralegals country wide, and transportation to facilitate the work in Freetown and in the provinces. He informed the European Union envoy that over 85% of Sierra Leoneans are qualified for Legal Aid because most of the people are at and below the government threshold of Le 500 000. The biggest key challenge, Legal Manager Sesay revealed, is sustainability of the programme.

 He also expressed the Board’s desire to give its staff to the wider world in the area of Pro bono services, in order to improve Pro bono work in Sierra Leone.

Satisfied with what he had heard, Dr Valdimir D. Momcilovich commended the Legal Aid Board Executive Director, Legal Manager and staff for the work they are doing, and encouraged them to continue with the trend. He informed the Legal Aid Board staff of Pro bono work in Sudan which he said, is was very effective. The Sudan government, Dr Valdimir D. Momcilovich, said, provides the sum of $250 000 000 a year for the provision of Pro bono services to the people of Sudan. Dr Valdimir D. Momcilovich concluded that the Legal Aid |Board staff will be afforded further Pro bono training in due course.

Consultant Lawyer Francis Gabbidon thanked Dr Valdimir D. Momcilovich and the European Union for their interest in the work of the Board.