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Legal Aid hosts cattle herders and farmers today


Legal Aid hosts cattle herders and farmers today


The Sierra Leone Legal Aid Board will this morning bring together cattle herders on one hand and landowners and farmers on the other in the Port Loko District to a meeting in Masiaka in an attempt to mediate a long standing conflict between the two groups.
This is the first time the Board is mediating a dispute involving such a matter under its Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism (ADR). It is also the first time it is mediating between very large groups with those affected running into the thousands.
The Board’s intervention is in response to reports from the Legal Aid Board lawyer, Mohamed Korie regarding the large number of cases of stealing and killing of cattle in the courts in the Port Loko District. These incidents are common in the Buya Romende, Marampa, Koya and Masimra chiefdoms in the district. ‘The Magistrate Court in Masiaka Town has over 25 cases involving stealing and killing of cattle,’ Korie said. ‘The situation is similar in the other courts in the district. The Courts are struggling to cope with these cases as the Magistrate of the Masiaka Court confided in me the other day.’
Explaining the complex relationship between the two groups, Lawyer Korie said the cattle herders and landowners have been trading accusations and counter- accusations for quite some time now. While the landowners accuse the cattle herders of occupying their land illegal, the herders on the other refute this claim. They maintain the Paramount Chiefs approved their use of the land. The Landowners say they are not aware of any such arrangement and accused the cattle herders of conniving with the Paramount Chiefs to occupy their land illegally.
Also, the farmers accused the cattle herders of destroying their crops. They blame the cattle herders for failing to prevent their cattle from straying into their farms. On the other hand the cattle herders accuse the farmers of stealing and killing their cattle.
Today’s meeting is expected to attract a large number of stakeholders within the district including the Paramount Chiefs, actors in the justice sector, politicians and Councilors. ‘We have also invited the Magistrates in the Port Loko District through the Honourable Chief Justice,’ the Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles said. ‘We expect them to attend as observers and they will not be required to make any statement. I must emphasize this is a pilot case after which we will come up with a comprehensive strategy to mediate such cases around the country.’
Civil society activists have been watching the proposed intervention of the Legal Aid Board with very keen interest. ‘Bringing these two groups under the same roof is a big achievement for the Legal Aid Board but the real test lies in resolving the case,’ a leading civil society activist, Patrick Tucker said. ‘If the Board succeeds, then the sky will be the limit in resolving similar cases across the country.



By: Joseph Dumbuya

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