Legal Aid mediates between crop and cattle farmers in Port Loko

Legal Aid mediates between crop and cattle farmers in Port Loko

The Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles has called on stakeholders in Port Loko District to come up with home grown solutions to the problem between cattle herders and crop farmers in the district. She made this remark while addressing aggrieved parties and stakeholders including five paramount chiefs, the Chairman of the Port Loko District Council, the President of the National Framer Federation and the District Director of Agriculture in Masiaka on Tuesday, 27 September 2016. ‘For some of these cases, the answers are not in the courts,’ Ms. Carlton-Hanciles told her audience. ‘We will work with stakeholders to promote peace and security in the community.’ Ms. Carlton-Hanciles pointed out that the Board does not have lawyers to provide legal assistance to all those who qualify for legal aid. ‘This is why we will be training paralegals from the community in the near future to handle some of the cases which would otherwise be taken to court,’ she said. She also noted that the Board’s Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism will work with Paramount Chiefs and other local actors to mediate the cases in the courts. ‘Cases involving cattle herders and crop farmers are too many, we do not want them to add up and clog the courts.’ She said. Proffering solution to the dispute, Ms. Carlton-Hanciles said that the crop farmers and the cattle herders can benefit from each other if they are prepared to work together. She encouraged the two groups to embark on mix farming which she stressed will be beneficial to both groups in the sense that the farmers will grow their crops on the land after the cattle have been moved to a new location. She added that the manure left by the cattle will provide a rich source of nutrients for the crops. The Legal Aid lawyers for Port Loko and Kambia Districts, Mohamed Korie said upon taking up post, the first thing he did was to visit the courts in the two districts and was struck at the huge number of cases relating to larceny and killing of cattle. ‘When I started work, I realized most of those seeking legal aid were either charged with stealing or killing cattle,’ he said. ‘I said to myself, something must be done about this.’ Lawyer Korie said the cattle herders accuse members of the community of stealing and killing their cattle. The members of the community on the other hand accuse the herders of occupying their land illegally adding that at the end of the day the herders would give a cow to the Paramount Chief and the matter is swept under the carpet. He said he has been threatened for providing legal representation to those charged with killing or stealing cattle. ‘This prompted me to discuss the issue with the Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles with a view to finding a solution to the problem,’ he said. The Moderator for the mediation, the Senior District Officer for Port Loko, Alfred Lahai underlined the need for the crop and livestock farmers to live side by side because they need each other. He reiterated the difficulty in controlling cattle adding that the misunderstanding between the two groups has been there for a long time. ‘This meeting will seek to promote understanding between the groups to stop this from happening in future,’ he said. He recalled being confronted with similar problems in Koinadugu District during his tour of duty in that part of the country. ‘We will bring to bear the Koinadugu District experience on this situation,’ he said. The Chairperson of the Port Loko District Council, Mr. Munir Fofana attributed the problem between the cattle herders and the crop farmers to failure to implement the Cattle Settlement Policy. ‘The Council has the authority to issue license to all cattle herders,’ he said. ‘No livestock farmer can bring cattle into an area without a license to rear cattle in that area,’ he said. ‘The policy also requires the setting up of Area Settlement and Chiefdom Committees which comprise local stakeholders’ Other speakers include the President of the National Farmer Federation, Olu John, Paramount Chief of Marampa, Bai Koblo Queen, District Director of Agriculture, Charles Bangura; Livestock Officer, Sheku Jusu; Representative of crop farmers, Foday Kabia; representative of cattle herders Dr. Abdul Gudush Jalloh and the representative of the Sierra Leone Police The meeting was climaxed with the adoption of the following resolutions: Cattle Settlement Committees to be established in all chiefdoms where cattle are reared; conduct a census of livestock farms in the chiefdom, register all livestock farms and every chiefdom to draft a cattle settlement byelaw. It was agreed that the issue will be put before the Port Loko District Security Committee at its next meeting so that a consensus is reached on the intervention of the Legal Aid Board.

By: Joseph Dumbuya