Courts, culture and corruption
Legal pluralism and Timap for Justice in Sierra Leone16 As in many other African countries, multiple legal systems hold sway in Sierra Leone and are partly integrated. One is the formal, state system derived from the United Kingdom, while the others are customary and rooted in the nation’s history. In view of the country’s widespread corruption, war-torn history and severe poverty, the formal system operates dysfunctionally. The judiciary is largely confined to the nation’s capital, Freetown, as are most of the country’s magistrates and judges, and around 90 of its 100 lawyers. Sierra Leone’s tribes each practise their own versions of customary law. They are partly products of colonial rule in that they evolved in response to Britain’s concentration of authority under tribal chiefs in ways that undercut their accountability. As elsewhere, customary systems are not codified and are continuing to evolve. Integration of the formal and customary systems occurs at state-sanctioned ‘local courts’, which apply customary law. The chairmen are appointed by paramount chiefs, the top officials of the chiefdoms (districts), with the approval of the local government ministry. To complicate matters further, many paramount and lower chiefs preside over ‘chiefs’ courts’, which are banned by statute but nevertheless administer customary law in the countryside. Sierra Leoneans’ use of the customary system is a matter of convenience and necessity. It can be fair and functional, but can also be subject to corruption. Unlike Bangladesh and the Philippines, where domestic NGOs have initiated programmes to strengthen access to justice, post-war civil society in Sierra Leone has not exhibited the same capacity for indigenous efforts. In 2003 the Sierra Leonean National Forum for Human Rights and the US-based Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) collaborated to launch a programme, Timap for Justice, partly inspired by South African NGOs’ rich experience with paralegal development.17 Now an NGO, Timap for Justice is staffed by 13 paralegals spread over several jurisdictions. One example of its work involved the paramount chief of Kholifa Rowalla, who removed consideration of a farmer’s case from the local court and insisted on hearing it himself, despite the fact that he was related to the two parties opposing the farmer. He repeatedly fined the farmer and charged him costs while hearing the case. Approached for advice, a Timap paralegal informed the farmer that the chief’s action in removing the case from the court was illegal under the formal justice system’s Local Courts Act. This information buttressed the farmer’s willingness to pursue the case. A Timap attorney helped
16 This section is largely based on papers prepared by Vivek Maru, who helped launch Timap for Justice. See Vivek Maru, Between Law and Society: Paralegals and the Provision of Primary Justice Services in Sierra Leone (New York: Open Society Institute, 2006); and Vivek Maru, ‘Between Law & Society: Paralegals and the Provision of Justice Services in Sierra Leone and Worldwide’, Yale Journal of International Law, vol. 31, no. 2, Summer 2006. 17 For example, the South African NGO Black Sash comprises paralegals who help citizens navigate obstacles to accessing social services and enforcing their rights. These obstacles include corrupt behaviour by officials and some of the solutions involve pursuing complaints through administrative law. Where patterns of corruption emerge, Black Sash moves beyond individual case work to advocate reforms in policies and general practices.
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