By: Joseph K.B Morison
With support from the Initiative for Media Development (IMDEV) Sierra Leone and its partners, the Right to Access Information Commission (RAIC), and the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have supported Moonlight radio reporter Joseph KB Morison to do a story title: “How is the new Land Right Act 2022 benefiting women in Bo District?
In 2022, the Sierra Leone Parliament enacted a piece of legislation titled: “The Sierra Leone Customary Land Right Act of 202.” It gives power to Sierra Leonean women to own, acquire, and purchase land without intimidation from any local authority in their respective localities. The legislation also makes provision for local authorities to establish land committees at various communities (chiefdoms, sections, towns, and villages) in various communities across the country.
These committees are charged with the responsibility to preside over lease agreements and other land issues in these communities, and they must include women's representation.
Mr.John Edward Sinnah, Regional Surveyor South in the Ministry of Land and Country Planning, said women are largely benefiting from the new law in Bo, noting that their office has signed several land documents that are owned by women in the district.
He added that following the recent interview conducted by the Ministry for the Bo Airfield Land, women were given more opportunities to have a piece of land.
"We are prioritizing women to have land on their own. I was part of the interview panel that interviewed people who applied to have land at the Bo Airfield Land and women were given more opportunities in that interview," Mr Sinnah said.
According to him, the only challenge the office is faced with is coming from the local authorities who deal with land issues without resorting to his office.
He said when there is a problem over a piece of land and the matter is taken to court, the court would seek their expert opinion. Adding that 70 percent of the Land documents are not coming to them for proper verification.
"Land-holding families and chiefdom authorities are not informing this office when people want to buy their land.
We are not here to take their properties from them, but this office must be involved in all land activities to prove the authenticity of the land before purchasing so that there would not be conflict at the end of it," he lamented.
Mr. Sinnah went on to say that the ministry has secured the government reservation land through the lease agreement with the landholding families, noting that women are encouraged to go into a lease agreement with the ministry when the time comes.
Chief Augustine Lappia, Section Chief for Sewa Section in Kakua Chiefdom, said women are acquiring land in the section for various purposes (Agriculture, housing, and business purposes). He said that he had pioneered the establishment of the land committee in various communities in his Section, noting that in all the communities where they established the land committees, women were represented in all committees.
Chief Lappia called on all other Sections Chiefs to emulate him and adhere to the law in the customary Land Rights Act.
Madam Nyao Macarthy, the Town Chief of Kanga, which is located along the Bo/Kenema highway, said that with the help of the new legislation, women are now benefiting in her town. She said she had signed various land documents in the care of women for various investment purposes, adding that women were also benefiting from the new law for agricultural purposes.
Mrs Macarthy however lamented that her brothers in the Macarthy Family no longer consult her when they want to sell land, which creates problems in the long run.
"My brothers are no longer consulting me when they are selling our land, but they will bring the document to me to sign. I will sign the document because after signing the document, the person who purchased the land will give me a little amount and that is what I have been surviving on together with my family," she said.
Chief Macarthy called on government and advocacy organizations to do more public education in various local languages on the new legislation so that people (women) who are living in hard-to-reach communities can benefit from it. Kanga Community, she added, has not established any land committee and the majority of the women in her community are not aware of the new legislation.
The vice Chair lady of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists South, Madam Fatmata Grace Okekearu, in a radio talk show on the issue of the Land Rights Act called on the government, Civil Society Organizations, the media, and other stakeholders to utilize the law and conduct more advocacy on it.
Musu Sesay and Maseray Sundufu, both from the Kanga Community, have benefited from the new Legislation to own land without any intimidation from individual, and local authorities.
Connect with the Writer:
Email: morisonjosephkb@gmail.com
Contact: +23276909071
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