Local Government and Paramount Chieftaincy in Sierra Leone: A Concise Introduction P. C. Gbawuru Mansaray III (alias Pagay) P. C. Alimamy Lahai Mansaray V Dembelia Sinkunia Chiefdom P. C. Madam Doris Lenga-Caulker P. C. Henry Fangawa of Gbabiyor II of Kagboro Chiefdom, Wandor Chiefdom, Falla Shenge (Moyamba District), (Kenema District), P. C. Theresa Vibbi III. of Kandu Leppiama, Gbadu Levuma (Kenema District) M. N. Conteh Revised Edition 2019 Local Government and Paramount Chieftaincy in Sierra Leone: A Concise Introduction A cross-section of Paramount Chiefs of Sierra Leone displaying their new staffs M. N. Conteh Revised Edition 2019 Table of Contents Page Contents i Acronyms ii Preface and acknowledgements iii About the Author v Chapter 1. 1 Local Government in Sierra Leone Chapter 2. 38 Paramount Chieftaincy in Sierra Leone: an introduction to its history and Electoral Process. Chapter 3. 80 Appendices Appendix 1: List of Chiefdoms and their Ruling Houses 82 Appendix 2: NEC Form PC 3 – statutory Declaration of Rights for 103 PC elections Appendix 3: List of symbols for PC elections (and Independent 105 candidates for Local Councils). Appendix 4: Joint Reporting Format for PC elections 107 Appendix 5 and 6: Single and multi-member wards for District 111 Councils. Appendix 7 Nomination Form for Local Council Candidate 114 References and Suggested books for further reading 1 16 i Acronyms APC – All Peoples’ Congress CC – Chiefdom Council / Chiefdom Committee DC – District Commissioner /District Council DEO – District Electoral Officer I.e. – “that is” Ibid – ibidem i.e. ‘in the same place / work as quoted above’ MoLG & RD – Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development MP – Member of Parliament NA – Native Administration NC – Native Court NEC/EC – National Electoral Commission / Electoral Commission PC – Paramount Chief PCMP – Paramount Chief Member of Parliament PEA,2012 – Public Elections Act, 2012 PS – Provincial Secretary SLPP – Sierra Leone People’s Party TA – Tribal Authority ii Preface and acknowledgements This monograph titled “Local Government and Paramount Chieftaincy in Sierra Leone”, is an introduction to Sierra Leone’s institutions of governance at local and grassroots level dating from colonial and pre-colonial times, respectively. It is written as a result of the author’s practical experience with Local governance and chieftaincy matters (especially local Council / government and Paramount Chieftaincy elections for nearly three decades) and the lack of adequate current reading materials on such important, resilient and centuries old institutions of governance. Inspite of the enormous challenges faced by both institutions over the years (i.e. Local Councils and the institution of chieftaincy), they have been resilient to survive as main institutions of governance, from especially colonial days, through post-independence period to modern times. For instance, throughout the periods under review elective local governance has often been suspended and replaced with “Management Committees”, while Paramount chiefs, who in pre- colonial times were called “Kings” and ruled large Kingdoms, no longer in modern times enjoy the power and dominance they enjoyed in precolonial time. Yet still both institutions are an integral part of the institutions of national governance in Sierra Leone. Both topics in this monograph are revised versions in two books earlier published by the author. The monograph treats in detail the histories of both institutions, their structures, legal frame works, electoral processes and related issues. The book thus provides a comprehensive and readable account, in a single volume, of the management of the Local Councils and Chieftaincy, especially their electoral process and related issues. This monograph will be useful to, amongst others, elections managers, Paramount Chiefs, aspirants who want to contest local Councils and Paramount Chieftaincy elections, officials of the Ministry of Local Government and local Councils in Sierra Leone and the general reader. It is thus hoped that this work by the author will stimulate other researchers and intellectuals to engage on research on the two resilient institutions of local governance (i.e. Local Councils and Paramount Chieftaincy) in Sierra Leone. I owe a lot of gratitude to all those accomplished writers whose works formed the basis of research in the writing of this monograph. They are too many to name here. I am indeed proudly grateful to them. I wish specifically to mention Arthur Abraham, formally professor of African Studies, Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone; C. Magbaily Fyle, Professor of History, also formally of Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone; and Assoc. Prof. Joe A.D. Alie, Dean of Postgraduate Studies, Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. I am also grateful to Tristan Reed and James A. Robinson (all of Harvard University), whose work “The Chiefdoms of Sierra Leone, 2012” was the major secondary source of iii information for the various ruling houses or families that compete for the position of a Paramount Chief whenever there is a vacancy in each chiefdom. My final word of gratitude goes to the staff of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) of Sierra Leone (especially Solomon R. Villa, Jusu Henry Swarray, Michael Kamara, Mohamed Sheku Conteh, Arthur Haleston, Foday Samura and Sallu Sillah), and some staff members and Paramount Chiefs of the Ministry in charge of Local Government and chieftaincy matters, for their support in the writing of this monograph. The views expressed in this monograph are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the policy of the NEC or the Government Ministry in charge of Chieftaincy. Efforts have been made to acknowledge copyright materials, but where inadvertently this is not done, the author will be willing to do so at the earliest opportunity. Any comments or suggestions aimed at enhancing this publication will be most welcome. Mohamed N’fah-Alie Conteh, Chief Electoral Commissioner and Chairman, National Electoral Commission, State Avenue, OAU Drive, Freetown. Republic of Sierra Leone Email: [email protected] Cell # +232-76- 638-675 March, 2019 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopy or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher, except for research or other lawful academic pursuits. Published by the Author March 2019 iv About the author The author, Mohamed N’fah-Alie Conteh, is an Elections Administrator, attached to the National Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (NEC) since 1990. He became Electoral Commissioner from 21st May, 2009 to 20th May, 2014. He is currently the Chief Electoral Commissioner and Chairman of NEC, effective 12th February, 2015. He received his BA degree in History and Political Science, and post-graduate Diploma in Education from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone in 1983 and 1984, respectively. He also holds another Post-Graduate Diploma (with distinction) in International and Electoral Law from the Institute of Advanced Management and Technology (IAMTECH), Sierra Leone (2008). Mr. Conteh was awarded the National Honour of “Officer of the Order of the Rokel- OOR” on the 28th April, 2014 by His Excellency, the then President of Sierra Leone, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma; in recognition of 24 years of diligent and dedicated service to NEC and Sierra Leone. Mr. Conteh’s published books are: ✓ “Paramount Chieftaincy in Sierra Leone: History and Electoral Process’’; ✓ “The Management of Sierra Leone’s Electoral Process: An Introduction”; ✓ “History of the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone: -1961-2010”; and ✓ “Government for West African Senior Schools and Colleges” (2017) The above publications (books) were published by LAMBERT Academic Publishers in Germany and are available at www.get-morebooks.com and www.morebooks.de HE IS A SIERRA LEONEAN. v Local government and paramount chieftaincy in Sierra Leone by M. N. Conteh CHAPTER ONE LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN SIERRA LEONE: A CONCISE INTRODUCTION (REVISED EDITION 2019)1 PART 1: HISTORY, STRUCTURE AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK Meaning of Local Government Local government became a core element of the politics and administrations of English-speaking West African countries (Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria and The Gambia) well before independence. Local government has been defined as: "government for local people by local people". In other words, in democratic countries, local government bodies consists of democratically elected councillors who are elected by, and accountable to, their respective local communities. In short, local government is representative government, consisting of councillors elected to provide basic services for Members of their respective wards or communities. Local Government is thus a body of individuals set up by law to provide certain basic services for their communities. Origin of Local Government in Sierra Leone Local government in Sierra Leone comprises both the western (or modern) component of 22 councils (i.e. 6 City councils, 1 Municipal council and 15 District councils) and a traditional component of Chiefdom administration system2 (i.e. 190 chiefdoms). The western component can be traced back to the British colonial period. During the period of colonial rule, the British established local government bodies through Ordinances and by various Acts of Parliament. As already stated, the modern component of local government bodies established by the British