Gbarnga, Bong County – Liberian laws are written in English and traditional leaders and other local authorities find it difficult to fully understand these laws which has made the customary laws dominant in the rural parts of the country.
A project under the title “strengthening the capacity and Resilience of traditional leaders on Statutory system, human rights and COVID-19 in Bong County”, which was launched on January 22, 2021 in Gbarnga, Bong County is looking to explain and simplify key human rights and other statutory laws to traditional leaders and locals in three districts in Bong County-Jorquelleh Districts #1 and 2 and Suakoko.
The project with funding provided by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is being implemented by Her Voice Liberia, a local civil society organization working in the areas of access to justice, human rights and other thematic areas.
Speaking at the launch, Marzu Y. Stubblefield, a representative of UNDP said UNDP over the years has supported the Judiciary particularly Criminal Court E in Liberia.
She said UNDP support is meant to strengthen the justice sector in the country and the Government of Liberia in its efforts to build a society based on the principles of rule of law, human rights, and justice.
The UNDP official added that the UN agency will continue to provide support to the formal court system, as the support is designed to be catalytic, increasing public confidence in the sector, strengthening state-society relations and creating an enabling environment for development.
“While the reach of formal courts have in recent years been expanded to rural areas, 80% of Liberians mainly in the rural areas, reportedly pursue justice through traditional means. Many particularly in the rural areas do not pursue the formal court system of getting justice but seek the informal mean. This means that most of the cases are heard by traditional leaders and these traditional Leaders that are part of the Justice actor chain will need to understand their roles in determining cases in line with the legislation. This will require defining new roles and aligning with human rights norms and gender equality,” she indicated.
For the program, she noted that UNDP hopes that when the traditional leaders are trained they will implement in accordance and promised that UNDP would provide similar support for the program to extend to other counties if the impact is made and traditional leaders are making use of what is being thought.
Also speaking, the Paramount Chief for Jorquelleh District, Chief Mary Lateh said they as traditional leaders do not fully understand the statutory laws and rely on the customary laws to handle issues in the various towns and villages under their control.
Chief Lateh said while it is true the customary laws are being used, whenever issues emerge it is the statutory laws that is mostly used to prosecute people in the courts and as such it is very good for them as traditional leaders and chiefs to understand the statutory laws.
The traditional chief said she will ensure that the project makes the required impact in her district because the project is very important to all traditional leaders and chiefs.
Dakeh Paye, Traditional Investigator for Bong County who spoke on behalf of all traditional leaders that attended the launch of the project expressed happiness for the project.
Investigator Paye said in order for the traditional leaders and chiefs to know which cases to handle and which ones to refer to the Statutory legal system, they need to understand the key differences between the customary and statutory system something he said is not possible when they do not understand many of the statutory laws of Liberia.
She said, as traditional leaders of Jorquelleh and Suakoko Districts where the project is being implemented they will give their fullest support for the success of the project.
“To understand the written laws is very good for our work, and we want to say this project is for us and not you because we need the knowledge”, Traditional Investigator Paye added.
For his part, the Commissioner for Suakoko District, Washington Bona also expressed happiness over the project and said he is grateful to UNDP and Her Voice for selecting Bong County to implement the project.
“Today, I am very happy for your to come to Bong County to work with us to make us understand the laws. I promise that we will work with your fully so the traditional people can understand these laws”, Commissioner Bona pledged.
The County Attorney of Bong County Jonathan Flomo said the project is very good as it will make traditional leaders and chiefs to know in what cases they as chiefs and traditional leaders can easily handle and which cases can be handled exclusively by the statutory system.
The County Attorney indicated that he appreciates the fact that Her Voice will be working with justice actors in Bong County including his office in implementing the project so as to get their meaningful inputs for the success of the project.
He noted that he looks forward to working with the project team for the successful implementation of the project.
According to the County Attorney, the project will help explain issues such as trial by ordeal which some traditional leaders and chiefs still practice but has been declared illegal by the Supreme Court of Liberia because it is unconstitutional to solicit information from an accused through inhumane means.
He expressed thanks to UNDP and Her Voice Liberia for such a project which he described as significant and meaningful for the Rule of Law.
J. Cammue N. Dormey, a representative from the office of Superintendent Esther Walker assured that the Superintendent is in full support of the project.
He said the office of the Superintendent is happy to see such work being done with traditional leaders to make them understand statutory laws.
Atty. Margaret M. Nigba, Executive Director of Her Voice Representative expressed delight over the level of assurances from local authorities in the county.
Atty. Nigba said Her Voice hopes to see the project making meaningful impact and challenged traditional leaders that will benefit from the project to use their understanding of the laws during their daily work in resolving conflicts.
She admonished the traditional leaders to make use of the statutory legal system in handling matters that require the statutory system.